1. Purposes and Values

This is a report on 2nd Korean Crime Victim Survey(KCVS). The nationwide victimization survey in Korea was initiated in 1994 and conducted every three years by the Korean Institute of Criminology(KIC). The KIC restructured the whole system of the survey and re-launched it as the Korean Crime Victim Survey(KCVS) in 2009. In that year the KCVS was acquired the status of "National Statistics" approved by the Korea National Statistics Office. Since 2009, the KCVS has been conducted every other year.
The purpose of this study is as follow: Firstly, the study is to improve and supplement problems of research methodology the 1st KCVS that could elevate accuracy, usefulness and reliability of the survey results. Secondly, the study is to provide basic crime statistics based on the results as follows; 1) victimization rate, percentage of crime victimization reported to the police and cost of index crimes such as burglary, theft robbery, assault and wounding, sexual assault, fraud, threatening and stalking, and damage to property, 2) vulnerable factors of crime victimization, 3) Korean people's perceptions and attitudes on crime. Thirdly, the study is to provide researchers as well as common people with database of the result of survey.

2. Contents

Methodological changes to KCVS in 2010

* Making correction of screening questions about crime victimization : The method of questions about fraud, theft and assault victimization should make correction to increase the consistency and validity of the screening questions about crime victimization. Also, respondents of household crime victimization and raise reporting rate were expanded from the head-of-household to household members to reduce the underreporting of victimization events.

* Making correction of fear of question about crime : Respondents could give answer intensively to important questions by deleting redundant questions of the fear of the crime and reducing caused by long time survey. Also, question about fear of the children's victim of crime was separated from separately measured fear of the family's victims of crime.

* Making correction of question about crime prevention activity : Added questions that could measure avoidance behavior as well as collective behavior, and deleted questions not being included in active crime prevention activities from questions that could measure protective behavior.

* Adding of factors having influence upon crime victim and fear of crime : Added questions about attractiveness, vulnerability, intimate's crime victimization, disclosure of crime information and reporting.

* Making correction of measuring standards of series crime victimization: Previous study reported series crime victimization by using both severity of victimization and time sequence of victimization : But, measuring standards adopted severity of victimization only.

* Subdivision of measuring items of time loss : Measuring time loss by reason (physical injury, and replacement and repairing of articles) and each stage of criminal justice.

* More samples : Samples increased from 10,671 persons of 4,710 households in 2009 to 16,557 persons of 7,550 households in 2010

* Move up of survey time to lessen telescoping errors : Shortened gap between survey reference period(from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010) and reference date(April 1, 2011) to be 4-months.

The core contents of analysis

* Crime victimization rate of index crimes and crime victimization rates by administrative district and city size;

* Aspect and process that crime victimization occurs;

* Physical, property and mental losses and damages caused by the crime, social cost such as time loss

* Percentage of crime victimization reported to the police and Crime victim's experience and satisfaction with case processing;

* Vulnerable factors of crime victimization;

* Perception and attitude on crime and associated factors : perception on criminal trend, fear of crime and crime prevention activities.

3. Methodology

-Population

* Target population : Households residing in the territory of the Republic of Korea in survey reference date(April 1, 2011) and members of household who are14 years old or older;

* Survey population : Households residing in common enumeration district (1) and apartment enumeration district (A) of general enumeration district according to 2010 Census and members of household who were 14 years old or older;

Sampling : Get sample enumeration district by Probability Proportionate Sampling(PPS) and get sample of 10 households in sample enumeration by Systematic Sampling Collection of the data : Interview and self-repondent method

-Total number of samples

* Total number of households : 7,550 households

* Total number of interviewees : 16,557 persons

-Survey period

* Preliminary briefing and training : April 20, 2011 ~ April 25, 2011 (6-days);

* Survey period : April 26, 2011 ~ May 13, 2011 (18-days)

-Survey Reference period

* Reference period : from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010;

* Reference date : April 1, 2011

-Survey system

* Research team : Design the questionnaire, make out survey guidelines, set up internal inspection rule and establish action strategy at the stage of planning and
preparation.

* Department of survey agent support : Actual survey;

* Group work : Education of surveyors and superviors survey and the data.

4. The Results

1) Crime Victimization rate and Percentage of crime victimization reported to the police

* 2010 crime victimization rates of household : During 2010, 395 households suffered from crimes, such as burglary-theft, burglary-robbery, and damage to property to occupy 5.1% of total of 7,550 households. Total number of crime victimization accounted for 536 cases, and each one of household suffered from crime of 1.36 case on average.

* 2010 crime victimization rates of individuals : In 2010, 549 persons suffered from crimes, for instance, fraud, theft, robbery, assault and wounding, sexual assault, and threatening to occupy 3.5% of 16,557 persons. Total number of crime victimization accounted for 744 cases, and each person suffered from crime of 1.41 case on average.

