in Cohen (1988), where crime seriousness includes the fa�tality risks imposed on victims as well as the direct harm. For example, a rape victim may be murdered in the course of the rape. Table 2 (and the first column of table 3) counted that victim as a murder victim. The second column of table 4 adds a risk of death component to these losses. This com�ponent equals the probability that a victim was murdered in the course of victimization times the cost of a murder. To the extent that juries include the risk of death in their pain and suffering awards to victims of nonfatal crimes, this method may double count.
The third and fourth columns in table 4 report on the cost per victim instead of per crime or victimization. The earlier columns (and table 2) use crimes or victimizations as the unit of analysis. This distinction is important in domestic violence, sexual assault, and other crimes prone to repeat victimization.
Aside from murder, child sexual abuse is the most serious crime, followed by rape, child physical abuse, and arson. In terms of monetary and injury consequences, drunk driving and arson are more serious crimes than robbery or assault. Caution should be used in drawing inferences from these comparisons, however, since the researchers could not always use consistent crime definitions. In particular, this study's NCVS crime estimates include attempts that may result in little or no physical contact or injury. The cost per arson case, however, does not include attempted arsons. Drunk driving costs are somewhat unique. Since only the cost of actual crashes is included, there is no cost estimate associated with drunk drivers who pose only a risk of crash and injury. However, the study includes drunk driving crashes that result in property damages but no physical injury. Conceptually, one could argue that this is similar to including "attempts" since nobody is actually injured. Following that line of reasoning, threats or verbal assaults (which are not often included in the NCVS data and hence are not in the cost estimates of assault) are similar to drunk driving incidents that result in no crash.
Excluded costs. As mentioned above, this study deliberately excludes two of the largest costs associated with crime--the cost of operating the criminal justice system and the cost of
| Table 4 Crime Severity Measure by Monitized Losses per Crime Victimization or per Crime Victim (in 1993 dollars) |
||||||||
| Per Victimization |
||||||||
| w/o risk of death |
w/risk of death |
w/o risk of death |
w/risk of death |
|||||
| Child Abuse:Sexual |
$99,000 | * | $125,000 | * | ||||
| Rape and Sexual Assault | $87,000 | $87,000 | $109,000 | $110,000 | ||||
| Child Abuse: Physical | 67,000 | * | 77,000 | * | ||||
| 60,000 | 63,000 | 70,000 | 74,000 | |||||
| Arson | 38,000 | 54,000 | 38,000 | 54,000 | ||||
| 27,000 | * | 30,000 | * | |||||
| Drunk Driving | 18,000 | 26,000 | 18,000 | 26,000 | ||||
| 9,000 | 19,000 | 12,000 | 31,000 | |||||
| Assault (any) | 9,000 | 15,000 | 14,000 | 23,000 | ||||
| 8,000 | 13,000 | 10,000 | 16,000 | |||||
| 4,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 | |||||
| Burglary | 1,400 | 1,500 | 1,600 | 1,700 | ||||
| Larceny | 370 | 370 | 400 | 400 | ||||
| Note: Assault, robbery, motor vehicle theft, burglary, and larceny include "attempted" crimes that are never successfully carried out. If the other crime categories excluded attempts, the arson and drunk driving categories might drop in the rankings. See text. * Deaths due to child abuse are not categorized by type of child abuse (e.g., sexual, physical, or emotional). Thus, no estimates are provided that include the risk of death. However, a combined child abuse category is included in this table, which includes the risk of death estimate. |
||||||||
Return to Home Page