Victims of Crime Research Digest, Issue No. 4

Canadians' Awareness of Victim Issues: A Benchmarking Study

Introduction

How much do Canadians know about victims of crime? Are they aware that specific services exist in every jurisdiction to assist victims? Do levels of awareness differ among jurisdictions and age groups or between men and women? Interesting questions! And we now have some answers.

In Canada, victim services have been growing over the past two decades. These agencies provide a range of services to assist victims of crime through different delivery models (e.g., police-based, community-based, system-based). We know from the national Victim Services Survey that 686 victim service providers helped almost 406,000 victims between April 1, 2007, and March 31, 2008,. The types of assistance that were most often provided directly by the agencies included:

According to the 2009 General Social Survey (GSS) on Victimization, about 7.4 million Canadians aged 15 and older reported being a victim of a crime that year (Perreault and Brennan 2010, 6). We also know from the 2009 GSS that only 1.5% of victims used victim services following the crime incident; this increases to 2.5% if we look at violent incidents only.Footnote 1 While many of the victims may not have wanted to seek assistance from an agency, it is certainly possible that some victims might have sought assistance had they been aware that services existed.

In the fall of 2010, the Government of Canada undertook an awareness campaign on the availability of services for victims of crime. The Department of Justice Canada led this endeavour working closely with other federal departments and agencies. To assist with the media strategy for this campaign, a benchmark study was undertaken prior to the campaign to gauge Canadians' awareness of victim issues. This article presents some of the results from that study.

Background

This research is important for a number of reasons. First of all, it supports and builds on other research findings regarding how Canadians learn about criminal justice issues and where they turn to for assistance. Research over the past two decades in Canada and elsewhere shows that victims of crime want information. Specifically, they want:

Research also shows that Canadians learn about the criminal justice system primarily through the media, that is television, radio, and newspapers (see McDonald et al. 2007). The benchmarking study asked specifically how Canadians learned about victim services. We will be able to use these results to help inform additional research, policy and program directions.

Second, with the results from the present study, we now have representative data about Canadians' awareness of victim issues, including representation from those who have identified themselves as victims of crime. In Canada, there are two primary sources of data on victims of crime: self-reported data from the General Social Survey (GSS) on Victimization and police-reported data from the Incident-based Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR2). In addition, studies of varying sizes with differing capacities to generalize to the population may be undertaken. For example, there are studies that include interviews with sexual assault survivors from a particular area in the country or with clients from a particular program. As anyone doing research in the area knows, recruitment of a representative sample of victims as research participants poses many challenges and is often not feasible (Lauritsen and Archakova 2008). Because the data are representative, we are able to make general statements about Canadians' awareness of victim issues.

Methodology

The Department of Justice Canada contracted Ekos Research Associates Inc. (Ekos) to undertake the data collection using a ten-minute telephone and onlineFootnote 2 survey. The survey instrument was designed by Justice officials and finalized in consultation with Ekos.

Respondents to the telephone survey were 18 years of age and older and were randomly selected (through random-digit dialing). The sample included all provinces and territories, and the survey was administered in both English and French. The sample distribution for this study is provided in Table 1.

Table 1: Sample Distribution
Province/Territory Sample Size Margin of Error (19 times out of 20)
Atlantic Provinces 176 ± 7.4%
Quebec 450 ± 4.6%
Ontario 700 ± 3.7%
Manitoba/ Saskatchewan 173 ± 7.4%
Alberta 200 ± 6.9%
British Columbia 251 ± 6.2%
Territories 56 ± 14.0%
Total 2,006 ± 2.2%

The survey was conducted from September 7 to 23, 2010. Survey results were weighted based on Statistics Canada data according to age, gender, and region to ensure the sample was representative of the general public aged 18 years and older. The response rate was 20.9% which is very reasonable for a public opinion survey.

Results

Knowledge of Victim Issues and Services

All respondents were asked about their level of knowledge about compensation for victims of crime, restitution, victim services, testimonial supports, and victim impact statements. A four-point scale was used, with 1 meaning “no knowledge at all,” 2 meaning “a little knowledge,” 3 meaning “some knowledge,” and 4 meaning “a lot of knowledge.” The results are displayed in Figure 1.

Approximately 42% of respondents had no knowledge at all of victim services in Canada. Approximately the same proportion said they had no knowledge at all of other programs/services available to victims of crime, such as compensation and restitution.

