Property Crime Victimization Research Articles

Tourism and crime: A preliminary assessment of the relationship of crime to the number of visitors at selected sites1

Tourists and visitors represent a valuable and appreciated element of many countries and many communities. Anecdotal evidence suggests that these tourists and visitors are at great risk of being victims of violent and property crimes in the cities they visit. This paper assesses the relationship between the number of visitors to various cities and the types and patterns of crimes, over time, in two cities engaged in mass tourism. If the anecdotal reports are valid indications, crime should fluctuate directly in proportion to the number of visitors. If other factors have stronger explanatory power, the relationship between tourists (visitors) and crime will not be strong or consistent. Based on the data, this research showed that the number of tourists over the course of an eleven year period does not adequately explain the variations in violent crime rates of either of the two cities. Violent crime rates in Honolulu and Las Vegas from 1982 through 1993 showed less of an increase than the increases experienced by other similar cities in the United States for the period studied. The data showed that there was no significant correlation between any of the four serious violent crimes (murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault) and the number of visitors to Las Vegas. For Honolulu, there was an inverse relationship between the number of visitors and the violent crimes of murder and robbery but a direct and significant relationship to aggravated assault. The results could assist these and other cities in studying more idiosyncratically the relationship between crime and tourism as well as the localization of crimes on visitors in order to engage in measurement and prevention efforts which would serve visitors as well as residents.

Crime Victims' Well-Being and Fear in a Prospective and Longitudinal Study

A study is presented on the influence of criminal victimization on well-being and fear within a nationwide sample of the Dutch population. The study focused on differences between victims and non-victims, and on the causality between crime and psychological upheaval. The design of the study was prospective, it included victims of several crime-types, and a matched sample of non-victims. The reactions of victims were measured before, and within two weeks, one month and two months after the crime. Results indicated that victims of crime systematically report lower levels of well-being, and, to some extent, higher levels of fear. Next, some indications were found supporting the notion that victims of violent crimes suffer more psychological distress than victims of property crimes. And finally, the data imply that, after the incident victims were ‘unhappier’ than non-victims, but, at least partly, already were so before the crime took place.

The use of household survey data – the probability of property crime victimization

This paper applies household survey data to discern a pattern of, and subsequently propose preventative solutions to, suburban property crime. Specifically, 22,192 households in Greenwich, Connecticut were urged to respond to a questionnaire. The survey included questions that measure the household’s proneness to victimization and its level of precautionary activities. The probability of victimization is estimated by applying the SAS/STAT program. The study considers the properties of the Deterrence Hypothesis and the rational behavior of burglars. The Deterrence Hypothesis is associated with the relative effectiveness of criminal justice. The focus is on the deterrence activities initiated by homeowners to reduce the probability of being burglarized. It details the results of a logistic regression analysis applied to individual households. The probability of residential burglary is calculated by accounting for the location, surroundings and attributes of the residences, as well as a variety of security precautionary measures.

Crime Victimization among Injection Drug Users

This study uses routine activity theory to examine violent and property crime victimization among a sample of 308 injection drug users (IDUs). We estimate prevalence rates and identify factors that contribute to the victimization of IDUs. The findings suggest that victimization rates of IDUs were much higher than rates found for the general urban population. Generally, crime involvement did not contribute significantly to victimization risk. Use of crack-cocaine increased the likelihood of property crime victimization whereas heroin use decreased the probability of both violent and property crime victimization. Other drug lifestyle activities (i.e., waiting in uncomfortable situations to buy drugs) also affected victimization risk Finally, the results suggest that victimization differed by age and by gender, despite controls for drug use and drug lifestyle activities. Explanations for these results are offered.

Criminal Victimization and Its Effect on Fear of Crime and Justice Attitudes

This study explores the relationship between criminal victimization of a college student cohort and the impact of this victimization on their fear of crime and attitudes related to the justice system. The subgroups of victims and nonvictims were used to examine the change of attitude between their first and fourth years of college. Those who had been victims of crime had significantly greater fear of becoming future victims of property crime but no significant change in their fear of personal crimes. Nonvictims showed no increase in fear of property victimization but significant increase of fear for some personal crimes. Regarding the relationship between victimization and attitudes about the justice system, we could generalize that nonvictims showed significantly greater change in attitudes toward police, victims greater change in attitudes toward courts, and little change (none significant) for either victims or nonvictims in their attitudes toward the use of the death penalty.

Examining the relationship between routine activities theory and social disorganization: An analysis of property crime victimization

A property crime victimization survey was conducted of households in both high and tow crime neighborhoods in one southern city. A response rate of 68.5% was obtained. The study tested the premises of both the routine activities and social disorganization theories as they contribute to the likelihood of property crime victimization at the individual level. It was found that routine activities theory explained 28% of the property crime variance in the socially disorganized area (high crime) while only explaining 11% of the same variance in the low crime area. Separate measurements were used to establish the level of social disorganization in the two geographical areas. The beta coefficients reveal that in the high crime area, those most likely to be property crime victims are white, single homeowners who are not at home from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., who have relatives living in their neighborhoods, and who interact with their neighbors. These findings lend marginal support to the routine activities model.

