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crime. And thirdly, there was a wish to promote a victim-based<br />
way of thinking, throughout the world (Zwekic<br />
1998). The International Crime Victims Survey (ICVS)<br />
data collections are organised in five waves in many<br />
states. If, in the beginning, the survey focused, primarily,<br />
on the developed industrial states (Western European<br />
countries, U.S., Canada, Japan, etc.), since the 1990s,<br />
the survey includes the majority of the Eastern European<br />
states, as well as several Central and South American,<br />
African and Asian states. In the last survey (ICVS-5),<br />
organised in 2004-2005, the residents in 30 states, and<br />
33 large cities in these states, were surveyed (Van Dijk,<br />
van Kesteren, Smit 2008).<br />
People’s fear of crime, their sense of security has<br />
been one of the most important topics in international<br />
victims surveys, and a phenomenon that is systematically<br />
examined (Ditton, Farral 2000). Researchers refrain from<br />
associating the level of the sense of security with the fear<br />
of falling victim to crime and see it more as an emotion<br />
that reflects a general attitude – whether people feel safe<br />
or not. People’s sense of security also reflects the trust in<br />
the state and its institutions, and whether people believe<br />
in the ability of the state to establish order, and ensure a<br />
favourable living environment, or not.<br />
The sense of security has been studied in all the<br />
international crime victims surveys that have been<br />
organised to date, which were conducted in 1993,<br />
1995, 2000, 2004 and 2009. The following standard<br />
question was asked to determine the respondent’s fear<br />
of crime: “How safe do you feel, walking alone, in your<br />
neighbourhood, after dark?” This standard question as<br />
tool is based on the assumption that a sense of security<br />
is more of an emotional reaction to the entire societal<br />
situation, rather than the result of a rational calculation.<br />
Secondly, it was assumed that fear is experienced<br />
most intensively when walking on the street alone, at<br />
night, when the risk of falling victim to crime is relatively<br />
high. Thirdly, the standard question is used to<br />
get a comparative indicator, both geographically, and<br />
Figure 2.6.3<br />
Growth of the sense of security of Estonia’s population,<br />
1993–2011.<br />
Feels safe on a dark street (%)<br />
70<br />
60<br />
50<br />
40<br />
30<br />
20<br />
10<br />
0<br />
1993<br />
2004<br />
1995<br />
2000<br />
2009<br />
2010<br />
2011<br />
Figure 2.6.4<br />
The sense of security of population in Estonia and the<br />
reference countries<br />
Percentage 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90<br />
Singapore<br />
Slovenia<br />
Austria<br />
Denmark<br />
Netherlands<br />
Finland<br />
Ireland<br />
New Zealand<br />
Taiwan<br />
Slovakia<br />
Czech Republic<br />
Hungary<br />
Estonia<br />
South Korea<br />
Chile<br />
Uruguay<br />
Latvia<br />
Costa Rica<br />
Lithuania<br />
Percentage 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90<br />
Source: World Gallup 2012<br />
for time series. Essentially, a similar indicator question<br />
is asked in the World Gallup survey, which allows the<br />
results to be extensively compared.<br />
Based on the victims survey data for 1993, the sense<br />
of security, among Estonia’s population, was divided,<br />
approximately, in half. 49% of the respondents felt unsafe<br />
when walking alone on the street, in the dark, and 51%<br />
felt safe (Ahven, Tabur, Aromaa 2001). Since that time, the<br />
percentage of people who feel safe has increased. By 2004,<br />
68% of the respondents felt totally or quite safe in their<br />
neighbourhoods, in the dark, and 32% felt very uncertain<br />
(Saar et al. 2005). Based on the most recent, 2011, survey,<br />
the proportion of respondents who felt safe, had increased<br />
to 72% (Kuritegevus Eestis 2011). Therefore, since the<br />
time when the first international victims survey was conducted,<br />
the fear of crime, among the Estonian population,<br />
has significantly and constantly decreased, and the sense<br />
of security, assessed on the basis of the aforementioned<br />
indicator, has increased (see Figure 2.6.3).<br />
The percentage of positive answers to the question,<br />
“How safe do you feel, walking alone, in your neighbourhood<br />
after dark?”<br />
When comparing the indicators related to the sense<br />
of security of Estonia’s population to the other European<br />
states, we see that we are among the countries with a<br />
somewhat higher than average fear of crime. The most<br />
recent World Gallup survey, for which the results are<br />
available, places Estonia in a relatively modest position.<br />
Estonian Human Development Report 2012/2013<br />
89