NCJ Number
80716
Date Published
1977
Length
4 pages
Annotation
An overview is given of the findings of the 1976 South Dakota victimization survey and survey of public attitudes on fear of crime and criminal justice issues.
Abstract
Slightly over 5,000 State residents were mailed a booklet inquiring if they had been victims of a number of crimes during 1976: robbery, burglary, motor vehicle theft, other theft, vandalism, assault, and sexual assault. Responses indicated that 15 out of every 100 people had been victims of vandalism and 9 of every 100 were victims of theft. Frequencies of victimization for the remaining crimes showed that, in rank order, burglary, robbery, motor vehicle theft, assault, and sexual assault were the predominant crimes. The responses on citizen opinions of crime and the criminal justice system issues indicated that most people feel safe in their homes at night, most believe that crime has increased in the last 2 years, and most feel that local law enforcement is either good (43 percent of the nonvictims and 38 percent of the victims) or fair (32 percent of the nonvictims and 35 percent of the victims). Judges were rated by the majority as good or fair. Fifty-two percent of the respondents favored mandatory sentencing, and 74 percent favored victim compensation. Seventy-three percent of the victims and 67 percent of the nonvictims did not believe that restrictions on the ownership of handguns in the State would decrease crime. Assault and sexual assault victims were least likely to report the incident to police, while victims of motor vehicle theft were most likely to report the offense. Public policy questions arising from the findings are listed and discussed. Limited tabular data are provided in this overview.