International Crime Victims Survey Research Articles

Weltanschauung of Crime: Revisited

This paper compares and attempts to integrate the results of the two largest international empirical sources of crime and criminal justice data (the United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems and the International Crime Victim Survey) with respect to world crime levels. These two sources provide different pictures of conventional crime from an international perspective. One of the main factors contributing to differences in crime levels based on these two international data sources relates to police reporting patterns. These are much higher in the industrialized world compared with other developmental regions. Differences are due to a number of factors related to the propensity to report to the police, including the degree of insurance coverage and the public confidence in police. Comparative analysis stimulates discussion on the relationships between development and crime, particularly in relation to the modernization theory. The results seriously challenge modernization theory, whose empirical base is composed exclusively of official criminal justice statistics. The International Crime Victim Survey empirical base, composed of citizens' direct experience with crime and reporting to the police, serously undermines the very foundations of the prevalent explanatory paradigm regarding development and crime relationships.

Victims and Police in Belgrade

In this paper the author presents findings of the first (pilot) victimization survey carried out during 1996 in Belgrade (Serbia) as the part of International Crime (Victim) Survey. For the purposes of this survey standard ICS questionnaires and methodology, with some necessary corrections, were used. The random sample consisted of 1094 respondents living in central Belgrade's communes. The author focuses on data measuring respondents' willingness to report crimes, their reasons for not reporting crimes to the police and their attitudes toward the police, i.e. their level of confidence in and their reasons for dissatisfaction with the police. Survey findings are analyzed in connection with different crimes, bearing in mind macro factors, such as war and economic crises, which have contributed to the decrease in both the crime reporting rate and the level of confidence in the police. The author concludes that the survey draws attention to the sensitive relationship between citizens and police in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), suggesting an urgent need for radical reforms in the organization, control, training and education of the police concerning human rights in general and victims' rights in particular.

Criminal Victimization on a Caribbean Island

This paper reports results from the first national crime victimization survey carried out on a Caribbean island. Astratified random sample of 491 persons were interviewed, with a 90% response rate. Results were compared with those obtained in the International Crime Victims Survey for 10 countries. The prevalence and incidence of theft of vehicles, theft from vehicles, vehicle vandalism, robbery and personal theft were relatively low on the island. The prevalence and incidence of bicycle theft, burglary, attempted burglary, outside theft, assault/threats and sexual incidents were relatively high on the island. The probability of reporting a crime to the police was relatively low on the island, but confidence in the police was relatively high. Despite the relatively high level of crime on the island, fear of crime was relatively low.

Policing and attitudes towards police in countries in transition: Preliminary results of the international crime (victim) survey

The International Crime (Victim) Survey was carried out in 1992 and 1996 in 7 and 15 countries in transition respectively. Changes in policy and attitudes to the police in these countries aroused major interest in terms of whether things are changing after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Preliminary analysis of the IC(V)S shows that in countries in transition there was an increase in reporting to the police in the period 1992–1996; the highest increase from among the total of 57 participating countries. While in 1992 the majority of citizens did not report to the police, in 1996 there were more reported than non‐reported crimes. However, other indicators of police satisfaction have not changed much. There is still an average no‐confidence in the police and dissatisfaction with the way the police handle cases once reported and treat the victims of crime. Similarly, satisfaction with the police in controlling crime has not improved. There is still much to be desired in changing the police culture and improving police‐community and police‐victims relations in countries in transition.

The International Crime (Victim) Survey: Issues of Comparative Advantages and Disadvantages

Difficulties in making international comparisons based on official national and international criminal justice statistics (United Nations Crime Surveys, INTERPOL) prompted the launching of the International Crime (Victim) Survey, which used a standard methodology and involved in two sweeps (1989 and 1992-1994) more than 30 industrialized and developing countries and countries in transition. Selected key findings are presented, and these basically highlight that, on an international comparative level, the developing world and countries in transition exhibit higher victimization rates for almost all selected types of crime, less satisfaction with law enforcement, and a more punitive orientation. The main advantages of the IC(V)S lie in the higher level of data comparability as well as in the comparative evaluation of police-community relations, attitudes toward punishment, and various crime prevention mechanisms. However, with its focus on households and individuals and selected crime types, the IC(V)S presents only a partial picture of the crime story. Other problems faced by the IC(V)S are discussed, such as what constitutes a proper sampling in countries that lack reliable population and other statistical information. Particular emphasis is placed on the tension between standardization to increase comparability on the one hand and cultural specificity on the other. Although the IC(V)S will prove to be instrumental in promoting alternative criminal justice information, particularly in the less advanced parts of the world, and in providing for more internationally comparable information, the limits of the study with respect to cultural interpretation should be clearly recognized.

The Prevalence and Perceived Seriousness of Victimization by Crime; Some Results of the International Crime Victims Survey

The Prevalence and Perceived Seriousness of Victimization by Crime; Some Results of the International Crime Victims Survey

Are we becoming more violent? A comparison of trends in violent and property offenses in Australia and Western Australia

This paper examines Australian and West Australian trends in robbery, assault, and burglary. Police figures are contrasted with the results of Australian victimization surveys. The limitations of Australian victimization surveys are discussed. The results of Australian victimization surveys are contrasted with the results of the National Crime Survey in the United States and the International Crime Victim Survey. When all the qualifications are considered, it is concluded that there has been a trend upward in burglary and robbery prevalence and that this upward trend occurred mainly in the 1980s. However, because there is little evidence of a concomitant rise in the assault rate, the increasing prevalence of robbery and burglary is interpreted as reflecting social phenomena that are associated with “acquisitiveness” rather than “aggressiveness.” Other evidence pertaining to the level of violence in Australia is considered and it is concluded that this is insufficient to allow a conclusion that we are, as a nation, becoming more violent.

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:Crime in Australia in 1988: as measured by the Australia Component of the International Crime Victims Survey 1989 JOHN WALKERThe International Handbook of Addiction Behaviour LB. GLASS (Ed.)Alcohol, Other Drugs and the Workplace: An Annotated Bibliography ROBIN L. SMITH, ROBERT BUSH & LESLEY DAWESA Handbook of Drug Training: Learning About Drugs and Working with Drug Users D. MACDONALD & V. PATTERSONAddictive States. Association for Research in Nervous & Mental Disease. C. P. O'BRIEN & J. H. JAFFE (Eds)Hepatic Encephalopathy ROGER F. BUTTERWORTH & GILLES POMIER LAYRARGUESHomicides in Australia 1989‐90