Victims and Victimisation

Sociologists are interested in the patterns and trends of victimisation; why some groups in society are more likely to be victims of crime and whether certain characteristics make people more or less vulnerable to becoming a victim of crime.

The Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) provides a rich and detailed data set of victimisation. Although the research method can be criticised, it provides a more complete picture than police statistics and does facilitate quantitative analysis of the patterns and trends of victimisation.

CSEW data released in 2017 showed that men were slightly more likely to be victims of crime than women; and that young people (both men and women) were most likely to be victims.

Furthermore, people of mixed race were the most likely ethnicity to be victims (more than twice as likely as white people, who were the least likely to be victims of crime among larger ethnic groups).

Furthermore, long‐term unemployed people and students were the most likely people to be victims of crime.

People in urban areas were more likely to be victims than those in rural areas; and people in more deprived areas were more likely to be a victim than those in more prosperous areas.

Having a significant disability also appeared to increase the risk of victimhood. This was particularly the case for children under 15 where 11.9% of those with a long‐standing illness or disability had been victims of a crime in that previous year, compared with 4.8% of those without.

And most significantly, for children with a disability were those who had been recent victims of bullying: 18.1% compared with 2.8% without.