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3 Eur. J. on Crim. Pol'y & Rsch. 5 (1995)

handle is hein.journals/eurjcpr3 and id is 1 raw text is: Editorial Insurance is at the heart of modern society. Franeois Ewald, theorizing on this statement, speaks of'l'dtat providence': the welfare state that has developed on the basis of insurance techniques: the calculation of risks; spreading the risk; capitalizing harm. In tandem with insurance techniques a prevention policy is developed in terms of reducing risks of abuse and fraud. The central position of insurance makes it a matter of common interest, based on distributive justice, which aims 'to insure a degree of equality between individuals deemed constituents of a whole' (see Bacher, in this issue). These general remarks on the importance of insurance for modern society make it understandable why insurance is of major concern to criminal justice. Insurance may be at the heart of modern society, but at the same time it is most vulnerable to abuse and fraud. Insurance contracts are sanctioned by private law, but abuse has a moral impact as well. Insurance fraud has no single victim, but the philosophy behind insurance is undermined by it in a serious way. For this matter it can be seen as a major problem that insurance companies tend to pass the costs of insurance fraud to policyholders in the form of increased premiums. The police usually is not informed of these cases of insurance fraud. Estimates of fraudulent claims vary from five to ten percent (see Niemi in this issue). In this first issue of the third volume of the European Journal the relationship between insurance and criminal justice is approached in very diverse ways. Andre Lemaitre opens this issue with an article on the relation between insurance industry and prevention policy. From the first, insurance companies have been directly concerned in risk reduction and prevention (such as fire prevention). Relatively late, insurance against theft was developed. The author explains how at the end of the seventies prevention policies were initiated by the insurance companies in France and Belgium. Since 1953 the Comite Europeen des Assurances is working on, among other things, harmonization of procedures for certification of equipment on a European level. According to Rolf Arnold there are four ways to approach the relation between crime and insurance: the personal, the business segment- related, the economic and the functional approach. The functional approach - the specific economic functions of an insurance transaction for the individuals involved and the effects of crime in that context - is

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