* 2010 crime victimization rates of each administrative district : In 2010, crime victimization rate of not only household but also individuals at Gwangju city recorded the highest among 16 cities and provinces in the nation. On the other hand, crime victimization rate of household at Busan city recorded the lowest, and victimization victim rate of individuals at Jeju-do recorded the lowest.

* 2010 crime victimization rates by city size : The crime victimization rate of burglary-theft and burglary-robbery at eup and myeon recorded the highest, and that at small cities did the lowest. The crime victimization rate of automobiles (theft motor vehicle and damage to automobile) at metropolitan cities and small cities recorded the highest, and that at Seoul did the lowest. The crime victimization rate of fraud, robbery and properties crime at metropolitan cities recorded the highest, and that at Seoul did the lowest. The crime victimization rate of assault and wounding, robbery, sexual assault, and other violence against individuals at small cities recorded the highest, and that at Seoul as well as metropolitan cities did the lowest. Therefore, metropolitan cities and small cities were found to be vulnerable to the crime.

* The most frequent crime victimization type in 2010 : The burglary-theft and burglary-robbery occurred the most frequently among crimes against household so that 2.6% of households in the nation was estimated to suffer from burglary-theft and burglary-robbery. The theft occurred the mont frequently among crime against individuals: 1.5% of the population who was 14 years old and older was estimated to suffer from burglary in 2010, and 1.4% of the population was estimated to suffer from fraud in 2010. In 2010, the property related crime occurred more often than violent crime did.

* Repetition of crime victimization : Not only 83.2% of households that suffered from crime 2 times or more but also 80.3% of individuals who suffered from crime 2 times or more were found to suffer from crime repeatedly (from either same offender or similar type of crime technique). Therefore, either households or individuals were likely to suffer from crime again because of vulnerability. Either households or individuals were much likely to suffer from stalking, threatening, robbery and violence again. So, repeated violent crime victimization was found to be higher than that of property crime.

* Percentage of crime victimization reported to the police : In 2010, The reporting rate of crime against household accounted for 29.5% (housebreaking related crime 31.7%, and automobile related crime 24.8%), while that of the crime against individuals (property crime 15.1%, and violent crime 24.5%) did 17.2%. The reporting rate of the crime against household was higher than that of the crime against individuals was. The reporting rate of housebreaking related crime of crime against households was higher, while that of violent crime against individuals was higher.

2) Actual Conditions and Results of Crime Victim

* Crimes against households (housebreaking related crimes) : The crime against households (housebreaking crimes) often occurred in summer, that is to say, June to August(31.9%), and it often occurred at daytime, that is to say, 12:00 to 18:00 (44.3%). So, the crime against households often occurred in the afternoon when home was vacant. Criminals infiltrated house through either opened door or front gate(46.3%), which crime victim mostly found out within one day. The victim lost money, stocks and bonds(28.6%), and victim of housebreaking related crime suffered from damage to property(31.0%), that is to say, breakage of window, keys and entrance door of house to be the highest, followed by spoilage and demage of clothes. The crime often occurred at detached dwelling and row house areas at cities(56.3%), and at detached houses(70.5%), households having couple and children(27.9%), and at households having monthly income of less than million Won(23.4%).

* Property crimes against individuals : The crime often occurred in spring (March to May) (32.9%), and in the afternoon (12:00 to 18:00) when home was vacant(50.2%). The crime occurred at schools(24.6%), at houses(19.7%) and residential section and side streets(17.7%) in order. The victim lost money and bonds(26.4%) and bicycles and their parts(25.0%). Non return rate accounted for 94.3%. The victim consisted of women(55.0%), in their teens(27.4%) and their thirties(23.5%), and students(31.6%) and full-time homemakers(19.3%).

* Fraud : Crime victimization rate of voice phishing that swindler pretended to be an employee of postal office, telephone company, banks, credit card company and the National Tax Service recorded the highest (27.7%). Fraud victim said that they were deceived because of a swindler's plausible speaking(39.1%), followed by internet shopping website(18.0%), advertisement over broadcasting and newspapers(12.5%), and telemarketing(5.7%) in order. The victim lost money, stocks and bonds(66.0%), and they could not return cash and/or articles lost(78.1%). The victim had no significant difference of gender, and were at their thirties(25.8%) and their forties(21.2%), and full-time homemakers(18.7%) and employee in service and sales sector(17.2%).
The swindlers were a victim's friend and/or intimate(65.7%), so a victim was often deceived not by unknown person but by an intimate and/or acquaintance.

