Terrorism abroad and migration policies at home

Do security concerns lead to more restrictive immigration policies? In this article, we contend that transnational influences can shape legislative output on immigration at home. Terrorist attacks in a neighboring country affect the salience of security concerns in the focal state, the policy solutions for addressing them, and the political will to implement these changes. In proximity of countries targeted by terrorism, politicians have specific incentives to manipulate immigration regulations following pressure from public opinion, for political opportunism or in anticipation of their neighbors’ policy choices. Using data on 33 OECD countries, we find that proximity to targeted countries leads to the implementation of a more restrictive migration policy regime. The public’s common perception of a linkage between migration and terrorism thus has important policy consequences

Criminal Victimisation in International Perspective

This report presents the key results of the crime victim surveys that were carried out as part of the fifth sweep of the International Crime Victim Surveys (ICVS) conducted in 2004/2005. A large portion of the these data are derived from the European Survey on Crime and Safety (EU ICS), organised by a consortium lead by Gallup Europe and co-financed by the European Commission, DGRTD. Wherever possible, results on 2004 have been compared with results from surveys carried out in earlier rounds since 1989. The ICVS and EU ICS cover ten conventional crimes, broken down into vehicle related crimes (theft of a car, theft from a car, theft of a motorcycle or moped, theft of a bicycle), burglary, attempted burglary, theft of personal property and contact crimes (robbery, sexual offences and assault & threat). In most countries in this report, questions have been added to the questionnaire on experiences with street level corruption, consumer fraud, including internet-based fraud and credit card theft, drug-related problems and hate crime. For most categories of crime trends over time can be studied in a broad selection of countries. Other subjects covered by the questionnaire are reporting to the police, satisfaction with the police, distribution and need of victim support, fear of crime, use of preventive measures and attitudes towards sentencing. This report presents data from 30 countries, including the majority of developed nations. Also the data from 33 main cities of a selection of developed and developing countries are presented in this report. Altogether data are presented from 38 different countries. A full text translation of this report in Spanish is also available (See: Onderzoek en beleid 257a). CONTENT: 1. Introduction 2. Victimisation by any comon crime 3. Victimisation by vehicle related crimes 4. Victimisation by burglary and other theft 5. Victimisation by contact crimes 6. Victimisation by non-conventional crimes 7. Victimisation trends 8. Victimisation and police recorded crime 9. Reporting crimes to the police and victim satisfaction 10. Victim support 11. Fear of crime 12. Security precautions 13. Public attitudes to law enforcement 14. Public opinion and punishment 15. Twenty years of comparitive crime victim surveyin

International Crime Victim Surveys - ICVS - 1989, 1992, 1996

The International Crime Victim Survey (ICVS) is the most far-reaching programme of standardised sample surveys to look at householders' experience with crime, policing, crime prevention and feelings of unsafety in a large number of countries. Victim of: theft of or from vehicles, vandalism, robbery, pickpocketing, thefts, sexual harassement or violence, assault Frequency of victimisation, / reasons not to report to the police / familiarity offender in case of sexual, physical violence / injuries / fear of crime in local area / use of help agencies for victims / satisfaction with police behaviour / preferred legal sanctions, punishment, length of detention, safety precautions when leaving home / possession of gun / burglar alarm / insurance / frequency of going out. Background variables: basic characteristics/ residence/ housing situation/ household characteristics/ occupation/employment/ income/capital assets/ education/ religion/ consumption of durables. Please use the following link for access to the updated version

Gender-Specific Effectiveness of the Unplugged Prevention Intervention in Reducing Substance Use among Czech Adolescents

Impact evaluations of the school-based Unplugged prevention intervention have shown it to have a measurably positive preventive effect on the Czech school population, but only limited data are available to identify its effectiveness in gender-specific terms. This article seeks to determine the gender-specific effectiveness of this drug prevention programme. The authors conducted a randomised trial of the programme on a total of 1874 children (with a mean age of 11.8 years). They collected data using a questionnaire from the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs. Baseline testing was conducted among sixth-grade students immediately prior to the programme’s implementation, and five follow-up tests were carried out 9, 12, 21, 24, and 33 months after the baseline testing. Gender-specific effectiveness was tested using three indicators: the 30-day prevalence of any tobacco or cannabis use and the 30-day prevalence of any drunkenness. The results comparing the experimental and control groups provide evidence of statistically significant effects for any drunkenness among boys and any tobacco use among girls in the 30 days prior to testing. The programme was found to have positive effects on both genders’ cannabis use, with girls showing lower levels of cannabis use even 33 months after the baseline test. Given the gender equality approach to drug prevention, differences in outcome may be overcome by adding gender-specifi c elements to the intervention programme’s curriculum.90392

International Crime Victim Surveys - ICVS - 1989, 1992, 1996

The International Crime Victim Survey (ICVS) is the most far-reaching programme of standardised sample surveys to look at householders' experience with crime, policing, crime prevention and feelings of unsafety in a large number of countries. Victim of: theft of or from vehicles, vandalism, robbery, pickpocketing, thefts, sexual harassement or violence, assault Frequency of victimisation, / reasons not to report to the police / familiarity offender in case of sexual, physical violence / injuries / fear of crime in local area / use of help agencies for victims / satisfaction with police behaviour / preferred legal sanctions, punishment, length of detention, safety precautions when leaving home / possession of gun / burglar alarm / insurance / frequency of going out. Background variables: basic characteristics/ residence/ housing situation/ household characteristics/ occupation/employment/ income/capital assets/ education/ religion/ consumption of durables. Please use the following link for access to the updated version