DEVELOPMENT

crime. And thirdly, there was a wish to promote a victim-based
way of thinking, throughout the world (Zwekic
1998). The International Crime Victims Survey (ICVS)
data collections are organised in five waves in many
states. If, in the beginning, the survey focused, primarily,
on the developed industrial states (Western European
countries, U.S., Canada, Japan, etc.), since the 1990s,
the survey includes the majority of the Eastern European
states, as well as several Central and South American,
African and Asian states. In the last survey (ICVS-5),
organised in 2004-2005, the residents in 30 states, and
33 large cities in these states, were surveyed (Van Dijk,
van Kesteren, Smit 2008).
People’s fear of crime, their sense of security has
been one of the most important topics in international
victims surveys, and a phenomenon that is systematically
examined (Ditton, Farral 2000). Researchers refrain from
associating the level of the sense of security with the fear
of falling victim to crime and see it more as an emotion
that reflects a general attitude – whether people feel safe
or not. People’s sense of security also reflects the trust in
the state and its institutions, and whether people believe
in the ability of the state to establish order, and ensure a
favourable living environment, or not.
The sense of security has been studied in all the
international crime victims surveys that have been
organised to date, which were conducted in 1993,
1995, 2000, 2004 and 2009. The following standard
question was asked to determine the respondent’s fear
of crime: “How safe do you feel, walking alone, in your
neighbourhood, after dark?” This standard question as
tool is based on the assumption that a sense of security
is more of an emotional reaction to the entire societal
situation, rather than the result of a rational calculation.
Secondly, it was assumed that fear is experienced
most intensively when walking on the street alone, at
night, when the risk of falling victim to crime is relatively
high. Thirdly, the standard question is used to
get a comparative indicator, both geographically, and
Figure 2.6.3
Growth of the sense of security of Estonia’s population,
1993–2011.
Feels safe on a dark street (%)
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1993
2004
1995
2000
2009
2010
2011
Figure 2.6.4
The sense of security of population in Estonia and the
reference countries
Percentage 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Singapore
Slovenia
Austria
Denmark
Netherlands
Finland
Ireland
New Zealand
Taiwan
Slovakia
Czech Republic
Hungary
Estonia
South Korea
Chile
Uruguay
Latvia
Costa Rica
Lithuania
Percentage 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Source: World Gallup 2012
for time series. Essentially, a similar indicator question
is asked in the World Gallup survey, which allows the
results to be extensively compared.
Based on the victims survey data for 1993, the sense
of security, among Estonia’s population, was divided,
approximately, in half. 49% of the respondents felt unsafe
when walking alone on the street, in the dark, and 51%
felt safe (Ahven, Tabur, Aromaa 2001). Since that time, the
percentage of people who feel safe has increased. By 2004,
68% of the respondents felt totally or quite safe in their
neighbourhoods, in the dark, and 32% felt very uncertain
(Saar et al. 2005). Based on the most recent, 2011, survey,
the proportion of respondents who felt safe, had increased
to 72% (Kuritegevus Eestis 2011). Therefore, since the
time when the first international victims survey was conducted,
the fear of crime, among the Estonian population,
has significantly and constantly decreased, and the sense
of security, assessed on the basis of the aforementioned
indicator, has increased (see Figure 2.6.3).
The percentage of positive answers to the question,
“How safe do you feel, walking alone, in your neighbourhood
after dark?”
When comparing the indicators related to the sense
of security of Estonia’s population to the other European
states, we see that we are among the countries with a
somewhat higher than average fear of crime. The most
recent World Gallup survey, for which the results are
available, places Estonia in a relatively modest position.
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