NCJ Number
235040
Date Published
June 2011
Length
8 pages
Annotation
As part of the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program, this study interviewed 816 detainees regarding their personal experiences of victimization and fear of victimization for three crime types: physical assault, burglary, and motor vehicle theft; rates of police detainee victimization for these crime types were compared with a sample from the general population.
Abstract
The study found that 30 percent of the detainees expected to be physically assaulted in the next 12 months; 15 percent believed it likely that their residence would be burgled; and 8 percent anticipated their motor vehicle would be stolen in the next 12 months. Approximately 30 percent of the detainees reported being a victim of at least one physical assault in the previous 12 months, and 10 percent reported being a victim of burglary; 4 percent reported having their motor vehicles stolen. Compared with the general population, police detainees were much more likely to have been a victim of all three crime types; however, despite this difference in actual victimizations, persons from the general population had a greater fear of future victimization than the detainees. As a result of their victimization, 11 percent of the detainees reported that they felt it was necessary for them to commit a criminal offense as a means of compensating for the medical or other financial costs of their victimization. Fifty-eight percent of the detainees who reported being burgled and 52 percent who have their motor vehicle stolen reported their victimization to the police. Only 33 percent reported their assaults to police. Reasons for not reporting victimizations were it was viewed as a private matter, lack of confidence in police, and fear of revenge from the perpetrator. 5 tables and 13 references