The Theory and Practice to Date section is concerned with the development of cost of crime estimates. It looks at the countries for which estimates have been made and provides a bibliography with commentary. It also contains a review of the degree to which cost of crime estimates are available across EU countries and at the degree to which criminal justice policymakers in EU countries make use of economic appraisal and evaluation methodology in their work.

The Costing Principles and Methodology section goes through the components of the cost of crime line by line. It has references to both the theoretical principles underlying estimation and to illustrative examples. It is organised around the three principal types of cost, namely costs in anticipation of crime, costs as a consequence of crime and costs in response to crime.

The section on Making Your Own Estimates reviews various sources to which you can refer if you are setting out to make your own cost of crime estimates. It looks at statistical sources and at the classification of offence types. It also looks at the scope for using estimates of costs of crime in other countries as a starting point for making initial estimates. It outlines a strategy for setting up a cost estimation project and comments on some of the likely obstacles to progress.

The Policy Tools section outlines the main tools used by economists and other analysts interested in the Criminal Justice System. It outlines the various tools and shows how cost of crime estimates are brought into the picture when the tools are applied.

The Policy Applications section illustrates the application of the various policy tools with examples. This is a useful source if you are interested in the question: 'What can I do with estimates of the costs of crime?

The Links section provides links to some of the key organisations involved

The Future Developments section contains some speculations about the future for costs of crime estimation. It identifies some of the critical or difficult issues that remain unresolved.