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The Swedish Crime Survey 2006

Victimization, fear of crime and public confidence in the criminal justice system. Summary of Brå report 2007:14

The Swedish Crime Survey covers a broad range of issues. This report presents the overall results relating to victimization, fear of crime and public confidence in the criminal justice system.

About the publication

Author
Madeleine Blixt, Malena Carlstedt and Annika Töyrä
Other information
© Brottsförebyggande rådet 2007
urn:nbn:se:bra-291
Report 2007:14

About the study

Crime and the fear of crime constitute social issues that are attracting an increasing amount of attention, and the demands being made on society’s capacity to prevent these problems are increasing. Exposure to crime, the fear of crime and public confidence in the criminal justice system all thus constitute a natural focus for crime policy. Reducing levels of victimisation and of the fear of crime constitute important objectives for government initiatives. In this context, it is important to develop a more detailed knowledge of the groups that are most commonly exposed to different types of offences, the groups that are most negatively affected by the fear of crime, and the groups that profess the lowest levels of confidence in the criminal justice system. This knowledge provides opportunities for society and politicians in general, and for the agencies of the criminal justice system in particular, to implement crime prevention measures where they are most needed.

In 2005, the Swedish Government commissioned the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå) and other agencies of the criminal justice system to plan and implement an annual survey of levels of exposure to crime and public safety. The survey, known as the Swedish Crime Survey, is based on telephone interviews conducted with a large random sample of the population (16–79 years). This summary presents the central findings relating to levels of exposure to crime, fear of crime and public confidence in the criminal justice system from the first (2006) wave of the survey. Almost 80 percent of the 10,000 individuals aged between 16–79 years who were included in the 2006 survey sample completed the interview (for the most part by telephone). Since this constitutes the first wave of survey, the report includes a detailed description of the data.

In the long term, the Swedish Crime Survey will reflect the progress of the overall crime policy goals of reducing crime and improving perceptions of public safety. But even in this presentation of findings from the first wave of data collection, a number of concrete questions have been answered, including:

  1. What proportion of the population is exposed to crime over the course of a year?
  2. What differences exist between different groups in the population? What types of victimization are least often reported to the police?
  3. What factors characterize the robbery and fraud offences that affect the general public?
  4. Which population groups are most affected in their everyday lives as a result of concerns about crime?
  5. Is the level of confidence in the agencies of the criminal justice system similarly high across different social groups?