On whom does the burden of crime fall now? Changes over time in counts and concentration
| Published date | 01 January 2016 |
| Author | Ken Pease,Dainis Ignatans |
| Date | 01 January 2016 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0269758015610854 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
On whom does the burden
of crime fall now? Changes
over time in counts
and concentration
Dainis Ignatans
University of Huddersfield, UK
Ken Pease
University College London, UK
Abstract
A recent publication (Ignatans and Pease, 2015) sought to examine the changed distribution of
crime across households in England and Wales over a period encompassing that of the crime drop
common to Western countries (1982–2012). It was found that while crime against the most
victimised households declined most in absolute terms, the proportion of all crime accounted for
by those most victimised increased somewhat. The characteristics associated with highly victi-
mised households were found to be consistent across survey sweeps. The pattern suggested the
continued relevance to crime reduction generally of prioritising repeat crimes against the same
target. The present paper analyses the changed distribution of crime by offence type. Data were
extracted from a total of almost 600,000 respondents from all sweeps of the Crime Survey for
England and Wales (CSEW) 1982–2012 to determine which types of victimisation became more or
less concentrated across households during the overall crime drop. Methodological issues
underlying the patterns observed are discussed. Cross-national and crime type extension of work
of the kind undertaken here are advocated as both intrinsically important and likely to clarify the
dynamics of the crime drop.
Keywords
Victimisation, crime drop, crime concentration, quantitative criminology
Corresponding author:
Professor Ken Pease, Jill Dando Institute, 35 Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9EZ, UK.
Email: k.pease@ucl.ac.uk
International Review of Victimology
2016, Vol. 22(1) 55–63
ªThe Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/0269758015610854
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