Guide to Offending, Crime and Justice Survey
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The Offending, Crime and Justice Survey (OCJS) (also known as the Crime and
Justice Survey), is the first national longitudinal, self-report offending
survey for England and Wales. The series began in 2003, the initial survey
representing the first wave in a planned four-year rotating panel study. The
OCJS was commissioned by the Home Office, with the overall objective of
providing a solid base for measuring prevalence of offending and drug use in
the general population of England and Wales. The survey was developed in
response to a significant gap in data on offending in the general population,
as opposed to particular groups such as convicted offenders. A specific aim was
to monitor trends in offending among young people. The sample of respondents
was drawn from persons aged 10-25 years, resident in private households in
England and Wales.
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The OCJS series is managed by a team of researchers in the Home Office Research,
Development and Statistics Directorate. The Home Office commissioned BMRB
Social Research and the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to conduct
the surveys jointly. Both organisations have been involved in developing the
surveys and, at each wave, the fieldwork has been split between the two
agencies.
Given the sensitive information asked of respondents and the technical
complexities involved in the survey, the 2003 survey was preceded by a
feasibility study which tested out an early version of the questionnaire among
a small sample of the general population (including offenders). The feasibility
study was conducted by BMRB Social Research in 2002, and a number of
recommendations were made which were taken into account in the design of the
initial 2003 OCJS.
Methodology
The OCJS series has been designed as a 'rotating panel' which means that in each
subsequent year, part of the previous year's sample is re-interviewed, and is
augmented by further 'fresh' sample to ensure a cross-sectional representative
sample of young people. The aim of this design is to fulfil two objectives:
firstly, to provide a solid cross-sectional base from which to monitor
year-on-year measures of offending, drug use, and contact with the criminal
justice system over the planned four year tracking period (2003-2006); and
secondly, to provide longitudinal insight into individual behaviour and
attitudinal changes over time, and to enable the Home Office to identify
temporal links between and within the key survey measures.
The basic OCJS questionnaire comprises modules on the following topics:
- household grid (conducted using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI))
- socio-demographic characteristics (CAPI)
- neighbourhood (CAPI)
- attitudes to the criminal justice system (CAPI)
- contact with criminal justice system (parts 1 and 2) (CAPI)
- victimisation (CAPI)
- antisocial behaviour (conducted using Audio Computer Assisted Self-Interviewing (ACASI))
- white collar/'hi-tech' crime (ACASI)
- offending - count/follow-up (ACASI)
- offending - nature (conducted using Computer Assisted Self-Interviewing (CASI))
- domestic violence (CASI)
- drinking (CASI)
- drug use (CASI)
- health, lifestyle and risk factors (CASI)
- reactions to the survey and recontact (CASI)
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In addition to questionnaire data, the dataset also includes derived
socio-economic and geo-demographic variables.
OJCS resources
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The Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) holds the 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 OCJS studies
conducted so far:
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Offending, Crime and Justice Survey datasets
Users should also see the National Centre for Social Research web pages (note
that the OCJS is referenced by NatCen as the Crime and Justice Survey):
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Related datasets held by ESDS
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British Crime Survey:
The BCS is a similar victimisation survey to the OCJS, but covers adult
respondents aged 16-59 years only (apart from the occasional youth boost
sample), whereas OCJS respondents are aged 10-25. Between them, therefore, the
BCS and OCJS give a complementary, but obviously different, picture of the
crime-related experiences and circumstances of adults and young people. The BCS
is also managed by the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics
Directorate.
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User documentation
ESDS user documentation for the OCJS can be downloaded in PDF format from the relevant
Data Catalogue records. Study descriptions and documentation are available
for the following:
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OCJS 2003
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OCJS 2004
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OCJS 2005
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OCJS 2006
Publications based on the OCJS
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Publications based on the OCJS are available online from the Home Offices's
Offending, Crime and Justice Survey web pages:
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www.esds.ac.uk help@esds.ac.uk
E33360 - Offending, Crime and Justice Surveys
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