Measuring Victimisation: Data Sources, Methods and Ethics

Vocabulary flashcards covering official crime statistics, victimisation surveys, research methodology, research ethics, and comparative reporting dynamics in developing nations.

Official crime statistics

Quantitative descriptive and explanatory data gathered by government or government-approved agencies (such as SAPS annual reports) to inform criminal justice policy and track recorded crime over time.

Non-official sources

Victimisation data gathered by non-governmental or private entities, which can be qualitative (exploratory), quantitative (descriptive), or both, such as independent victim surveys.

Charge (as counting unit)

The formal administrative counting unit used in official police crime reporting, where statistics count specific legal charges attached to an opened case docket rather than each criminal event.

Social construction of crime

The concept that crime is not merely an objective legal occurrence, but is defined, perceived, and reported based on social awareness, emotional reactions, and political or media influences.

Missing cases

Criminal incidents not counted in official police statistics because they went unreported, were disbelieved, deemed too trivial, classified as 'no crime', or excluded to minimize caseloads and raise clearance rates.

Victims of Crime Survey (VOCS)

A scientifically designed countrywide household survey that assesses personal and household crime experiences, victim risk, perceptions of safety, and evaluations of criminal justice performance.

International Crime Victim Survey (ICVS)

A standardized cross-national survey coordinated by UNICRI to measure personal and household victimisation and reporting habits across diverse nations.

Dark figure of crime

The true volume of committed crime and victimisation patterns that remain unrecorded and unreported in official police records.

Epistemic imperative

The researcher's scientific and moral commitment to pursue knowledge and truth, which must never supersede the safety, dignity, or well-being of research subjects.

Secondary victimisation

Additional emotional, psychological, or social harm suffered by a victim as a consequence of insensitive investigations, courtroom experiences, or intrusive research inquiries.

Debriefing

A structured post-interview procedure integrated into sensitive research that allows participants to process triggered emotional trauma and reduces long-term psychological harm.

Informed consent

An ethical mandate requiring that participants freely choose to engage in research while fully understanding its purpose, potential harms, benefits, risks, and support options.

Intersectionality

A research framework recognizing that interconnected social categories—including gender, race, age, income, and sexual orientation—interact simultaneously to shape experiences of victimisation.

Positional superiority

A colonial attitude noted by Dodson (2003) in which Western researchers treat Indigenous populations as problems to be analyzed rather than equal partners with nuanced perspectives.

Indigenous research paradigm

A methodological model created by Martin and Mirraboopa (2003) that centers Indigenous worldviews and cultural frameworks by pursuing research priorities defined by Indigenous communities.

Postcolonial research paradigm

A research approach conceptualized by Louis (2007) that challenges Western scientific paradigms to create reciprocal spaces allowing Indigenous groups to direct research agendas.

Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power

An international charter stating that victims must be recognized, treated with respect, provided access to justice mechanisms, and protected from unnecessary harm.

Weight of the event

A primary category determining crime non-reporting identified by Zvekic and del Frate (1993), relating to how seriously the victim perceives the incident or monetary loss.

Mediation committees

Community-based, officially sanctioned bodies in China that resolve roughly 90% of local criminal and civil disputes outside formal police channels.

Sungusungu

Informal village vigilante groups organized in Tanzania to protect communities against cattle theft and dispense local justice.

Instant justice brigades

State-tolerated vigilante groups in Zambia operating outside the formal legal system to administer immediate punishment to suspected offenders.

Market share model of policing

Vagg's (1992) concept illustrating how low-level crime control was divided between police and triads in Hong Kong, demonstrating that police held a market share rather than a monopoly on control.

Panel design

A longitudinal study design measuring the same individuals across multiple intervals, necessary for distinguishing correlation from causation in victimisation research.

Quota sampling

A non-probability sampling technique stratifying participants by demographic brackets (e.g., age, gender, residence), utilized in the 1992 UN survey where sampling frames were absent.