Increasing Sensitivity to Violence and Its Associations With Self-Reported Violent Victimization

• In Event: Making the Most of Survey Measures in Criminal Justice Research

Abstract

This study examines trends in sensitivity to violence over the past decade and the associations of sensitivity with trends of self-reported violent victimization. The study uses data from the Finnish National Crime Victim Survey (FNCVS) from 2013 to 2021. The FNCVS serves as an instrument for measuring both violence and property crime victimization amongst Finns aged 15 to 74. The survey also includes a set of questions designed to measure respondents' perceptions of violence. These questions include 11 different scenarios in which A does something to B, with a scale to evaluate whether a given scenario is perceived as violence or not. The same set of questions has been included in every data collection sweep between 2013 and 2021, thus trends in both victimization and sensitivity to violence in addition to their temporal associations can be examined in this time window. The results reveal that sensitivity to violence has increased during the research period and that higher sensitivity is associated with higher likelihood of reporting violent victimization. The findings may imply that trends in self-reported violence are at least partially explained by changes in sensitivity to violence. Theoretical and methodological implications of this are discussed.

Authors

• Maiju Tanskanen, University of Helsinki

• Matti Näsi, University of Helsinki

• Janne Kivivuori, University of Helsinki