© Ane Venter
KRM120
November Exam
Section B
1|Page
,© Ane Venter
Chapter 4
Measuring the levels of crime
--- page 127 - 131 ---
2|Page
,© Ane Venter
Victim surveys
○ Additional source of data on criminal offending.
○ National victim surveys – conducted among representative samples of households.
○ Explore experiences and perceptions of crime.
- Irrespective if the respondents experienced crime / victims reported the crime to police.
○ Not perfect – but offer means of measuring:
- Crime trends
- Reporting rates
- Public perceptions
○ Questionnaires are administered to people who at some time / in some way were victims of crime.
- Usually in the form of victim surveys.
○ National victim surveys:
- Provide invaluable information of victimisation rates and vulnerable groups.
- Focus on victims of crime instead of perpetrators.
- Cover representative sample of population in a specific geographical area.
- Provide understanding of public’s:
Perception of crime and safety
Fear of crime
Victim’s actual experience of specific typed of crime.
- Offer insight into under-reporting of crime (dark figure of crime).
- Complement police statistics by adding to information already on official database.
○ Developed and used in many countries over last 4 decades to complement police statistics.
○ Help in formulating a better, more holistic picture of crime generally.
○ Identify victims of crime and their experiences – especially of crimes not reported to law enforcement
agencies.
- Victim may be ashamed, like with marital rape.
○ Provide some insights into why crime is reported or not.
○ Provide important additional dimension to police statistics.
- Police statistics are essential for tracking crime trends – don’t provide an entirely accurate picture of
crime due to unreported crimes.
Comparing victim surveys from other countries
○ Laws vary between jurisdictions – comparing crime statistics are difficult.
○ Attempts to use data from South African national surveys for international comparison have failed.
○ Differences in definitions of crime and other methodological differences are too wide to allow proper
comparison,
○ Experts regard cross-country comparisons of crime statistics as being characterised by methodological
difficulties for 3 reasons:
1. Different definitions of specific crimes.
2. Different levels of reporting and policing traditions.
3. Different social, economic, and political contexts.
3|Page
, © Ane Venter
Different definitions of specific crimes
○ Category any incident of victimisation is recorded relies on legal definition of crime in any country.
○ If definitions aren’t the same – comparisons can’t be made of exactly the same crime type.
- Particularly relevant in crimes that require some discretion from police officials / relevant authorities.
○ Definitions of prostitution in South Africa are very different from definitions of prostitution in the
Netherlands.
- Prostitution in the Netherlands is legal and regulated.
- Operating a brother is also legal.
- Prostitution and brothels are still illegal in South Africa.
Different levels of reporting and policing traditions
○ Different societies across the globe have different levels of reporting of criminal incidents.
- Relates closely to levels of development in a society – most closely reflected in accessibility to the
police.
○ Factors like number of police stations and access to the police impact reporting levels.
○ Level of insurance coverage in a community is also a key indicator of crimes that would and would not be
reported.
○ Police:
- If police are trusted, people are more likely to report.
- In communities where the population mistrust the police (usually during periods of authoritarian rule) –
reporting levels are lower.
○ Very little trust exists in South Africa between the police and the community.
Different social, economic, and political contexts
○ Comparison of crime data from societies that have fundamentally different social norms may not be
possible.
○ May be key issues present in a society that impact on levels of reporting.
- Women from Islamic countries find it almost impossible to report rape or sexual abuse.
Strengths of victim surveys
○ Have a distinct advantage:
- Show extent of multiple victimisations.
- People may feel more comfortable to report anonymously on crimes via victim surveys.
○ Value has been recognised by governments in several developed countries – victim surveys are now
conducted annually to supplement police statistics.
○ First national Victims of Crime Survey (VoCS) conducted in 1998.
○ VoCS was initially conducted periodically – StatsSA now release data for their national VoCS annually.
○ VoCS results are crucial for:
- Crime prevention
- Policing and justice policy formulation
- Identifying gaps in resource allocation
- Improving victim support services.