* Violent Crimes against Individuals

(1) Season and Time
Violent crime often occurred in summer, that is to say, June to August (31.6%). sexual assault occurred from 9:00 PM to 3:00 AM (more than 40%), and robbery did at daytime(12:00 to 15:00) (16.8%), and assault and wounding did in the afternoon, that is to say, 15:00 to 18:00(20.7%), and threatening and stalking did at night, that is to say, 21:00 to 24:00(41.3%).

(2) The crime incident occurrence place coincided with criminal's residential place(66.2%), for instance, sexual assault(60.4%), robbery(86.1%) and assault and wounding(44.4%), and threatening and stalking(100%) were coincided.

(3) sexual assault was committed at outdoor, streets, mountains and public transportation(38.4%), and at residential areas and side streets(27.5%), and robbery was done at residential areas and side streets(31.7%), and at outdoor, streets, mountains and fields and public transportation (17.0%). and assault and injury was done at outdoor, streets, mountains and fields, and public transportation(22.0%) and office and workplace(20.9%), and threatening and stalking were done at residential areas and side streets(46.2%) and parking lots(20.3%).

(4) assault and injury gave victim mental damage(71.5%) to be higher than crime against households and/or property crime against individuals did.
Sexual assault gave a victim mental damage the most(96.8%), followed by assault and injury(87.4%), threatening/ stalking(76.3%) and robbery(34.9%) in order.

(5) assault and injury made a victim make change of a victim's behavior to differ from crime against households and/or property crime against individuals. In other words, a victim had higher fear when walking alone at back street at night(52.9%), and lower 'reliability upon other person'(79.1%) and 'confidence of self-defense when being attacked'(41.3%) after experiencing the crime.

(6) Women suffered from sexual assault(85.3%), robbery(58.0%), assault and wounding(58.5%) and threatening and stalking(92.9%) more than men did. Victim suffered from crimes depending upon ages, for instance, sexual assault in their twenties(52.1%) and in their thirties(19.3%), and robbery in their teens(40.3%) and in their sixties(19.1%), and assault and wounding in their thirties(30.4%) and in their teens(20.8%), and threatening and stalking in their thirties(26.6%) and in their twenties(24.2%). 4-years university graduate or higher(39.7%) and lower than 4-years university graduate(30.9%) suffered from sexual assault, and middle school graduates(34.2%) and high school graduates(34.1%) did from robbery, and high school graduate(37.7%) and lower than 4-years university graduates(19.4%) did from assault and injury, and 4-years university graduates or higher(32.6%) and high school graduate(23.1%) did from threatening and/or stalking. Office workers(38.4%) and students(30.9%) suffered from sexual assault, and students(40.3%) and employee in service and sales sector(30.8%) did from robbery, and students(23.1%) and employee in service and sales sector(19.2%) did from assault and injury, and students(29.8%) and office workers(23.3%) did from threatening and stalking.

(7) Criminals in their forties(28.6%) and fifties or higher(22.7%) committed assault and injury, and the ones in their fifties or higher(39.9%) and in their forties(19.4%) did sexual assault, and acquaintances(68.7%), a stranger(27.6%) and family and/or relatives(3.7%) did assault and injury, and acquaintances(28.6%), a stranger(68.9%) and family and/or relative(2.5%) committed sexual assault. acquaintances committed assault and injury in order of slights, friends and close persons, and acquaintances committed sexual assault in order of acquaintance and lover(including ex-lover).

3) Vulnerable Factors

* Crimes against Households (Housebreaking)

(1) Features of the Households
Kinship households suffered from housebreaking related crime the most(8.2%), and household with single parent and children did highly(7.0%), and the ones living at detached dwelling did rather highly (6.1%), and the ones living in apartment did rather low(1.6%). Not only the ones earning monthly income of 4 million to 5 million Won (4.8%) but also the ones earning monthly income of 3 million to 4 million Won(4.1%) suffered from housebreaking rather highly, while the ones earning monthly income of more than 5 million Won did from housebreaking related crime rather low(3.0%). The residence type had not statistical significance: The one whose home was vacant in the day suffered from housebreaking related crime.

(2) Regional characteristics
Household owners who thought that their village was physically disordered, and the ones who thought that their village was socially disordered did often. Being different from expectation, the ones who thought of good neighborhood relations suffered from housebreaking(5.0%) more than the ones who thought of poor(3.4%) and/or common neighborhood relations(3.4%) did. Perception on neighbors' participation that was a factor of collective efficiency had no significant difference with housebreaking related crime victimization.

