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Do governments control crime successfully?
According to the 2006-2007 British Crime Survey, 65 per cent of adults in England and Wales believed there
was more crime in the country compared to two years ago. This was despite overall levels of crime
remaining broadly stable over the last few years, and indicates that actual and perceived levels of crime differ.
According to a report - Social Trends - published by the Office for National Statistics in 2008, confidence in the criminal
justice system is mixed. There are doubts over its effectiveness in dealing with young people accused of
crime, protecting the public and dealing with victims.
How does this compare internationally? What do people believe? Are governments successful in controlling crime?
Several international micro datasets are good sources for comparative analysis, most notably the Eurobarometer Survey Series,
conducted across all EU countries simultaneously using the same questionnaires, and the International Social Survey Programme
(ISSP) in which an identical core of questions is included in surveys in twenty-two countries.
Using ISSP 2006 data and comparing all available countries, the trust of respondents in Great Britain that their government is
successful in handling crime was below average, with only 20 per cent agreeing to this statement (Figure 1). At the upper end of the scale, more
than 50 per cent considered their government successful in dealing with crime in Switzerland and West Germany, whereas that proportion
was less than 10 per cent in Croatia and Chile.
Figure 1: Government successful in controlling crime
Data Source: ISSP 2006
All of the surveyed countries in a special 2005 Eurobarometer expressed hopes that cross-border crime could be fought more
efficiently if efforts to deal with it were centrally organised across Europe. In all countries, a clear majority of 70-90 per
cent answered 'Yes' to the question: 'Do you consider that policy on the prevention and fight against cross-border crime would be more
effective if it were decided jointly at the European Union level rather than by individual Member States?' (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Cross-border crime prevention and fight would be more effective if it were decided jointly at the European
Union level rather than by individual Member States
Data Source: Eurobarometer 64.3: Foreign Languages, Biotechnology, Organized Crime, and Health Items, data collection 2005
For researchers who are interested in comparing the European results to those of surveys from outside Europe, there are a range of
studies to choose from, all of which include crime-related topics. The Latinobarómetro,
an annual public opinion survey, conducted in 18 countries in Latin America, is
another of a number of regional opinion 'barometer' surveys. Other barometer surveys include the
Afrobarometer, Asian Barometer, AsiaBarometer and Arab Barometer. The last round of the
Afrobarometer, round 4 in 2008, included 19 African countries. The Asian Barometer Survey
brings together research teams from 13 East Asian and 5 South Asian countries. East, Southeast, South and
Central Asia are covered in the AsiaBarometer. Arab Barometer
coverage is about to double and expand to 10-11 countries in its second phase.
The Arab Barometer is part of the Globalbarometer network, alongside the Asian Barometer, Afrobarometer, and Latinobarómetro.
Next to join the network is the Caribbean region once surveys get off the ground in that area.
The European Social Survey (ESS), a biennial multi-country survey covering over 30 nations, contains the answers to the
following crime-related statement: 'It is important to her/him that the government ensures her/his safety against all
threats. She/he wants the state to be strong so it can defend its citizens.' There is no change in the overall proportion
of people agreeing with this statement in 2006 compared to 2002. A clear majority of about 87 per cent supports the idea of a strong
government ensuring safety for its citizens in both years, although there are small differences between the surveys one and three
within countries (Figure 3).
Figure 3: Important that government ensures safety against all threats, agreement 2006 compared to 2002
Data source: ESS 2002 and 2006, limited to countries for which data are available on this question in both surveys
Examples of other international datasets in the Data Catalogue containing information on victimisation and its consequences
in the past four years and safety in the community in several countries are:
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'Young Lives: an International Study of Childhood Poverty: Rounds 1 and 2, 2002-2006' covering Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam
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'Wellbeing in Developing Countries: Community Profiles, 2003-2006' with a focus on Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Peru and Thailand
Examples of other international data sources:
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'International Crime Victim Surveys' (ICVS), a programme of standardised sample surveys to look at householders' experience
of crime, policing, crime prevention and fear of crime across a large number of countries. It covers data from over 150
surveys done in more than 80 countries over a period of 16 years. The integrated ICVS database (1989-2005) can be downloaded
from DANS, the data archive of the Dutch Scientific Council (NWO).
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'European Survey on Crime and Safety' (EU ICS). The project follows on from the International Crime Victim Surveys (ICVS)
and addresses new needs for European comparative data for policy-makers. The 16 surveys from EU ICS are not included in the
integrated ICVS database. They can be obtained from Gallup Europe at www.europeansafetyobservatory.eu.
The information from the different datasets builds a picture of attitudes towards (inter-)governmental control of crime.
However, it should be borne in mind that the term 'crime' subsumes many different types of crime. Because of the specific nature
of the above illustrated investigation, not all variables related to 'crime' conducted in each of the surveys have been mentioned.
Much more information is available. However, in addition to the wording of the questions, the survey
year should also be controlled for to ensure comparability. The data are not all available for the same year which enables only
a partial combination of different pieces of information on one particular subject. In most cases, the research question, years and
countries of research interest will determine the choice of international datasets. The next section illustrates how to find
the most relevant datasets for the individual research purpose.
Finding international data sources on 'crime'
There are different ways to search for data on crime on the ESDS web pages. The main routes are as follows:
Data Catalogue search
International datasets search
Major studies search
Finding and accessing international microdata
For all the search strategies, there is a further option to search for microdata or macrodata only.
However, for those who want to explore the full range of dataset options to analyse crime-related research questions, the
advanced Data Catalogue search tool is recommended. It also allows the user multiple specifications, for example
specification of time period; geography; all, macro- or microdata; display of all or only major datasets; search
for crime as a subject, keyword or part of the study title etc.
Data access
International microdata can either be downloaded from the ESDS web sites or obtained from other archives directly
or via ESDS International/the UK Data Archive. However, please note that ESDS International microdata can only be
obtained from archives outside the UK on behalf of users at UK institutions of higher and further education (UK HE/FE) registered
with ESDS. ISSP and Eurobarometer data, for example, are stored in the 'Zentralarchiv'
(ZA) in Cologne, Germany, and accessible via its ZACAT
service. A large selection of Eurobarometer Survey Series datasets,
including standard Eurobarometers, Central and Eastern Eurobarometers and Candidate Countries Eurobarometers, are
available to browse, analyse and download online. However, data can also be obtained via the UK Data Archive by placing an
order. For other datasets, such as the European Social Survey (ESS), users will be required to register with other
archives (in this case Norwegian Social Science Data Service) in order to access the data. Whatever the requirements are,
they can be found outlined in the Data Catalogue record for each study. Moreover, a series of study specific user guides
are in place to direct users through the entire process.
Using the data
In addition to free web-based access to regularly updated international aggregate (macro) datasets and help for users in
locating and acquiring
international survey (micro) data from other archives ESDS International also provides:
to facilitate the use of the data.
For further information or to access the datasets referred to in this case study see:
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Case study 4: Using international microdata to explore country differences in people's attitudes towards governmental control of crime
