New Italian Violence Against Women Survey (From Victimisation Surveys in Comparative Perspective: Papers From the Stockholm Criminology Symposium 2007, P 160-179, 2008, Kauko Aromaa and Markku Heiskanen, eds. - See NCJ-228606)

• NCJ Number: 228617
• Author(s): Maria Giuseppina Muratore; Isabella Corazziari
• Date Published: 2008
• Length: 20 pages
• Sale Source: Criminal Justice Press/Willow Tree Press
• Publication Format: Book Chapter
• Publication Type: Survey; Statistics
• Language: English
• Country: Finland

Annotation

This paper reports on the design and methodology of Italy's new Violence-Against-Women survey and presents findings from the 2006 survey.

Abstract

The design period for the survey began in 2002 and involved the use of focus groups, qualitative studies, interviews with experts, and pretest and pilot surveys. In order to collect data on the volume of physical and sexual violence the respondent had suffered during the reference period, a "screening technique" was used. This technique consists of asking the respondent a set of questions about the kind and number of violent events she had experienced during a specific time period, without asking about details. The questions are formulated as descriptive examples that the respondent can relate to her own experiences. This avoids use of the terms "physical violence" or "sexual violence." With respect to various types of perpetrators, there were three different screenings for violence by a nonpartner male, by a current partner, and by a previous partner. Psychological and economic violence were included in the questionnaire only with reference to the women's partners. Data on stalking were also collected. The survey involved computer-assisted telephone interviews conducted with 25,000 women from January to October 2006. Based on the survey data, the findings projected that 31.9 percent of all women ages 16-70 had experienced physical or sexual violence during their lifetimes. Physical violence was more often perpetrated by partners; whereas sexual violence was most often committed by nonpartners, mainly in the form of sexual harassment. Those experiencing physical or sexual violence by a current partner composed 7.2 percent of the women, and 17.4 percent of the women had experienced physical or sexual violence by an ex-partner. In almost all of the cases, the violence was not reported to the police. Victimization rates were higher among women ages 25-34 and women who were separated or divorced. 8 tables, 3 figures, and 19 references