Beata Gruszczynska

Self-reported youth delinquency in Europe and beyond: First results of the Second International Self-Report Delinquency Study in the context of police and victimization data

This article reports on the first results of the Second International Self-Report Delinquency Study (ISRD-2), a large international collaborative study of delinquency and victimization of 12—15-year-old students. The analysis is based on a subsample of the data set: 43,968 respondents from 63 cities and 31 countries. The prevalence rates of the major categories of delinquency, both for individual countries as well as for 6 country clusters, are presented as well as data for victimization experiences (theft and robbery/extortion). Using different measures, significant differences in level and type of offending are found between country clusters, with the Western European and Anglo-Saxon countries generally (but not always) scoring highest, followed by Northern Europe, Latin American and Mediterranean countries, with post-socialist countries at the bottom. The results for victimization experiences do not follow this pattern. The second part of the article compares ISRD-2 offending and victimization rates with two other main sources of internationally available crime-related statistics: International Crime Victim Survey (ICVS) data and European Sourcebook (i.e. police-based) data. The analyses show a moderate level of support for a convergence of different measures. The article concludes with implications and suggestions for further research.

The many faces of youth crime : contrasting theoretical perspectives on juvenile delinquency across countries and cultures

Introduction.- Substance Use.- Delinquency.- Victimization Experiences.- Social Response and Reporting.- Family.- Schools and the Education System.- Lifestyle.- Self Control and Attitudes Towards Violence.- Neighborhood.- Macro-Sociological Perspectives on Individual Problem Behavior.- Theoretical and Policy Implications.

History and Design of the ISRD Studies

The present volume is the first official publication on the second International Self-Report Delinquency Study (ISRD-2), an international collaborative research enterprise with a cross-national description and explanation of juvenile delinquency as its main objective.

Synthesis and Outlook

The contributions in this book provide a first glimpse into the rich data from our collaborative international study of self-reported delinquency and victimisation. Each chapter stands on its own and tells its own story, albeit with a common core content: Tables of life-time and last year prevalences of offending.

Juvenile Victimization from an International Perspective

Delinquency and victimization are correlated. However, this does not imply that all victims are offenders, or that all offenders become victims of crimes. Elderly people and women especially commit substantially fewer offences, but nonetheless at times may experience victimization. However, among juveniles, the correlation between victimization and delinquency is generally assumed to be stronger, given that (young) offenders often expose themselves to increased risks of victimization. A delinquent lifestyle may indeed be among the strongest predictors of violent victimization. This in itself is one of many good reasons to look more closely at victimization among juveniles. A second motivation is that juveniles are being victimized disproportionately compared to other age groups, and crime is an essential aspect of the quality of life at this age. Many juveniles are obviously not regularly involved in delinquency, but are genuinely affected if violence occurs frequently in the age group they socialize with in everyday contexts. Since minors are notoriously poorly represented in national and international crime victimization surveys, this study offers a good occasion to look more closely at the factors which influence the probability of such experiences at this age, which may not necessarily be the same during later periods in life.

Women Victimization Risk of Violence in Poland

This chapter presents major results of the International Violence Against Women Survey (IVAWS), conducted in Poland. This victimization survey enables to show the real magnitude of violence against women as compared to violence officially reported by women. Major result shows that annually up to approximately as many as 800 thousand women in Poland may be experiencing violence. Chapter describes the victimization rates (by partner and non-partner violence, by form of violence), reporting rates, police reaction, child witnessing. The results of selecting best predictors of victimization risk are also presented.

The curent data collection exercise: An assessment

International data collection initiatives in the area of crime and criminal justice include the United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems and regional initiatives such as the European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics. While such cross-national data collection efforts offer a unique insight into reported crime at the international and regional levels, they suffer from considerable challenges, including the need to maintain response levels, to ensure full questionnaire completion and to control for differences in national interpretation. This article contains suggestions from a number of experts in crime statistics on how to improve current cross-national data collection exercises. Issues of questionnaire design, survey periodicity, timeliness of data, quality control and the needs of data users are addressed.

Évaluation des activités actuelles de colecte de données

Il est mene au plan international differentes initiatives de collecte de donnees sur la criminalite et la justice penale, comme l’Enquete des Nations Unies sur les tendances de la criminalite et le fonctionnement des systemes de justice penale, et d’autres initiatives ont ete lancees au plan regional, comme le Recueil europeen de statistiques relatives a la criminalite et a la justice penale. Ces efforts de collecte de donnees dans les differents pays, s’ils permettent de se faire une excellente idee de delits signales aux echelons international et regional, n’en supposent pas moins des difficultes considerables, dont la necessite d’obtenir des taux de reponse suffisants, de faire en sorte que les questionnaires soient integralement remplis et de reduire au minimum les differentes interpretations dans les divers pays. Cet article contient des suggestions de plusieurs experts des statistiques criminelles au sujet des mesures qui pourraient etre adoptees pour ameliorer les actuelles collectes de donnees au plan international. Il traite notamment de questions comme la conception des questionnaires, la periodicite des enquetes, l’actualisation des donnees, le controle de la qualite et les besoins des utilisateurs.

Evaluación de las actuales actividades de reunión de datos

Las iniciativas internacionales de reunion de datos en la esfera del delito y la justicia penal incluyen el Estudio de las Naciones Unidas sobre tendencias delictivas y funcionamiento de los sistemas de justicia penal y las iniciativas regionales como la Coleccion Europea de Estadisticas de la Delincuencia y la Justicia Penal. Esas actividades de reunion de datos en secciones nacionales transversales ofrecen una vision unica de la delincuencia denunciada en los planos internacional y regional, pero tropiezan con problemas considerables, incluida la necesidad de mantener buenos niveles de respuesta, asegurar que el cuestionario se rellene en su totalidad y tener en cuenta las diferencias en las interpretaciones nacionales. El presente articulo contiene sugerencias de un cierto numero de expertos en estadisticas de la delincuencia sobre la forma de mejorar las actuales actividades de reunion de datos transnacionales. Se abordan las cuestiones del diseno del cuestionario, la periodicidad de las encuestas, la actualidad de los datos, el control de calidad y las necesidades de los usuarios de los datos.