Methodologies to Measure the Gender Dimensions of Crime and Violence

Shrader, Elizabeth

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR;    ACCESS TO INFORMATION;    ADULT ABUSE;    AGGRESSION;    ANAL SEX;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-2648
RP-ID  :  WPS2648

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Recent studies have used homicide rates,police statistics, and crime victimization surveys topinpoint violent areas. The author argues that these usefulmeasures of crime, and violence underestimate certain typesof violence (especially non-economic violence) and keydimensions of violence (especially age, and gender). Acomposite index based on monitoring, and surveillance ofhomicides, crime statistics, and victimization surveys canprovide invaluable "first round" snapshots ofurban violence - information to monitor crime trends, warnagainst incipient crime waves, and indicate areas where morein-depth "second round" studies are needed toexplore casualty, the impact of interventions, and publicopinion. But a composite index of municipally generatedinformation about trends, depends heavily on the quality ofthe data collected, and will not explain why trends, orchanges occur. Other indicators are needed to strengthensurveillance, and to facilitate the planning ofinterventions, and evaluation. It would be helpful, forexample, to distinguish between social, economic, andpolitical violence, and to provide items on autopsy reports,crime statistics, and victimization surveys to gain insightinto what motivates violence. Information useful foranalyzing causes of violence might include: 1) Individual:socioeconomic data about victims, and perpetrators, andinformation about their use of alcohol, drugs, or firearms.2) Interpersonal: whether victim, and perpetrator belongedto the same family, or household, had an affectiverelationship, were acquaintances, or were strangers. 3)Institutional: crime characteristics (physical injuriessustained, weapons used, value of property lost, where crimeoccurred); characteristics of victim, and perpetrator;whether the crime was reported; per capita police, andprivate security; presence of gangs in community; estimatednumber of gangs and gang members; level of gang organization(low, medium, high); and, other measures of social capital.4) Structural: levels of impunity (number of convictions asa ratio of number of arrests); levels of corruption; indicesof social exclusion, such as racism, gender discrimination,or areas stigma; the dynamics between violence, and accessto (and control of) such resources as land, water, andwealth. Crime mapping, to provide visual confirmation ofnoted trends, might be combined with information about therelative locations of battered women's shelters, policestations, and the distribution of family violence inresidential areas.