The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention is a center for research and development that’s mission is to provide assistance to criminal justice agencies in terms of improved knowledge and methods for the intervention and prevention of crime. The Council is an agency of the Ministry of Justice and fulfills a staff function for the government in terms of offering expertise on crime policy issues. The main activities of the Council can be divided into four main areas: (1) knowledge development in the area of crime policy; (2) evaluation of criminal justice policy reforms; (3) development of official justice system statistics; and (4) support provision to local crime prevention councils. The Council’s activities are mainly determined by the governmental commissions assigned to the agency. During 2004, the Council’s activities revolved around a number of evaluation projects, such as the study of the effectiveness of intensive offender supervision through electronic monitoring and the assessment of a special initiative to combat drugs within the prison system. The Council’s recent work in terms of crime trend analysis and local crime prevention work is similarly reviewed. Challenges for the future are identified and include attention to Swedish crime policies, especially those related to women’s shelters, victim support centers, and neighborhood watch initiatives. References