Crime in Lithuania: what is behind the Official Statistics?

• Published in: Jurisprudencija 2008-11, Vol.113 (11)
• Main Author: Kiskis, Alfredas
• Format: Article
• Language: eng ; lit
• ISSN: 1392-6195; 2029-2058

According to official statistics crime victims formed only 1.3 percent of the population of Lithuania in 2007. From this point of view it seems that crime in Lithuania is not a serious problem. However, crime victim surveys show a different picture. The underlying crime in Lithuania is measured by a survey of residents (N=1001) of 15-74 years old from 22 cities and 64 rural areas. The survey has been conducted by the Public Opinion and Market Research Centre "Vilmorus" during April 10-13, 2008 on the request by Centre for Crime Prevention in Lithuania. The questionnaire of the survey was prepared by the Centre. The respondents were asked questions on their personal injuries in Lithuania during 2007 due to the following types of criminal offences: * Theft; * Infliction of pain or disorder of health; * Rape; * Robbery; * Fraud; * Intentional destruction or damage of property; * Illegal impact on electronical data or information system; * Bribery; * Illegal dissemination of narcotic substances; * Public nuisance; * Other criminal offences. According to the survey as many as 60 percent of the respondents indicated that they had become victims of criminal offences in Lithuania in 2007. It is 46 times more than demonstrated by the official statistics. The results of the survey show that the estimate of the underlying crime in Lithuania during 2007 was 223 times higher than registered crime. In other words, registered crime in Lithuania in 2007 was only 0.4 percent of the estimated underlying crime. According to the survey only 11 percent of criminal offences were reported. One of the reasons of this low indication is the spread of very latent criminal offences: bribery (only 0.6 percent of incidents were reported), illegal distribution of narcotic substances (only 0.7 percent of incidents were reported) and public nuisances (6 percent of incidents were reported). These criminal offences formed most of the offences from which the respondents were injured in Lithuania in 2007. The results of the residents survey, compared with the official criminal justice statistics show that criminal penalties were actually applied to persons who committed only 0,1 percent of the estimate number of real crime in Lithuania in 2007. Only 44.5 percent of registered criminal offences, were investigated in Lithuania in 2007. 52 percent of persons charged with criminal offences were penalized by real applicable penalties. As showed by representative crime victim surveys (N=1000) condu