Abstract:
The International Crime Victimisation Survey (ICVS) is the most far-reaching programme
of fully standardised sample surveys looking at householders' experience
of crime in different countries. The first ICVS took place in 1989, the second in 1992,
and the third in 1996. Surveys have been carried out in over 50 countries since 1989,
including a large number of city surveys in developing countries and countries in
transition. This report deals with eleven industrialised countries which took part in
the third sweep.
The reason for setting up the ICVS was the inadequacy of other measures of crime
across country. Figures of offences recorded by the police are problematic due to
differences in the way the police define, record and count crime. And since most
crimes the police know about are reported by victims, police figures can differ
simply because of differences in reporting behaviour. It is also difficult to make
comparisons of independently organised crime surveys, as these differ in design
and coverage.
For the countries covered in this report, interviews were mainly conducted by
telephone (with samples selected through variants of random digit dialling). There
is no reason to think results are biased because of the telephone mode. Response
rates varied hut we show that there is no overriding evidence that this affects the
count of victimisation. Samples were usually of 1,000 or 2,000 people which means
there is a fairly wide sampling error on the ICVS estimates. The surveys cannot,
then, give precise estimates of crime in different countries. But they are a unique
source of information and give good comparative information.
The results in this report relate mainly to respondents' experience of crime in 1995,
the year prior to the 1996 survey. Those interviewed were asked about crimes they
had experienced, whether or not reported to the police.
Victimisation