Property Crime Victimisation: The Roles of Individual and Area Influences

The likelihood of being a victim of property crime is modelled using the characteristics of the individual household and of the area. In addition to total property crime, we separately consider the components of burglary, theft and criminal damage. In all cases, both area and individual variables are significant predictors of victimisation risk, but the area is generally more important than the individual. We also find that an unexplained correlation remains between households within the same area. To caricature our overall results, young professionals living in detached or semi-detached houses in poor areas are particularly likely to fall victim to crime.

Psychological distress following criminal victimization in the general population: cross-sectional, longitudinal, and prospective analyses.

Samples of 105 violent crime victims, 227 property crime victims, and 190 nonvictims provided normative data regarding levels of psychological distress following criminal victimization. At points approximately 3 months, 9 months, and 15 months postcrime, symptoms of depression, somatization, hostility, anxiety, phobic anxiety, fear of crime, and avoidance were assessed. Although crime victims showed substantial improvement between 3 and 9 months, thereafter they did not. Over the course of the study, violent crime victims remained more distressed than did property crime victims who, in turn, remained more distressed than nonvictims. Regression analyses revealed that the effects of crime could not be accounted for by precrime differences between victims and nonvictims in either social status or psychological functioning. However, lasting effects were often contingent on the occurrence of subsequent crimes.

Routine Activities and a Subculture of Violence: A Study of Violence on the Street

Research using the routine activities perspective has relied on official crime statistics, victimization surveys, and demographic variables for data. Findings from this work indicates that the degree of exposure that individuals experience following certain lifestyle patterns increases property and personal crime victimization. A qualitative study of a delinquent street group reveals that the routine activities approach is insufficient in explaining how interactions escalate to violence. Instead it points to the need to expand the routine activities approach to include a choice component and integrate it with a subcultural approach. Subcultural norms influence actors' routine activities that, in turn, influence exposure to victimization and shape the behavioral choices available to members in response to victimization. Subcultures, routines, and choices also influence offending patterns. Subcultural values affect the choice of victims, and third parties appear to influence the “rules of the game,” and the amount of violence that takes place. Third parties offer subcultural support for violence, serving as allies, and helping to instigate conflict at the same time as serving as capable guardians to reduce victimization.

Social support and victims of crime: matching event, support, and outcome.

Investigated the buffering properties of six types of social support (three perceived, three received) with regard to four psychological consequences (depression, anxiety, fear of crime, hostility) of criminal victimization (violent crime, property crime). These relationships were examined using longitudinal data collected from a sample composed of representative subsamples of victims and nonvictims. Effects of the perceived support measures (perceived appraisal support, perceived tangible support, self-esteem) were more pervasive than those of the received support measures (received informational support, received tangible support, received emotional support). Perceived support consistently exhibited buffering effects, protecting both violent and property crime victims against various symptoms they would have otherwise experienced. The stress-buffering capabilities of received support were limited to informational and tangible help protecting victims of violence from experiencing excessive fear. These findings are discussed in the context of recent theoretical developments concerning the stress-support matching hypothesis.

The Psychological Experience of Crime: A Test of the Mediating Role of Beliefs in Explaining the Distress of Victims

Causal modeling procedures were used to test current theories that emphasize the mediating role of beliefs in explaining the emotional reactions of crime victims. The sample was composed of representative subsamples of violent crime victims (79 women, 64 men), property crime victims (170 women, 125 men), and nonvictims (139 women, 102 men). Violent crime was found to have both a direct effect on psychological distress and an indirect effect through its impact on beliefs about safety, esteem, and trust. Property crime had only indirect effects on distress as mediated by safety-related beliefs. Although effects of violent crime on psychological distress were somewhat stronger among women, overall the belief mediational model explained the data of both women and men. Thus the findings illustrate the potential of crimes of many types to affect fundamental beliefs about the self, others, and the world.

Crime-victim evaluation of police investigative performance

The purpose of this study was to determine whether demographic characteristics of victims and the nature of the police investigative response were related to victim satisfaction. The data were obtained through self-administered questionnaires completed by a random sample of 436/685 (64 percent) crime victims in a medium-sized midwestern city. Respondents were victims of personal (N=79), serious property (N=165), and minor property crimes (N=192). Analysis showed that the education, gender, and income of the victims were not related to satisfaction for any of the crime-victim categories. Younger victims were less likely to be satisfied than older victims but only in the case of serious property crimes. Expectation of response time was most strongly related to victim satisfaction in serious (personal and property) offenses; victims who reported a faster than expected response time were more likely to be satisfied than those who reported a slower than expected response time. When there was a high degree of investigative effort, victims in both property-crime categories were more likely to be satisfied than when the effort was minimal. Police professionalism had the greatest effect on victim satisfaction; a high degree of professionalism was positively related with satisfaction for all crime types. The findings generally show that the type of criminal victimization is an important consideration in victim evaluation research.

