NCJ Number
222430
Date Published
2007
Length
95 pages
Annotation
This report presents findings from the 2006 New Zealand Crime and Safety Survey providing information for the justice sector as a means of monitoring performance and providing direction for the future terms of community safety.
Abstract
Results of the survey in the area of crime in public places do not give a complete picture of the distribution of crime across public and private space for technical reasons to do with the methodology of the New Zealand Crime and Safety Survey (NZCASS). The results are based on approximately three-quarters of the crimes mentioned by victims in NZCASS 2006. Highlights of the results of the survey in the area of concern about crime include: (1) women emerged as more worried on a large number of measures, such as sexual assault; (2) older people were frequently seen as the most fearful, however, this failed to come across clearly; and (3) young people emerged as more concerned about crime than others; more were conscious of drunks, glue sniffers, and those using drugs on the street. Highlights of the results of the survey in the area of neighborhood support include: (1) there is no clear indication that belonging to neighborhood support (NS) in New Zealand reduces people’s risks of victimization; (2) NS does help alleviate concern about crime as residents come to have more control through their own efforts and those made by neighbors; and (3) there was little to substantiate the idea that NS increased the flow of information from the community to the police. ‘Safer Communities’ is the term used to describe one high-level outcome that is shared across the whole of the justice sector in New Zealand. This report provides findings that inform that outcome. Just over 5,400 New Zealanders took part in the NZCASS 2006 survey. Respondents were asked questions about crime in their area, about their level of concern about crime, and about NS. Tables, figures, references, appendixes A and B, and glossary