Statistics portal STATEC Luxembourg today published the main results of its '2013 Security Survey', conducted alongside the University of Luxembourg/INSIDE, which has revealed pravailing attitudes towards crime and victimisation in the Grand Duchy.
The main objectives of the survey were to measure the prevalence of common crimes and to examine the behaviours related to crime and security and involved asking a series of questions to 3,025 respondents aged 16 and above. Between 2008 and 2013, half of the population fell victim to at least one of the following crimes: burglary, attempted burglary, car theft, theft in a car, motorcycle or bicycle theft, credit card or online banking fraud, personal property theft, harassment, consumer fraud, bribery, payoffs/corruption, sexual abuse or physical violence. Half of all reported offenses between 2008 and 2013 were related to vehicle or personal property theft.
It was found that victimisation influences assessment of police performance, even if the police were not involved in dealing with the crime. Victims who did not report incidents were reportedly twice as likely to say that the police are doing a 'bad' or 'very bad' job than those who were not victims. More than 3 in 4 respondents said they do 'a good job' (76.5%). The courts were judged more harshly than the police, with only 69.2% of respondents rating courts as performing 'a good job', but there was a strong correlation between the evaluation of the courts and that of the police.
During the period surveyed, reporting rates were found to be higher for burglary, whilst physical abuse, consumer fraud and sexual violence revealed the lowest reporting rates. The survey also showed that people do not report crimes unless they were significantly affected or if they believed that the police would not be able to help.
The survey determined that women, the elderly, people with low education levels, the unemployed and victims of violent crimes suffered from significant emotional impact. Those who have suffered such an impact are more likely to fear sexual harassment, physical aggression and terrorism. The victims of physical violence (35.3%) confirmed that victimisation had an important emotional impact, followed by the victims of sexual violence (31.1%), burglary (25.2%) and robbery (20.3%).
Feelings of insecurity were more commonly found amongst women, those born in Luxembourg, individuals with poor education, older people and City residents.
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