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Official Crime Statistics and Survey Data: Comparing Trends of Youth Violence between 2000 and 2006 in Cities of the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Russia, and Slovenia

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Abstract

Based on official crime statistics, violent crimes of youths in Germany and Central and Eastern Europe had appeared to have increased considerably between 1990 and 2000. Survey data that can overcome limitations of police data and allow to compare crime trends across countries are rare. Based on self-report delinquency studies of 15 year old juveniles in 1998–2001 (SRD) and 2006 (ISRD-2) using compatible questionnaires in Germany and Central and Eastern Europe (partly in the same cities), trends of attitudes towards violence, of victimisation experiences and self-reported wanton and instrumental violence are compared cross-nationally. There is substantially less approval of violence in 2006 and a corresponding decrease of victimisation experiences and violent behaviour between 1999 and 2006. Official crime statistics show serious limitations. The results are discussed with respect to theories of modernisation and social change.

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Notes

  1. The Russian figures are based on the yearbook of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (1988–2009) because the European Sourcebook figures of robbery in Russia 1996–2000 are obviously not correct.

  2. The response rates in Krakow and Ljubljana are not known but were most likely in the range of 65% to 80%.

  3. The scores were transformed to a scale ranging from 0 to 100.

  4. In the SRD questionnaire all offences were listed on one single page whereas in the ISRD-2 study per offence a series of follow up questions followed, requiring the space of seven pages.

  5. However, in several other German cities a significant decrease of the prevalence of self-reported instrumental violence (robbery) of juveniles between 1998 (4.4%) and 2006 (3.2%) was observed (Baier 2008, p. 26).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Criminal Sciences, University of Hamburg, Rothenbaumchaussee 33, 20148, Hamburg, Germany

    Dirk Enzmann

  2. Department of Sociology, Charles University Prague, FF UK N.J. Palacha 2, 11638, Prague 1, Czech Republic

    Zuzana Podana

Authors
  1. Dirk Enzmann
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  2. Zuzana Podana
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dirk Enzmann.

Additional information

With special thanks to Bojan Dekleva and Špela Razpotnik, Ljubljana (Slovenia), Beata Gruszczyńska, Warsaw (Poland), and Alexander Salagaev, Kazan (Russia) for data used in this article.

Appendix: Items used to assess attitudes towards violence, victimisation experiences, and violent offending

Appendix: Items used to assess attitudes towards violence, victimisation experiences, and violent offending

Attitudes towards violence

Wanton violence

  • A bit of violence is part of the fun.

  • One needs to make use of force to be respected.

  • Without violence everything would be much more boring.

Culturally accepted violence

  • If somebody attacks me, I will hit him/her back.

  • It is completely normal that boys want to prove themselves in physical fights with others.

SRD Study (1998–2001)

Victimisation experiences

Assault: Someone hit you intentionally strongly, so that you got injured (bleeding wound or black eye). No weapon or object was used.

Robbery: Someone snatched something from you by force or under the threat of violence, e.g. your bag, bicycle, or money.

Self-reported delinquency

Assault: Did you beat up and injured somebody?

Extortion: Did you (alone or together with someone else) force somebody to “pay you” by threatening him/her with a beating?

Robbery: Did you (alone or together with someone else) snatch something from somebody by force?

ISRD-2 Study (2006)

Victimisation experiences

Assault: Someone hit you violently or hurt you so much that you needed to see a doctor.

Robbery: Someone wanted you to give him/her money or something else (watch, shoes, mobile phone) and threatened you if you did not do it.

Self-reported delinquency

Group fight: Did you ever participate in a group fight on the school playground, a football stadium, the streets or in any public place?

Assault: Did you ever intentionally beat up someone, or hurt him with a stick or knife, so bad that he had to see a doctor?

Extortion: Did you ever threaten somebody with a weapon or to beat them up, just to get money or other things from them?

Robbery: Did you ever snatch a purse, bag or something else from a person?

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Enzmann, D., Podana, Z. Official Crime Statistics and Survey Data: Comparing Trends of Youth Violence between 2000 and 2006 in Cities of the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Russia, and Slovenia. Eur J Crim Policy Res 16, 191–205 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-010-9121-z

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