Victimization is widespread in Canadian society
Published Thursday November 20th, 2008
Any perception that crime is rare has to be qualified by the fact that nearly three out of ten Canadians 15 years of age and older were victimized in 2003.
These victimizations involved physical injury, financial loss and property damage. People had their money stolen, and their vehicles and homes vandalized. In addition there were psychological and emotional after-effects that are difficult to calculate.
According to the General Social Survey on victimization, about one-quarter of the incidents resulted in the victim seeking medical attention, while more than three-quarters of victims were left with feelings of anger, confusion and frustration.
These incidents represent the several million events which happened to people - people who ride on buses, drive in cars and shop for groceries. When they report what happens to them to the police, and many of them don't, the criminal justice system kicks in. Statistics Canada estimates that the total cost for administering policing, courts, legal aid, prosecutions and adult corrections was over 12 billion dollars in 2002.
This is an abstract sum, difficult to comprehend, but it is the same as government officials coming to your front door and demanding an annual tax of $399 per person living in the house. Almost two-thirds of that money is spent on policing, with the rest divided up between corrections, courts, and criminal prosecutions.
However, in the calculation of an even more abstract sum, Canadian researchers have attempted to calculate the emotional cost of crime. This formula takes into account the cost of pain and suffering, the proportion of victims worried about their safety, and the mental distress of being a victim of crime. The estimate for this was closer to $36 billion.
And then we have to calculate the cost of lost productivity, the cost of health and property insurance, the cost of loss of trust and decreased sense of control. Victims are more likely to be anxious, vigilant, depressed and to feel less safe in their own neighbourhood.
When we look specifically at stalking, the General Social Survey shows that one in ten people had been stalked in the previous five years. Most of these victims changed their day-to-day habits in order to cope with the stress of being stalked, and to avoid encountering their stalker. Many victims began to screen calls and change their locks, and over one-third chose not to go out alone.
What makes the experience even worse is that in half of all cases, friends, acquaintances or someone else known to the victim was the perpetrator.
The national victimization survey also polls people about their feelings of satisfaction with the police. About two-thirds of non-victims say the police are doing a good job being approachable, ensuring the safety of citizens, enforcing the laws and treating people fairly.
However, only about half of victims of a violent victimization felt the same way. While most people are satisfied with the way the police assist them when they report crime, they are less likely to feel satisfied with the police than those who don't have to report crime.
This is sort of like dentists - we admire them from a distance, but are less comfortable with them close up. And if that sounds like faint praise, compare it to how people feel about tax auditors.
Some studies have attempted to look at the interaction between police and victims, and what is revealed is instructive for how laws get enforced. Given that only 31 per cent of people report crime, and that 60 per cent say they don't because they believe the police can't do anything, this is an important issue. A recent issue of the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, for example, looked at how mandatory arrest policies in cases of domestic violence were perceived by victims.
Early research on police intervention in domestic violence reported a reluctance to arrest, failure to listen or provide encouragement, and general insensitivity. Since then many jurisdictions have implemented mandatory arrest policies in domestic violence cases, and when victims feel they are listened to, they are much more likely to report positive interactions with police.
When victims report negative interactions, they say they felt the situation was minimized, that they were disbelieved, or that the officer didn't care or was scornful. In cases of stalking and domestic violence, women were more likely to report satisfaction if they felt they were listened to. Men who were victims are more likely to complain that they weren't believed in the first place.
Chris McCormick teaches criminology at St. Thomas University and his column on crime and criminal justice appears every second Thursday.
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