Harm in the eye of the beholder: Comparing victims’ perceptions with the New Zealand Crime Harm Index

• In Event: Victim, suspects and public perception about justice

Abstract

Aim: Researchers have developed Crime Harm Indices (CHI), seeking to capture the harm that crime causes and use that information to inform criminal justice system policies and practices. But CHIs reflect consequences for offenders rather than harm to victims. Hence, it is unclear whether CHI weightings align with victim perceptions of the seriousness and costs of crime.
Method: To answer these questions, we compared the New Zealand CHI with New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey participants’ perceptions of the seriousness and costs of different types of crimes.
Results: We found that the New Zealand CHI ranked crimes in a similar order as NZCVS participants. Older people, women, and injuries were associated with higher perceived seriousness and costs of different types of crimes.
Conclusion: This study provides preliminary evidence supporting the New Zealand CHI as a useful tool for capturing crime harm in alignment with victim perceptions. With that said, victims’ own characteristics were associated with their perceptions of the seriousness and costs of crime, indicating a need for CHI to account for variations in the impacts of crimes on different communities.

Authors

• Apriel D. Jolliffe Simpson, University of Waikato

• Donelle Steer, University of Waikato

• Sophie Curtis-Ham, University of Waikato