Impact on Victims and Fear of Crime

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Although muggings are relatively unlikely to result in injury they cause a great deal of distress. On all aspects of violence the BCS 2000 found:

• Nearly a half of victims were emotionally affected by the incident, with 25% very much affected and 22% quite a lot. A further 38% were affected just a little and 15% said they were not affected.

• Victims of domestic violence and mugging were most likely to be emotionally affected. Victims were very much affected in 29% of muggings.

• The most common reaction was anger (62%). Shock, fear and difficulty sleeping, crying/tears were also fairly common experiences. The 1998 BCS showed that, for men, mugging was the most upsetting type of violence: over ninety per cent of victims were upset in some way, and a fifth said they were very upset. Common reactions were anger (70%), fear (47%) and shock (44%). Mugging was equally upsetting for women, who were more likely to be shocked by the experience than men (58% were) but generally felt less anger (63%) or fear (40%).

BCS 2000 Page 37.

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While men are more at risk from muggings and similarly affected by them, women are more frightened about becoming a victim. Almost a quarter (23%) of all women are very worried about being mugged, compared to 11 per cent of men. [BCS 2000 FIGURES] See also Home Office Research Findings No.83: Concern about Crime, Findings from the 1998 BCS (http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs/r83.pdf).