NCJ Number
228611
Date Published
2008
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study examined overall criminal victimization in Iceland based on the 2005 Icelandic International Crime Victims Survey (ICVS), with attention to consumer-fraud victimizations and the reporting of victimizations to police; the study also examined victims' demographic profiles.
Abstract
The 2005 Icelandic ICVS found that slightly over 20 percent of Icelanders were victims of one or more of the types of crimes included in the survey. Regarding consumer fraud, the ICVS asks respondents whether someone, when selling something to them or delivering a service, cheated them in terms of quantity or quality of the goods or services. Approximately 13 percent of respondents reported they had experienced some type of consumer fraud in 2004. This level of victimization was one of the most common types of criminal victimization experienced by the respondents; however, only 4 percent of those victimized by consumer fraud reported it to the police, suggesting that they viewed it as a minor crime that did not warrant the attention of the criminal justice system. Most of the consumer fraud reports involved some type of retail shop transaction (60 percent) or building/construction work (12 percent). Twelve percent of the respondents mentioned illegal price fixing among oil companies, which may have been related to a high profile case of this type at the time the survey was conducted. There was a higher rate of victimization among younger age groups in Iceland compared with European Union countries. This might be explained by the fact that Iceland is demographically a young nation with a higher birth rate than most European countries. The data reported in this study were collected in January and February of 2005, with a random sampling of 3,000 individuals 16 years old and older. The net response rate was approximately 67 percent. 4 figures and 14 references