Victimization and Police Statistics in the IIe-de-France Region

• NCJ Number: 226041
• Journal: Penal Issues Issue: 18 Dated: March 2008 Pages: 3-6
• Author(s): Philippe Robert; Renee Zauberman; Sophie Nevanen; Emmanuel Didier
• Date Published: March 2008
• Length: 4 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: France

Annotation

This study addressed three of the issues involved in conducting French victimization surveys in the Ile-de-France region: the unequal distribution of victimization within the population; the variety of victim profiles for a specific type of victimization; and the comparison of survey findings with police statistics on recorded crimes.

Abstract

Half of the population surveyed had not experienced any of the types of victimization included in the questionnaire. These were older than the rest of the sample; they more often lived alone and were retired or otherwise had lifestyles that limited their risk for criminal victimization. The rest of the sample experienced victimizations, but not according to a pattern. There were different profiles for victims. One-fourth of the sample had experienced mostly vehicle crime, with very few personal victimizations or burglaries. One-sixth of the sample experienced mostly personal victimization, i.e., violence and thefts without violence, as well as thefts of motorbikes. These two types of victimzations were experienced most by young people (15-30 years old). Approximately one-tenth of the sample had been victimized by burglaries. They had also experienced an above-average number of vehicle crimes and personal victimizations. It is instructive to compare victimization survey findings and official police statistics on crimes for the region. According to the survey, cases in which the police were aware of the victimization without the victim having reported the crime were extremely rare, and police statistics on reported crimes were typically lower than the number of crimes respondents claimed they reported to the police. This suggests that although the victim believed she/he had formally lodged a victimization complaint, the police did not record it as such. In some cases, however, police statistics for offenses exceeded those reported by respondents to the victimization survey. Explanations and recommendations are offered for these variations. 5 tables and 1 figure