Statistics on Violence against Women

1
Statistics on Violence against Women

• Review of Module on Crime and Victimisation in
  general household survey in Ireland
• Topic 2, Session 5

2
Overview of presentation

• Main focus Crime and victimisation module
• Brief review of international recommendations for
  conducting surveys on violence against women
• Usefulness of general household survey module for
  collecting more specific statistics on violence
  against women

3
QNHS

• The Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) is
  conducted by the Central Statistics Office.
• The survey began in September 1997, replacing the
  annual Labour Force Survey
• Its main purpose is to produce quarterly labour
  force estimates

4
QNHS Background

• Nation-wide continuous survey of households
• Participation is voluntary - response rate of 93
• Demand for more social statistics drove
  introduction of a quarterly labour force survey
  with social modules

5
QNHS Survey Details

• Data collected using Computer Assisted Personal
  Interviewing (CAPI)
• Over 30,000 households per quarter
• Household interviewed for 5 consecutive quarters
  (i.e. 5 waves)
• QNHS also used for social modules

6
QNHS social modules 1998-2004
7
Crime victimisation module (CV)

• Undertaken in Q4 1998 repeated in Q4 2003
• Crimes against households
• Crimes against individuals (aged 18 or over)
• Theft with violence
• Theft without violence
• Physical assault
• If a crime occurred more than once during the
  previous 12 months (e.g. burglary) only the most
  recent occurrence was recorded

8
Crime victimisation module

• Response rate to CV module was 79 (persons)
• No proxy interviews conducted for module
• Sexual assault or domestic violence was not
  covered by the survey - too sensitive and
  protecting response rate to main employment
  survey has top priority
• Module was not focussed on violence against women

9
Level of personal crime
10
Table 1 Principal economic status of population
and victims
11
Table 2 Likely victims
12
Table 3 Victims classified by age group and sex
of victim
13
Table 4 Victims classified by location of
incident and sex of victim
14
Table 5 Victims classified by type of crime and
sex of victim
15
Table 6 Victims classified by whether crime was
reported and sex of victim
16
Table 7 All persons classified by perceptions of
safety and sex of person
17
Module review

• Module worked well in the field
• Other household members may be present during
  survey interview
• 25,000 households included in the module
  responses
• No comparable data available from other surveys
  or from police statistics

18
International context

• Emerging volume of statistical output
• International crime victimisation survey
• Statistics Canada 1993 violence against women
  survey
• International violence against women survey
• - 9 EU countries involved
• ISTAT violence against women survey

19
World Health Organisation

• WHO World Report on Violence and Health
• WHO research recommendations
• Study must include actions aimed at reducing any
  stress caused to victims
• Refer women requesting assistance to support
  services
• Use in multi-purpose surveys only when WHO
  recommendations can be met
• Safety of interviewer and interviewee an issue

20
Statistics Canada

• Conducted a Violence Against Women Survey in 1993
• Survey conducted by telephone interview
• Focus on crime may limit reporting of assaults
  within relationships and sexual harassment
• Let interviewees decide time/date of interview

21
International Violence Against Women Survey
(IVAWS)

• Conducted by UN European Institute for Crime
  Prevention and Control
• Focus on violence against women by men
• Builds on International Crime Victimisation
  Survey
• 22 participating countries (including 9 from EU)
• Specialised training for interviewers
• Interviewers are female
• Telephone and face-to-face interviews

22
Conclusions from ISTAT survey

• Victimisation surveys dont adequately capture
  statistics on violence perpetrated by someone
  close to the victim
• Financial, psychological, physical and sexual
  violence
• Qualitative and quantitative approach
• Care and flexibility required in setting-up and
  conducting the interview
• Interview is stressful
• Requires interviewers trained in the topic

23
Conclusions and Recommendations

• More focussed survey on violence would need to
  include domestic violence and sexual harassment
• National Statistical Institutes have limited
  experience of crime statistics but CV surveys a
  soft introduction
• CV surveys could be used to raise policy, NSI
  and user awareness of need for victim surveys
• NSIs have survey and data handling integrity and
  confidence of public
• Involvement and advice of experts outside NSIs is
  necessary

24
Conclusions ctd.

• Key step is for NSIs to become more involved in
  compilation and dissemination of crime statistics
  
• Recent decision in Ireland by Minister for
  Justice that the CSO would assume full
  responsibility for the compilation and
  publication of crime statistics
• A new CSO Crime Statistics Unit has been set-up
• Initial focus will be on crimes reported to the
  police
• Review and development of victimisation surveys
  is also within the remit of the Unit