| focused on victim-related costs, not costs to operate the criminal justice system. |
| The following examples of costs per victimization (for the period 1987-90) show that quality-of-life losses generally exceed all tangible losses combined: |
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|
|
|
| Crime |
Tangible
Costs |
Intangible
Costs |
TOTAL
COSTS |
| Murder |
$1,030,000 |
$1,910,000 |
$1,940,000 |
Rape/Sexual
Assault |
5,100 |
81,400 |
86,500 |
Roberry/Attempt
with Injury |
5,200 |
13,800 |
19,000 |
Assault or
Attempt |
1,550 |
7,800 |
9,350 |
Burglary or
Attempt |
1,100 |
300 |
1,400 |
| |
|
|
|
|
| In the aggregate, tangible losses amounted to $105 billion annually, but intangibles were much higher at $345 billion. Overall, rape is the costliest crime: With annual victim costs at $127 billion, it exacts a higher price than murder. |
| The calculations shed new light on domestic violence against adults, revealing the aggregate costs of crimes in this category to be $67 billion per year. Losses due to violence against children, some 40 percent of which is domestic violence, exceed $164 billion. |
Applications/implications
The study findings make clear that when quality-of-life factors are included in calculating the cost of crime, the burden of the 'crime tax" is higher than other measures suggest. Behind the dollar figures the researchers have assigned lies the reality of the social toll exacted by crime. |
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| This social cost consists of the adverse emotional and psychological effects that can have far-reaching consequences for the victims. Translating them into dollar figures borrows from the approach of the civil law damage suit and helps illustrate just how profound these effects can be. By taking these factors into account in assessing the effects of crime, the study can serve as a starting point for recognizing the full consequences for victims. That in turn can affect public policy toward victims, including expansion of the concept of victim compensation. |
| The findings have the potential to affect programs and strategies aimed at reducing crime and criminal behavior. Analysts who evaluate the effectiveness of such programs and strategies may want to include a calculation of the social cost to victims. Early release programs are an example. When offenders are kept in prison, there is no cost to individual victims during the incapacitation period. By contrast, when an offender who is released early (to avoid the high cost of incarceration) commits a crime, the costs are shifted to the victim. The high cost the victim must pay highlights the importance of ensuring public safety in designing early release programs. |
| The information brought to light by the study might also be used as the basis of a standard that can be applied in calculating the effectiveness of prevention programs and the need for fuller victim compensation. But the value of the study may be greatest on another level: creating a fuller recognition of the burden that crime victims bear. |
| This study was partially supported by NIJ grant 90-IJ-CX-0050, awarded to the Urban Institute, with additional support from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A limited number of copies of the full report, Victim Costs and Consequences: A New Look, by Ted R. Miller, Mark A. Cohen, and Brian Wiersema, are available from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, P.O. Box 6000, Rockville, MD 20849-6000. Call 800-851-3420, e-mail [email protected] com. Ask for NCJ 155281. |
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