International Crime Victims Survey

Abstract

This essay on the International Crime Victims Survey summarizes the purpose, history, coverage, content, recent findings, and strengths and weaknesses of the survey. Data from the survey are used extensively in comparative international studies of crime and victimization. To date the survey has been administered five times, first in 1989 and most recently in 2004–2005. The survey is supported by a working group of European criminologists and a range of institutional actors, including the United Nations Interregional Criminal Justice Research Institute, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Gallup Europe, and the European Commission's Directorate General for Research and Technology Development.

Assessing Data Quality: An Approach and An Application

“…In contrast, some alternative corruption measures capture a very narrow slice of "the use of public office for private gain." For example, the International Crime Victims Survey asks only about exposure to bribery (Kennedy 2014). Of course, if a narrower (or broader) conceptualization of corruption is held by the researcher, one of these alternative corruption measures may be appealing.…”