The International Crime Victims Surveys

Abstract

The International Crime Victims Survey (ICVS) has been carried out six times over the period 1989–2010. Although national and city samples are relatively small, the ICVS is a unique survey of the experience of being victimized in that it is standardized and far-reaching: it has been conducted in more than 80 countries in different regions of the world, with many countries having taken part more than once. This paper focuses not on the methodology of the survey but on four important areas of analysis that capitalize on the comparative nature of the ICVS, and its ability to look at victimization experience at the level of both individuals and countries. Firstly, it looks at the level of crime in different countries according to the ICVS, compared to the picture from police figures. It shows some distinct differences. Also taken up is how far the correlates of victimization risk are similar across countries, and whether the phenomenon of repeat victimization holds constantly. A special focus is on results from a multi-level analysis of the relationships between firearm ownership as measured by the ICVS and rates of serious violent crime victimization at the individual and national levels. The second focus of the paper concerns what ICVS measures of trends in crime show relative to trends in police figures. It looks here, too, at the relationships between the level of household security in different countries as shown by the ICVS and trends in property crime. The third focus is on victims reporting crime to the police and their level of satisfaction with the police response, as well as the provision of and need for specialized victim assistance, underlining the importance of the ICVS as an instrument to monitor the implementation of international standards on victims’ rights, and to benchmark national victim policies. The fourth focus of the paper is on attitudes towards crime and criminal justice, looking in particular at similarities and differences across country populations. One feature is a multi-level analysis of the social correlates of public attitudes towards punishment, in particular differentiating between victims and non-victims. The paper ends with some comment on the prospects for the ICVS in the future.