Crime Victimization in the Eighties: Changes in Area and Regional Inequality

• NCJ Number: 156443
• Journal: British Journal of Criminology Volume: 35 Issue: 3 Dated: (Summer 1995) Pages: 343-359
• Author(s): A Trickett; D Ellingworth; T Hope; K Pease
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 17 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom
• Note: US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, International Crime Statistics Program

Annotation

This paper extends analysis of British Crime Survey Data, examining changes in victimization over time by comparing the 1982 and 1988 British Crime Surveys.

Abstract

Analysis of British Crime Survey data confirmed that area differences in crime incidence are attributable to both differences in victim prevalence (number of victims per respondent) and differences in the concentration of victimization (number of victimizations per victim). When they compared the 1982 and 1988 Surveys, the authors found that property crime had become more unequally distributed across parliamentary constituencies. The change was attributable more to changes in concentration than to victim prevalence. The pattern was much less marked for personal crime. Changes in crime incidence varied greatly by region, though there was evidence of redistribution of victimization between Northern and Southern regions. The analysis not only illustrates the importance of disaggregating crime trends into indexes of prevalence and concentration but also points to the possible relationship between sub-national crime trends and processes of economic and social regionalization. Footnotes, tables, references