HC Deb 29 January 1959 vol 598 cc153-4W
Mr. Knox Cunningham

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the work of the European Committee on Crime Problems, which is linked with the Council of Europe at Strasbourg.

Mr. R. Allan

The European Committee on Crime Problems is a committee of experts on which each member of the Council of Europe, including the United Kingdom, is represented; it was set up by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe with the task of "preparing and putting into effect a Council of Europe programme of action in the field of prevention of crime and treatment of offenders".

At the Committee's first meeting—in June-July, 1958—it drew up an initial programme of studies on which work is now in progress.

The subjects included in this programme are

  • Co-operation between European States with regard to motoring offences;
  • Prisoners' wages and related questions;
  • Civil and political rights of detained and released persons;
  • Mutual assistance in after-care or post-penitentiary treatment;
  • The problem of the death penalty in European countries; and
  • Juvenile delinquency.