Figure 1: Knowledge of Services/Programs Available for Victims of Crime

Figure 1: Knowledge of Services/Programs Available for Victims of Crime

Figure 1 - Text equivalent

Figure 1 is a horizontal stacked bar graph that illustrates respondents' level of knowledge of five different services/programs available to victims of crime. The x-axis shows the percentage of respondents who responded as having "no knowledge at all," "a little knowledge," "some knowledge", "a lot of knowledge," or "don't know" for each of the programs/services asked about. The y-axis shows the types of programs/services available to victims of crime: victim services; supports, such as a person present while a child is testifying in court; restitution; victim impact statements; and compensation for victims of crime.

The results show that 42% of respondents had "no knowledge at all" of victim services, 36% had "a little knowledge", 15% had "some knowledge", 6% had "a lot of knowledge", and 1% did not respond.

For supports, such as a person present while a child is testifying in court, 40% of respondents had "no knowledge at all" of victim services, 34% had "a little knowledge", 17% had "some knowledge", 8% had "a lot of knowledge", and 1% did not respond.

For restitution, 45% of respondents had "no knowledge at all" of victim services, 34% had "a little knowledge", 14% had "some knowledge", 5% had "a lot of knowledge", and 2% did not respond.

For victim impact statements, 40% of respondents had "no knowledge at all" of victim services, 30% had "a little knowledge", 20% had "some knowledge", 9% had "a lot of knowledge", and 1% did not respond.

In terms of compensation, 45% of respondents had "no knowledge at all" of victim services, 36% had "a little knowledge", 13% had "some knowledge", 5% had "a lot of knowledge", and 1% did not respond.

The knowledge Canadians reported having of victim services varied by demographic factors. Respondents in western Canada reported greater levels of awareness than those from central/eastern Canada (see Figure 2). In addition, those who identified themselves as victims of crime were slightly more likely to report “a lot of knowledge” of victim services compared to those who had not been the victim of a crime (10% versus 5%, respectively).

When we examined knowledge by age, 91% of those under 25 years reported no knowledge at all (51%) or very little knowledge (40%). This younger age group (18-24) had the lowest reported knowledge of victim services of all age groups. Looking at gender, females reported slightly higher levels of knowledge of victim services than males: 24% of females reported either “some” or “a lot” of knowledge of victim services compared to 17% of males. This finding is understandable given that we know from previous studies that more women use victim services; for example, the Victim Services SurveyFootnote 3 showed that on snapshot day (May 28, 2008), victim services across the country served 9,808 people of which 61% were female and 20% were male (for 19%, the gender was not recorded) (Sauvé 2009).

Figure 2: Some/A lot of Knowledge of Victim Services by Region

Figure 2: Some/A lot of Knowledge of Victim Services by Region

Figure 2 - Text equivalent

Figure 2 is a horizontal bar graph that illustrates respondents' level of knowledge of victim services by region in Canada. The x-axis shows the percentage of respondents in each region who responded as having "some knowledge" or "a lot of knowledge" of victim services. The y-axis shows the regions surveyed. 

The results show that 18% of respondents in the Atlantic region had "some" or "a lot" of knowledge of victim services. In Quebec, the proportion is 17%; in Ontario, the proportion is 18%; in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the proportion is 24%; in Alberta, the proportion is 36%; in British Columbia , the proportion is 27%; and in the territories, the proportion is 24%.

Victims of Crime and Assistance

From adult learning theory and research, we know that people learn through personal experience (see, for example, McDonald 2001). It was therefore important to know whether respondents had personal experience with victimization. When we asked respondents if they had been a victim of crime in the preceding twelve months,Footnote 4 approximately one fifth (19%) indicated “yes,” and out of those, more than half (57%) said that the incident had been reported to the police.

Among respondents who had been victims of a crime, 25% sought help from victim services as a result of being victimized, while a greater proportion of victims sought help from family members or friends/co-workers (39% and 37%, respectively) (see Figure 3). The quarter who sought help from victim services were asked how they had learned about these services. Referrals from other victim services (31%), friends/co-workers (28%), family (19%), and a pamphlet/brochure (19%) were the primary ways identified.

