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Background to the Research
- The ICVS
examines the experiences, attitudes and reporting of crime in industrialised
countries. Seventeen countries participated in the 2000 ICVS, which
is also the fourth round in the series of surveys. Northern Ireland
has participated in two previous sweeps: 1989 and 1996. Respondents
were asked about various types of victimisation they had experienced
over the past five years, including vehicle crime, burglary and personal
crime. The results of this bulletin however, relate only to experience
of crime in 1999.
Research
Approach
- Fieldwork
for the ICVS in Northern Ireland was carried out between February and
March 2000, based on a random sample drawn from the electoral register.
One individual was randomly selected from each household to answer the
questions. No substitution of the selected respondent with another member
of the household was allowed. There
was a response rate of 81% to the survey in Northern Ireland, the highest
of all the participating 17 countries.
Main
Findings
- Northern
Ireland has the lowest victimisation rate of any of the participating
countries. 15% of those questioned in Northern Ireland had been victims
of at least one crime in 1999 compared to an international average of
21.3%.
- The most
frequently experienced type of victimisation in Northern Ireland was
car vandalism (5.4% of car owners were victimised), followed by theft
from a car (3.3%) and then assaults and threats (3%).
- Although
lower than the overall international average of 3.5%, those reporting
being victims of assaults and threats in Northern Ireland has increased
from 1.7% in 1995 to 3% in 1999.
- Although
the reported victimisation rate for burglary in Northern Ireland during
1999 remains just below the international average (1.8%), it has been
increasing gradually, from 1.1% in 1988, to 1.5% in 1995 and up to 1.7%
in 1999.
- Results
from the survey indicate that Northern Ireland had then highest levels
(60%) of reporting crime to police, followed by the Netherlands (58%),
Sweden (57%) and Denmark (56%), Portugal had the lowest levels of reporting
at 36%.
- Just
over a quarter (26%) of those surveyed in Northern Ireland perceived
the risk of having their house burgled in the coming year as very or
fairly unlikely.
- Although
similar to the international level, the percentage of respondents who
thought the police in Northern Ireland were doing a very or fairly good
job has increased from 63% in 1996 to 67% in 2000
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