NCJ Number
170421
Date Published
1996
Length
57 pages
Annotation
The 1996 International Victimization Survey gathered information on the victimization experiences of 3,900 residents of Finland who were at least 16 years old.
Abstract
The data were collected by means of interviews conducted by Statistics Finland with the sponsorship of the Ministry of the Interior and the National Research Institute of Legal Policy. Results revealed that the level of crime in Finland is below the European average. Nineteen percent of the participants had been victims of crimes described in the questionnaire, a decline of 2 percentage points from 1992. The prevalence of victimization over a 5-year period was 45 percent, 1 percentage point less than in the 1992 survey. The rates of residential burglaries and thefts from automobiles were unchanged, whereas robberies and less serious forms of sexual harassment had decreased since 1992. Thefts of personal property were particularly prevalent among young people, as were violence among young men and sexual harassment among young women. Young men were also robbery victims more often than was the population in general. Rates of reporting to the police varied by the type of offense and included nearly 100 percent of the auto thefts, 70 percent of the residential burglaries, 27 percent of the violence, and 8 percent of the sexual harassment. Eleven percent of the participants believed it likely that their home wold be burglarized in the next year; the fear of street violence was highest in Helsinki. Figures, tables, appended tables and methodological information, and 16 references