Overhaul victimisation survey – “Living environment and security” (CVS)

Organisation

French Ministerial Statistical Department for Internal Security (Service statistique ministériel de la sécurité intérieure, SSMSI).

Start and end date

Since 2007, the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies along with the SSMSI and the National Observatory for Delinquency and Criminal Responses have conducted a survey on living environment and security (Cadre de vie et sécurité, CVS) on a yearly basis. The SSMSI is redesigning the CVS. The new survey will replace the current survey in 2022.

Scope

National.

Target group(s)

The CVS provides indicators on both attacks of a racist, xenophobic and antisemitic nature and attacks of a sexist nature or against lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) people (sustainable development indicators). Data from the CVS also feed into different annual publications (from the SSMSI, National Advisory Committee on Human Rights and High Council for Gender Equality). The enlargement of the surveyed sample will make it possible to provide annual indicators to facilitate annual comparisons.

Funding

National (French Ministry of the Interior).

Objectives

• Produce sustainable development objective indicators on gender-based violence.
• Produce annual publications on acts of a racist, xenophobic or anti-religious nature.
• Produce annual publications on gender-based violence and violence against LGBT people.

Outputs

• Victims of sexism in France: Interstats analysis No. 33 (Les victimes du sexisme en France: Interstats analyse N°33).
• Racist, xenophobic or anti-religious attacks: The statistical measure of a phenomenon that has not been reported to the security forces (Les atteintes à caractère raciste, xénophobe ou antireligieux: La mesure statistique d’un phénomène peu déclaré aux forces de sécurité).
• Quick info 14: New increase in 2019 in victims of ‘anti-LGBT’ crimes or crimes recorded by security forces (Info rapide n°14: Nouvelle hausse en 2019 des victimes de crimes ou de délits «anti-LGBT» enregistrées par les forces de sécurité).
• Racist, xenophobic or anti-religious abuse in 2019: Interstats analysis No. 26 (Les atteintes à caractère raciste, xénophobe ou antireligieux en 2019: Interstats analyse N°26).
• Indicators for national monitoring of sustainable development goals (Indicateurs pour le suivi national des objectifs de développement durable).
• The overhaul of the survey will make it possible to continue to feed data into the reports of the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights. See for example the 2019 report on combating racism, antisemitism and xenophobia (Rapport 2019 sur la lutte contre le racisme, l’antisémitisme et la xénophobie).

Description

The aim of the CVS is to better understand the facts about attacks that households and their members may have been victims of during the two years preceding the survey. By directly questioning a sample of the population, it is possible to measure the prevalence (proportion of victims) and the incidence (number of acts suffered) of certain attacks against individuals or their property. It is also possible to study the annual variations in these attacks, and then make comparisons between these trends and those obtained from administrative data on the observed facts (in particular those resulting from the recording of crimes and misdemeanours by the police and the gendarmerie). In addition, the system makes it possible to analyse the socio-demographic characteristics of the victims, and to address the effects of the victimisation (material and psychological damage, and consequences for the daily lives of the victims). The survey also makes it possible to estimate the proportions of attacks that are not reported to the authorities and determine the characteristics of the victims who have suffered from these attacks.

The SSMSI designed a two-phase protocol for the 2022 survey. The first phase will consist of a short screening phase, which will be conducted among a large sample of the general population (around 200,000 people aged 14 or over) to identify the victims of rare events and produce subnational indicators (regions, departments, etc.). The second phase, which will involve a smaller sample of the general population, will allow a detailed description of victimisation, or a specific focus on other topics (e.g. feelings of insecurity). The objective of the new design is to meet the need to have both precise annual data for crime monitoring and subnational statistics to ensure territorial diagnosis.

Critical success factors

• Since spring 2019, the SSMSI has been carrying out work to redesign the CVS. As part of this work, a written consultation with victimisation survey experts was carried out. The SSMSI wished, through this consultation, to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the current survey compared with other existing systems and gather the experiences and establish the needs of experts in the field of victimisation.
• Working groups have been set up to reflect on various themes that may arise in the new survey. These groups meet regularly to list the points to be addressed in the new questionnaire. Among these working groups, a group of representatives of different organisations, public authorities and associations focuses more particularly on specific populations (minorities from immigrant backgrounds, people with disabilities, LGBT people, etc.).
• A working group on the methodology has been set up and is responsible for question sampling, the sampling plan, the protocol, downstream statistical processing and management of breaks in series.
• A scientific council has been established. The scientific council is a consultation body whose role is to scientifically assess the work carried out within the framework of the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights and give advice on valuation or the methodological trade-offs to be carried out (in particular on the questionnaires). It brings together scientific experts in the themes of the survey and/or the statistical methodology of population surveys.

Actors involved in the design and implementation of the practice

The National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (the French national human rights institution) is part of the working group for the development of the new questionnaire.

The Defender of Rights (the ombudsperson institution and equality body) is also part of the working group to redesign the survey.

Other members of the working group include the Directorate for Research, Studies, Evaluation, and Statistics, a central administration branch of the health and social ministries, the National Observatory for Children at Risk, the French Institute for Demographic Studies, the High Council for Gender Equality, and researchers belonging to the Centre for Sociological Research on Law and Criminal Justice Institutions.

Monitoring and evaluation

Assessment by the Quality Label Committee covers all aspects of the survey.

Publicly available contact details

Website: https://www.interieur.gouv.fr/Interstats/Qui-sommes-nous

Email: ssmsi-communication@interieur.gouv.fr