Criminal damage: frequently asked questions
Tackling Criminal Damage
How do we tackle criminal damage?
How do we tackle criminal damage?
- Understanding the problem through analysis is a good start. Our guide, ‘Criminal Damage - Problem Analysis' describes how to use data to understand what is happening. Our guide, ‘Tackling Vandalism and Other Criminal Damage', describes why it's important and what approaches have been demonstrated to be successful in reducing crime.
- Levels of repeat victimisation are very high for criminal damage (only domestic violence has a higher rate). BCS interviews for 2007/08 indicated that 30% of victims suffered two or more incidents of criminal damage in 12 months. Understanding who or what is being repeatedly targeted may help to focus activity on areas at highest risk. See the good practice guide for more information on criminal damage and repeat victimisation.
Is there any recent research available which has been undertaken to assist in understanding people's motivations for committing criminal damage?
- Criminal damage has a range of drivers and motivations and these will vary depending on the offender and victim.
- Research on motivations of younger offenders is available from the Offending Crime and Justice Survey (OCJS). In 2005, 5000 people aged between 10 and 25 and living in private households in England and Wales were surveyed. The survey does not cover young people living in institutions or the homeless, so omits some high offending groups. When broken down by offence type, the sample of respondents giving details about criminal damage is very small so the results should be treated with some caution. However, the results offer a very useful insight into the motivations and characteristics of offending.
- The most frequently reported motivation for committing criminal damage was 'bored/nothing else to do' (41%). Other reported motivations included, 'was drunk' (22%), 'for the fun/buzz' (13%), 'annoyed/upset by someone (12%) and 'revenge' (10%), (OCJS 2005). Criminal damage is also linked with alochol misuse, 32% of criminal damage offenders had taken alcohol at the time of the incident (OCJS 2005). You can read a summary of the findings relevant to criminal damage, or read the full report.
- An earlier version of the OCJS (2003) sampeld older offenders as well as younger - the range of motivations was broadly similar to those for young offenders.
- Research on motivations of other criminal damage offenders is limited. There are indications that some criminal damage offenders are involved in a range of offending, including violent offences. There may be links with domestic violence, hate crimes and escalating neighbour disputes. Another finding from the OCJS that relates to motivation is that one in four (24%) of offenders knew their victims very well (2003).
Last update: Wednesday, July 23, 2008