Victimization Surveys - An Overview (From Perspectives on Crime Victims, P 98-104, 1981, Burt Galaway and Joe Hudson, ed. - See NCJ-74246)

• NCJ Number: 74251
• Author(s): J Garofalo
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 7 pages
• Sale Source: C V Mosby Co
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

This overview of victimization surveys focuses on survey research issues that are particularly germane to victimization surveying, such as sample size and victim recall.

Abstract

Perhaps the major impediment to the use of victimization surveys is the large sample size required. The rarer the phenomenon being studied, the larger the sample size necessary to obtain reliable information. The serious crimes studied in most major victimization surveys -- rape, robbery, assault, burglary, and vehicle theft -- are relatively rare and require large samples. Sample size can be reduced, however, by decreasing the proportion of nonvictims among interviewees so that the same number of interviews uncovers a larger number of victims. There are three ways to accomplish this reduction: individuals known to have been victimized can be included in the sample, the survey can be conducted in geographic areas known to have a high incidence of victimzation, and the length of the reference period (usually 6 months to 2 years) can be extended. Extending the reference period, however introduces another set of problems -- memory effects -- which jeopardize the accuracy of respondent recall. The results of a survey using a reference period of, for example, 5 years will obviously be contaminated by such memory effects. Victimization surveys are also limited as to what type of crime can be studied. If the victim is to be interviewed personally, homicide is excluded. Victims also cannot be interviewed about victimization of which they are not aware. Even when survey respondents are aware that a crime has occurred, they must define themselves as victims. There also must be an identifiable victim who can be interviewed. This problem is especially acute in studying victimizations of large organizations. Because of these limitations, most victimization surveys have focused on rape, robbery, assault, burglary, vehicle theft, and larceny. Yet an emphasis on the victimization survey as a primary data collection technique in criminal justice tends to support a reorientation of interest in the field, an emergence of a victim perspective in criminal justice. The victimization survey can be used as a vehicle for extending this perspective. A list of 15 notes is included.