National victims of crime survey : overview of key findings

In 2007 the Institute for Security Studies conducted a national crime and victimisation survey. The survey followed on from two earlier victim surveys conducted by the ISS and Statistics South Africa in 1998 and 2003 respectively. Together, these three surveys provide an unprecedented snapshot of both changing victimisation levels and perceptions of crime and the criminal justice system over the last decade. This paper, the first of several on the research results, provides an overview of the central findings of the 2007 survey, key victimisation and reporting trends since 1998, as well as changes in the public's perception of crime, responses to crime and the performance of the criminal justice system.