In order to show differences as well as common features of the prosecution services of the Council of Europe member states, the European Sourcebook collected statistics on: (1) the total number of cases the prosecuting authority recorded as having been dealt with within a particular year; (2) the number of cases brought before a court; (3) the number of cases dropped; (4) the number of cases dropped conditionally; and (5) the number of cases ended by the imposition of a sanction. The prosecution statistics of the European countries studied vary because of differences in the input and output structures, which are determined by the powers that the prosecution authorities themselves possess. These variations between the prosecution systems within Europe cause significant differences in the resulting statistics and must be borne in mind when analyzing European Sourcebook data. Figures, appendix, references