victimization surveys

Victimization surveys have repeatedly shown that the risk of victimization decreases with age. In Canada, the General Social Survey, which measures victimization in the general population, does not include youth under 15 years of age. The information available regarding the victimization of children and youth comes from official sources such as Youth Protection Services and the police. We know that these official statistics are incomplete and just the tip of the iceberg and that the dark number regarding the victimization of children and youth is significant. The Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ) was developed in the USA by David Finkelhor and his colleagues in order to meet this need. In this paper we compare the findings of this new instrument with those of the General Social Survey, a tried and tested questionnaire which has been in use in Canada for over 20 years, in order to assess the ability of the JVQ to provide reliable data on the victimization of youth. Specifically, we compare these two victimization questionnaires with respect to lifetime victimization and annual victimization for youth between 15 to 17 years of age. The results indicate that, although there are differences between both questionnaires, both surveys find similar rates of annual victimization, but differences regarding lifetime victimization.