DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02973.v1
title: International Crime Victim Survey (ICVS), 1989-1997
title: Version 1

description: The International Crime Victim Survey (ICVS) was a far-reaching program of standardized sample surveys that investigated householders' experiences with crime, policing, crime prevention, and perceptions of safety. The surveys were carried out in the following countries: Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chechnia, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Egypt, England and Wales, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany (West), Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Mongolia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Norway, Paraguay, the Philippines, Poland, Rumania, Russia, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, the United States, Yugoslavia, and Zimbabwe. The data were collected in three waves: 1989, 1992-1994, and 1995-1997. The main focus of the ICVS was whether the respondent was a victim of theft of or from vehicles, other thefts, vandalism, robbery, pickpocketing, sexual harassment or violence, or assault. The surveys also investigated the frequency of victimization, reasons for not reporting a crime to the police, familiarity with the offender in the case of a sexual offense, physical violence, injuries, fear of crime in the respondent's local area, use of help agencies for victims, satisfaction with police behavior, preferred legal sanctions, punishment, and length of detention for offenders, safety precautions when leaving home, possession of a gun, burglar alarm, or insurance, and frequency of going out.
description: Samples of 1,000 to 2,000 were drawn from the population of each country's largest city. In a few countries, the surveys covered several cities by random dialing. In some countries, there was an additional sample of 200 cases from rural areas, or a national sample was taken. Sampling was generally hierarchical. It began with identifying administrative areas within the city, followed by a step-by-step procedure aiming at identifying areas, streets, blocks, households, and, finally, household members aged 16 and over. No substitution of the selected respondent was allowed. There were some exceptions to this procedure. In Finland, a random selection of individuals was drawn from the population register. In Northern Ireland and some rural parts of Spain, telephone penetration was low and interviews were taken face-to-face with some computer assistance.
description: Datasets: DS1: International Crime Victim Survey (ICVS), 1989-1997
description: Persons aged 16 and over living in Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chechnia, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Egypt, England and Wales, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany (West), Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Mongolia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Norway, Paraguay, the Philippines, Poland, Rumania, Russia, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, the U.S., Yugoslavia, and Zimbabwe.
description: (1) The principal investigator requests that any publications using ICVS data be sent to John van Kesteren, ICVS International Working Group, University of Leiden, Hugo de Grootstraat 27, P.O. Box 9520, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands. (2) The codebook and data collection instruments for this collection are provided by ICPSR as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file. The PDF file format was developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader software, such as the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is provided on the ICPSR Web site.