Crime-victim evaluation of police investigative performance

The purpose of this study was to determine whether demographic characteristics of victims and the nature of the police investigative response were related to victim satisfaction. The data were obtained through self-administered questionnaires completed by a random sample of 436/685 (64 percent) crime victims in a medium-sized midwestern city. Respondents were victims of personal (N = 79), serious property (N = 165), and minor property crimes (N = 192). Analysis showed that the education, gender, and income of the victims were not related to satisfaction for any of the crime-victim categories. Younger victims were less likely to be satisfied than older victims but only in the case of serious property crimes. Expectation of response time was most strongly related to victim satisfaction in serious (personal and property) offenses; victims who reported a faster than expected response time were more likely to be satisfied than those who reported a slower than expected response time. When there was a high degree of investigative effort, victims in both property-crime categories were more likely to be satisfied than when the effort was minimal. Police professionalism had the the greatest effect on victim satisfaction; a high degree of professionalism was positively related with satisfaction for all crime types. The findings generally show that the type of criminal victimization is an important consideration in victim evaluation research.

ROUTINE ACTIVITIES AND CRIME: AN ANALYSIS OF VICTIMIZATION IN CANADA *

Miethe et al. (1987) have suggested that there are strong interaction effects between demographic characteristics of victims and certain routine activities that occur at night and away from home, but only for victims of property crime. This same pattern does not appear for victims of violent crime, they maintain, because unlike property crime, violent crime often involves interpersonal conflict and disagreement and is therefore spontaneous. Using data from the Canadian Urban Victimization Survey, which contains detailed measures of routine activities not available in Miethe et al. 's U.S. study, this study finds contrary evidence that suggests that personal crime is contingent on the exposure that comes from following certain life‐styles. This is particularly true for certain demographic groups, particularly young males. The findings are considered in the light of the literature focusing on the interaction between situation and personality and the importance of the resulting conflict styles in promoting or reducing the opportunity for crime in certain settings and under certain conditions.

Property Crime and the Routine Activities of Individuals

The risk of property crime victimization is examined from a routine activities approach using data from six neighborhoods in Atlanta, Georgia. Indicators of the concepts of motivated offenders, suitable targets, and capable guardians are identified, and their individual and combined explanatory power are examined. The findings reveal that measures of neighborhood crime and housing type are the only variables that consistently relate to victimization in the hypothesized direction; employment status is the only guardianship measure that has the predicted effect on victimization. The analyses provide limited support for the routine activities approach, but are also consistent with hypotheses derived from other theoretical perspectives on criminal victimizations.

Effects of an Experimental Special-Education Crime-Prevention Intervention: A Time-Series Study

Examined the effects of an experimental crime-prevention intervention for learning-disabled, educable mentally retarded, and behaviorally disordered students in a time-series study. During the 1985-1986 school year, 42 special-education students from four elementary schools identified their crime victimization and criminal exploitation problems at four different times. Results indicated that special-education students' violent and property crime victimization and criminal exploitation rates were significantly reduced over time.

Decision Making by Crime Victims: A Multimethod Approach

Since most crimes investigated by police result from notification by victims, crime victims can be viewed as the gatekeepers of the criminal justice system. This paper describes the results of a series of studies which employed multiple methodologies to investigate the decisions of property crime victims to notify the police. The four methods used in this research included (a) an archival analysis of police records, (b) interviews with crime victims, (c) simulation studies using college students, and (d) experiments in a field laboratory. Two convergent findings emerged from the data. Social influence was found to be an important determinant of both the decision to call the police and the delay in such notification. If others advised the victim to call the police, the crime was more likely to be reported, but, ironically, the greater the number of people consulted, the longer the delay in reporting the crime. The second convergent finding was that situational factors played a stronger role in affecting delay in notification than did characteristics of the victim. Situational factors included the type of crime and the time of day when it was discovered, as well as the number of others talked to and the type of advice received from them. Several divergent findings across methods raised questions about the relative adequacy of each method for the problems being investigated, and helped identify sources of similarities and differences in the conceptual and operational definitions employed.

The "British System" of Heroin Maintenance

To the Editor.— The system of opium prohibition produces exorbitant prices, intolerable crime, and frustrating and expensive attempts at criminal control. In England, the pharmacy cost of heroin is 4 cents a grain. The street price in the United States is $30 to $90 a grain or about a 1,000-fold increase over the legal price. 1(p28-29) This astronomical profit margin provides incentive for continued smuggling, and accounts for the fact that addicts commit 75% to 80% of the crime in New York City. 2 It is estimated on the basis of 350,000 addicts (which is a conservative figure) that the annual cost of heroin purchases is about $1.5 billion. About $100 million is obtained by legal activity, about $500 million by prostitution, and about $900 million by property crimes. About $2.60 worth of property is required to yield $1 in cash. So the cost to victims of property crimes is