Some Main Results on International Comparison and Trends. Results from the International Crime Victims Survey and the European Survey on Crime and Safety

Abstract

This chapter discusses some of the main findings on international comparison and trends from the 5 rounds of International Crime Victims Surveys (ICVS) and the 2005 EU Survey on Crime and Safety (EU ICS). The first round of ICVS surveys was in 1989, followed by surveys in 1992, 1996 and 2000. The last rounds of surveys were done in 2004 and 2005. For the first time, there was an oversampling of inhabitants of the capital (or main) cities in most of the countries that participated. This allows not only for comparison of countries but of main cities as well. In a few countries, a survey was done in a main city only. This chapter first presents the overall victimisation rates at country and at main city level as well as trends in crime for the countries that participated at least three times. Some results that explain crime levels and explain the trends for few of the crimes are discussed further on in the chapter. Some of the other theories that explain the drop in crime over the last 10 years are commented on at the end of this chapter.