The Use of Victim Surveys as a Measurement of Criminal Activity

The Use of Victim Surveys as a Measurement of Criminal Activity

Background Information

======================

The first victim surveys were carried out in the USA during the late

1960's (Biederman et al 1967, Ennis 1967 and Reiss 1967).

There is a wide range of methodologies available for victim research

but the most important means of data collection can be offered by

household surveys.

Description

-----------

The British Crime Survey (M.Hough and Mayhew 1983) selected 16,000

households and interviewed at least one member who was 16 years or

older from each household. The aim of the interviews was to see what

sort of attitudes people had about crime, if they had been a victim of

crime and to give details of the crime if they had encountered any.

This survey agreed with Sparks (1981) who noted that 'criminal

victimization is an extremely rare event…crimes of violence are

extremely uncommon'.

Common crimes nowadays are more like stealing from a motor vehicle;

however, crimes like assault and burglaries have a low rate of

occurrence.

Hough and Mayhew estimated that the 'statistically average' person

over the age of 16 years could assume to be burgled once every 40

years, and be robbed once every 500 years.

Crime surveys have revealed that crime does not occur at random.

Around 90% of the people who responded to the surveys said that they

had no experience of crime. However, out of the remaining 10%, some

people did say that they had been the victims of two or more crimes

and had been involved in a string of incidents. Some surveys have

revealed that burglaries are most common to occur in inner city areas.

If you have parked your car in a dark street at night, then it is most

likely to be stolen or broken into. The most likely victims of assault

are young men who have naturally assaulted other people themselves.

In 1988 the BCS (British Crime Survey) sampled almost 14,000 addresses

that were simply based upon legislative districts and a small sample