NCJ Number
189688
Date Published
November 2000
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This paper provided preliminary quantitative and qualitative results of a 1999 survey of crimes against small business in Australia.
Abstract
In 1999, the Australian Institute of Criminology and the Council of Small Business Organizations of Australia planned a nation-wide survey of crimes against small business. Responses were analyzed from 4,315 small businesses in the retail food, retail liquor, news agent, pharmacy, and service station sectors. This paper reported preliminary results of their victimization and revictimization. Results indicated that 51.5 percent experienced crime victimization. The highest prevalence was of theft from premises, followed by burglary, vandalism, credit card fraud, and employee theft. Many small businesses experienced repeat victimization, mostly credit card fraud, vandalism, assault/threat/intimidation, employee theft, and burglary. Businesses were most vulnerable in the first 4 years of operation and medium sized businesses were victimized more than very small businesses. The mean loss was $7,818 per victim with a median of $1,500. Four percent of the victims were forced to close their business for half a day or more following the crime. This was the first release of data from this survey. References