Putting the Magnifying Glass on NationalVictimization Statistics : A Descriptive Study onLocal Crime Victimization Patterns in a Medium-Sized Swedish City

Introduction: Crime victimization is a problem affecting both individuals and societies. Previous research has looked at the associations between victimization and other factors, and many countries employ self-reported victimization surveys to establish what the victimization patterns look like at different societal levels. Aims: By examining victimization proportions and patterns, this study aimed to further the understanding of what the crime victimization problem looks like in a medium-sized Swedish city. Method: 149 men and 146 women, for a total of 295 inhabitants of Sundsvall, answered self-reported victimization surveys based on the Swedish Crime Survey. The gathered data was subsequently quantified and analyzed. Results: In total, 11.9 % of the sample reported some type of victimization. Overall, men were more likely to be victimized than women, and crimes against persons were more common than crimes against property. Occupation and socio-economic status were significantly associated with victimization. More than half of the victimizations were not reported to the police, and victimization was significantly associated with a lower trust in the criminal justice system and the police. Conclusion: Medium-sized cities like Sundsvall seem to have considerably lower proportions of victimization than the counties, regions and nation as a whole. The rates of reporting and patterns of victimization found, however, are in accord with findings on other societal levels and could to some extent be explained through the principles of the routine activities/lifestyle theory.2017-06-01