Mainstreaming Methodology for Estimating Costs of Crime
Note that there may be inconsistencies or ambiguities in the categories used within a country. For example crime surveys ask households whether they have been victim of certain kinds of offences. The questions asked in surveys will be expressed in everyday language rather than by reference to legal definitions. The result is that estimates of the incidence or prevalence of offences will be based on categories which are potentially imprecise.
In good crime victimisation surveys responses are checked to ensure that the events at issue do meet the appropriate offence definitions used by that country.
It is well to check the write-ups of surveys (or the instructions given to interviewers) to ensure you know which offences are included.
An example of the matching that may need to be done (or, if you are lucky, has already been done) between victim survey responses and recorded crime data can be found at page 24 of the Home Office document on Crime in England & Wales, 2006-07. Another example is the linking between the International Crime Victim Survey (ICVS) and the Home Office crime recording system.
