Mainstreaming Methodology for Estimating Costs of Crime
Cost of crime estimates can be used in the production of summary measures of the risks from crime faced by a population. Most standard measures of risk, such as the ‘crime rate’, are based purely on crime volumes. Cost of crime information can play an important role in developing more sophisticated measures that allow for the varying degrees of seriousness of the consequences of different types of crime.
York Index of Public Safety ('YIPS') weights crime volumes by their relative costs, so that a more serious offence counts for more than a less serious one. The weights are proportional to costs, so an offence type that is three times as costly is given three times as much weight. The principle of basing safety measures on cost weights is explored here. We also offer a more formal analysis of the York Index of Public Safety.
Rankings of area safety calculated on a cost basis can be quite different from those based on volume. Example based on police force areas in England and Wales.
Another level at which the relative costs of offences can play an important role is in setting the priority assigned to different offence types. Violent and sexual offences typically have much higher costs. A cost-based priority system will give them higher priority in the allocation of resources than a volume-based measure. A clear example of this kind of consideration can be found in the top-level targets set for justice departments in England and Wales.