4|Page
KRM120
November Exam
Section B
1|Page
,© Ane Venter
Chapter 4
Measuring the levels of crime
--- page 127 - 131 ---
2|Page
,© Ane Venter
Victim surveys
○ Additional source of data on criminal offending.
○ National victim surveys – conducted among representative samples of households.
○ Explore experiences and perceptions of crime.
- Irrespective if the respondents experienced crime / victims reported the crime to police.
○ Not perfect – but offer means of measuring:
- Crime trends
- Reporting rates
- Public perceptions
○ Questionnaires are administered to people who at some time / in some way were victims of crime.
- Usually in the form of victim surveys.
○ National victim surveys:
- Provide invaluable information of victimisation rates and vulnerable groups.
- Focus on victims of crime instead of perpetrators.
- Cover representative sample of population in a specific geographical area.
- Provide understanding of public’s:
Perception of crime and safety
Fear of crime
Victim’s actual experience of specific typed of crime.
- Offer insight into under-reporting of crime (dark figure of crime).
- Complement police statistics by adding to information already on official database.
○ Developed and used in many countries over last 4 decades to complement police statistics.
○ Help in formulating a better, more holistic picture of crime generally.
○ Identify victims of crime and their experiences – especially of crimes not reported to law enforcement
agencies.
- Victim may be ashamed, like with marital rape.
○ Provide some insights into why crime is reported or not.
○ Provide important additional dimension to police statistics.
- Police statistics are essential for tracking crime trends – don’t provide an entirely accurate picture of
crime due to unreported crimes.
Comparing victim surveys from other countries
○ Laws vary between jurisdictions – comparing crime statistics are difficult.
○ Attempts to use data from South African national surveys for international comparison have failed.
○ Differences in definitions of crime and other methodological differences are too wide to allow proper
comparison,
○ Experts regard cross-country comparisons of crime statistics as being characterised by methodological
difficulties for 3 reasons:
1. Different definitions of specific crimes.
2. Different levels of reporting and policing traditions.
3. Different social, economic, and political contexts.
3|Page
, © Ane Venter
Different definitions of specific crimes
○ Category any incident of victimisation is recorded relies on legal definition of crime in any country.
○ If definitions aren’t the same – comparisons can’t be made of exactly the same crime type.
- Particularly relevant in crimes that require some discretion from police officials / relevant authorities.
○ Definitions of prostitution in South Africa are very different from definitions of prostitution in the
Netherlands.
- Prostitution in the Netherlands is legal and regulated.
- Operating a brother is also legal.
- Prostitution and brothels are still illegal in South Africa.
Different levels of reporting and policing traditions
○ Different societies across the globe have different levels of reporting of criminal incidents.
- Relates closely to levels of development in a society – most closely reflected in accessibility to the
police.
○ Factors like number of police stations and access to the police impact reporting levels.
○ Level of insurance coverage in a community is also a key indicator of crimes that would and would not be
reported.
○ Police:
- If police are trusted, people are more likely to report.
- In communities where the population mistrust the police (usually during periods of authoritarian rule) –
reporting levels are lower.
○ Very little trust exists in South Africa between the police and the community.
Different social, economic, and political contexts
○ Comparison of crime data from societies that have fundamentally different social norms may not be
possible.
○ May be key issues present in a society that impact on levels of reporting.
- Women from Islamic countries find it almost impossible to report rape or sexual abuse.
Strengths of victim surveys
○ Have a distinct advantage:
- Show extent of multiple victimisations.
- People may feel more comfortable to report anonymously on crimes via victim surveys.
○ Value has been recognised by governments in several developed countries – victim surveys are now
conducted annually to supplement police statistics.
○ First national Victims of Crime Survey (VoCS) conducted in 1998.
○ VoCS was initially conducted periodically – StatsSA now release data for their national VoCS annually.
○ VoCS results are crucial for:
- Crime prevention
- Policing and justice policy formulation
- Identifying gaps in resource allocation
- Improving victim support services.
4|Page