* Crimes Against Individuals

(1) Property Crimes
- The theft had no significant difference by gender: The ones in their teens(4.2%) and unmarried persons(2.2%) suffered from victimization highly. High school graduates(1.9%) and graduate school graduates(1.7%) suffered from theft highly, and uneducated persons(0.4%) and elementary school graduates(0.7%) suffered from theft less. Not only students(3.6%) but also employee in service and sales sector(2.1%) suffered from theft much, while not only people working in the farming and fishery(0.5%) but also managers and professionals(0.7%) did less. Frequency of use of public transportation, and frequency of returning to home while dead drunk, and dress when going out had no relation with suffering from theft. The ones who returned to home late every day suffered from theft often(2.6%), followed by returning home late once every 2 to 3 days(1.8%) and no late return to home(1.0%). Being different from housebreaking related crime, the ones who thought of either poor neighborhood relation(1.7%) or common neighborhood relation(1.7%) suffered from theft more than the ones who thought of good neighborhood relation did(0.9%). Participation that was a factor of collective efficiency had no significant difference with theft robbery crime victimization. The ones who thought that their village was physically disordered suffered from victimization much, and the ones who thought that their community was socially disordered suffered from victimization much.
- Fraud victimization had no significant difference depending upon gender.
Being different from theft, the ones in their thirties(1.8%) suffered from fraud the most(1.8%), and the ones in their seventies(0.8%) and in their sixties(0.9%) suffered from fraud less. Fraud crime's damage and loss had no significant difference with marital status: And, graduate school graduates(2.6%) suffered from fraud much, and elementary school graduates(0.4%) did less, and both of them had no linear relation.
Occupation type and disabled had no statistical difference.
- Men(0.9%) suffered from violence more than women(0.5%) did. The ones in their teens(2.0%), unmarried(1.4%) and students(1.8%) suffered from violence more. And, educational level and disabled had no significant difference. Being different from theft victimization, frequency of use of public transportation and dress when going out had significant relation with violent crime victimization. The ones who made use of public transportation every day were victim of violent crime than violent crime(1.5%). The ones who returned to home late every day were victim of violent crime than violent crime(1.5%), and the ones who returned to home once every 2 to 3 days did(1.1%), and the ones who did not return to home late did(0.4%). The ones who took dress with temptation when going out suffered from violent crime. And, frequency of returning to home while dead drunk had no relation with violent crime Victimization. The ones who thought of poor neighborhood relation often suffered from violent crime. Like property crime victimization, commonly participation that was a factor of collective efficiency had no significant relation with violent crime victimization. Like property crime victimization, the ones who thought that their community was physically disordered often suffered from violent crime, and the ones who thought that their community was socially disordered often suffered from violent crime victimization.

4) perception and Attitudes on the Crime

* Perception on trends of crime occurrence : The Korean people thought of increase of the crime throughout the nation(61.2%), and increase of the crime at their own villages(26.8%): So, the Koreans thought that crimes increased at the place that was far from their daily life place. Comparing with 2009 survey, the Korean people did not think that crimes would increase in the nation and at their village: So, crime rate that citizens thought of decreased.

* Factors having influence upon perception on trends of crime occurrence :
Perception on trends of crime occurrence was influenced by not only gender, age, occupation, income levels and other personal demographic factors but also a direct crime victimization experience, an intimate's crime victimization experience(indirect victimization), and disclosure to crime related stories and news. To lower crime rate that common people felt, making effort to lower crime victimization rate, and reporting style of the media of crime incidents were thought to be important.

* Fear of Crime : The Korean people felt fearful when walking alone at back streets at night(31.7%) that was lower than 42.4% at 1994 survey that was firstly done throughout the nation for the first time. More people did not feel fearful of theft, robbery, burglary, fraud, assault and injury, sexual assault, stalking, damage to property and housebreaking: Fear of housebreaking related crime recorded the highest.

* Factors having influence upon fear of crime : Women, young aged, high educated and high income earners have a much more fear of crime more than men, old aged, low educated and low income earners respectively.
The persons who have been the victim either directly or vicariously through the experience of relatives, families, and acquaintances and frequently have exposed to crime news were significantly more fearful. The ones who lived at metropolitan cities and small cities felt fearful of crime more than the ones who lived at either Eup or Myeon did. And, the ones who lived at detached house and row houses in cities felt fearful of crimes. The ones who had good relation with neighbors, and the ones who joined neighborhood activities actively, and the ones who thought of police activities at their village in affirmative way, etc felt fearful of crime less: On the other hand, the ones who thought that their village was physically or socially disordered felt fearful of crime more.

5. Reformation and Improvement

This study suggested reformation and improvement to elevate accuracy, usefulness, and reliability of the survey: 1) Expand sample size and investigate related issues, 2) Cooperate with the Statistics Korea(National Statistical Office) to elevate reliability of national statistics, 3) Investigate types of index crimes again, 4) Measurement of series victimization and improve data collection strategy, 5) Make use of Internet survey, 6) Establish standing research team for crime victimization survey.