Testing a Victim-Focused
Approach to ASB: Asking the
Victims
Heather Strang
University of Cambridge
Why do we need to measure what
victims think?
Because of what we know about victim
dissatisfaction with the justice system
 Because this is a victim-centred
approach
 Because only by measuring the impact
of ASB on victims lives and of the police
response can we find out the best
approach – and cost-benefit

What do we know about what
victims want?
Research shows that victims say they want:
 To be treated by police with fairness and
respect
 To be kept informed by the police
 To have a say in how their problem is dealt
with
 To get an apology from the person who has
harmed them
Questionnaire developed from:

Close consultation with WMP - what do we
need to know to judge success of Programme
from victims’ perspective?
 Some questions from British Crime survey and
‘Feeling the Difference’ (WMP) survey
 Some questions from prior victim attitude
surveys
The questionnaire: 1) measures about
What kind of problem?
 Who was affected?
 What kind of harm?

The questionnaire:
2) Measures about police response
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How long did it take for police to respond?
How long did they spend with you?
What did they do?
Did the police take the problem seriously?
How polite, interested and sympathetic were
the police?
How satisfied were you with the police
response?
Was the problem resolved?
3) For incidents prior to target
incident:
All these victims had called police before
on ASB complaints
 How many previous incidents not
reported to police – and why
 As baseline measure we need to know
how satisfied they were with the police
response on prior occasions.

4) For incidents since target
incident:
How many new incidents since?
 Were all/some/none reported to police?
 Will give more measures of difference
between E and C groups (hopefully, in E
groups fewer new incidents but all
reported)

5) General views on the police:
How do you feel about the effectiveness
of the police in your neighbourhood
generally?
 How safe do you feel when you are
walking in your neighbourhood, in the
daytime and at night?

Who are we asking?
In Birmingham South and Coventry
potentially 1600 respondents –
 2 sites x 2 groups (E and C) – 400 cases
in each group
 BUT, police have written to all victims
asking them to advise if they do not wish
to be interviewed
 Aiming for 80% response rate

How are we conducting the survey?
University of Birmingham the successful
bidder
 Close liaison between WMP, Cambridge
and the UB interviewers
 Interviewing began two weeks ago
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Progress so far:
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218 cases worked on so far (all in B’ham
South)
50 interviews completed
Some refusals but most not yet contacted
To date contact attempted only 9am-6pm
(weekend work to commence now)
Most contacted so far are people looking after
children at home, unemployed, shift workers,
retired/elderly people.
What do we know so far?
Little to say from small number of
interviews
 Most interviewees say their problem
relates either to neighbour disputes or to
young people causing nuisance
problems
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Problems so far?
Telephone not satisfactory medium for
people with hearing/intellectual
disability/drug problems/language
problems
 These people will be interviewed face to
face by appointment
 Possible differential response rates by E
and C caused by much higher levels of
satisfaction with the E treatment

Bottom line:
Careful consultation with WMP on
questionnaire design ensures we’ll get
the information needed for policy
purposes
 Close ongoing relationship with U B’ham
and operational teams –weekly reporting
 On track for obtaining the victim data
essential to judging the value of the
Programme from victims’ perspective
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