These results support other research that has found that victims rate natural supports as more useful than professional supports (Leymann and Lindell 1992). Research from small, qualitative studies with victims has also shown that people learn about the law and other relevant information from one another, but often this information is “inaccurate, incomplete, or out-of-date” (McDonald 2001); hence the importance of formal services being available particularly for information around the highly complex criminal justice system.

Figure 3: Sources of Help Sought by Victims of Crime

Figure 3: Sources of Help Sought by Victims of Crime

Figure 3 - Text equivalent

Figure 3 is a horizontal bar graph that illustrates the sources of help sought by victims of crime as a result of their victimization. The x-axis shows the percentage of respondents who sought help from each source, allowing for multiple responses by each respondent. The y-axis shows the sources of help.

The results show that 39% of respondents sought help from family; 37% sought help from friends or co-workers; 25% sought help from victim services; 21% sought help from health care professionals; 15% sought help from police; 14% sought help from legal aid/lawyer; 11% sought help from an insurance company; 11% sought help form a bank; 10% sought help from a minister, priest, or other spiritual advisor; 2% did not know or gave no response; and 1% did not contact anyone else.

Respondents who had been the victim of a crime but did not seek help (n=268) were asked why. More than half (54%) said that it was because they did not want/need help, and 29% said it was because they felt the incident was too minor. Importantly, a smallproportion (6%) noted that it was because they did not know of any services available.

Canadians in General

Among those who did not identify as a victim of crime, the largest proportion found out about victim services through media such as radio/television (36%) and newspapers (27%). A lesser proportion found out about victim services through friends/co-workers (15%) and through victim services referrals (6%).

Almost all respondents (94%) said that if they, or a close friend or family member, were the victim of a violent crime, they would contact someone for help. Of these respondents, well over half (63%) said they would contact victim services for help. This is less than the proportion who said they would contact police (93%), family members (77%), and health care professionals (69%). More than one quarter (27%) said they would contact the government for help. Figure 4 illustrates these results.

Figure 4: Where Canadians Would Seek Help if Victimized

Figure 4: Where Canadians Would Seek Help if Victimized

Figure 4 - Text equivalent

Figure 4 is a horizontal bar graph that illustrates the sources of help respondents would seek if they, or a close family member or friend, were the victim of a violent crime. The x-axis shows the percentage of respondents who would seek help from each source, allowing for multiple responses by each respondent. The y-axis shows the sources of help.

The results show that 93% of respondents would seek help from police; 77% would seek help from family; 69% would seek help from health care professionals; 63% would seek help from victim services; 58% would seek help from friends/co-workers; 27% would seek help from the government; 27% would seek help from minister, priest, or other spiritual advisor; 3% would seek help from legal aid or a lawyer; 1% would seek help from an employee assistance program; and 1% said it would depend on the severity of the crime.

Needs of Victims

When asked what they thought a victim of crime would need after being victimized, over half (53%) of respondents said professional counselling, 28% said support/someone to talk to, 19% said medical help, and 16% each said financial help and justice (e.g., a response from the system) (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Canadians' Perceptions of the Needs of Victims of Crime

Figure 5: Canadians' Perceptions of the Needs of Victims of Crime

Figure 5 - Text equivalent

Figure 5 is a horizontal bar graph that illustrates what respondents perceived a victim of crime would need after being the victim of a violent crime. The x-axis shows the percentage of respondents who stated each need, allowing for multiple responses by each respondent. The y-axis shows the perceived needs.

The results show that 53% of respondents stated that a victim of violent crime would need professional counselling; 28% said support (someone to talk to); 19% said medical help; 16% said justice; 16% said financial help; 8% said government support; 5% said legal assistance; 5% said safety/protection/security; 4% said police support; 3% said help with the criminal justice system; 1% said on-going support; and 1% said information.

Final Thoughts

Overall, these results suggest that there are a significant number of Canadians who are not aware of the services available and that over half of younger Canadians (aged 18-24) have no knowledge at all. The results also confirm that the reasons why victims do not access these services are varied.

As noted earlier in this short article, the results from this study are important not only for the media strategy of the 2010 awareness campaign but also in terms of future research and policy directions. For example, if victims of crime are aware of victim services but are not accessing them because they prefer natural supports (e.g., family and friends), do those natural supports have the resources and support necessary? Or if victims are not accessing services because they are afraid or ashamed, what responses are possible? This research has answered some questions, but it has also raised many interesting new ones.

References