NCJ Number
95982
Date Published
1984
Length
12 pages
Annotation
The 1982 Canadian Urban Victimization Survey provides extensive information on citizen perceptions of crime and the criminal justice system, fear of crime, the risk of victimization, and awareness of and participation in crime prevention programs.
Abstract
The survey, which was conducted in seven major urban areas, used a random sample of 61,000 residents 16 years old and above. The crimes included in the survey were sexual assault, robbery, assault, breaking and entering, motor vehicle theft, theft of household property, theft of personal property, and vandalism. The survey revealed a rough correspondence between the proportion in each city who said crime had increased and the percentage increase recorded in the Uniform Crime Reports in the 2 years prior to the survey. Ninety-five percent of urban residents felt 'reasonably' or 'very' safe walking alone in their neighborhoods during the day; approximately 60 percent felt safe after dark. Fear for personal safety apparently had less to do with statistical risk of victimization than with perceived vulnerability. The greatest concentration of fear was among the elderly and women. There were more than 700,000 personal victimizations and almost 900,000 household victimizations. A large majority of urban Canadians took the basic precaution of keeping their doors locked, and burglar alarms had been installed in about 8 percent of the households. Yet, approximately 36 percent of the 227,300 break-and-enter incidents apparently did not involve forced entry. Awareness of community-based crime prevention programs was much higher than actual participation. Overall, the survey indicates most crime was against property rather than people, serious violent crime was relatively rare, and many crimes could have been prevented had simple target-hardening techniques been used. Tabular and graphic data are provided, and the appendixes detail study methodology, definitions, and limitations.