CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

At the dawn of the new millennium people all over the world are very concerned about the level of crime in society and the detrimental effect it has on their daily lives.

The questions probed in the Gallup International Millennium Survey concentrated on people's opinions on crime in general and also addressed issues related to crime and criminality such as gun control, the death penalty and government performance in combating crime.

Almost nine in every ten people (89%) said that they are concerned about the level of crime in their own country (combining the proportion who said "a great deal" and those who said "a fair amount"). The developing world was most concerned about the level of crime, with nineteen out of every twenty people in Africa and Latin America expressing their concern. However, as is apparent from the figure below, the other continents were not lagging very far behind.

Level of concern	Total %	Africa %	Latin America%	North America %	Western Europe %	South East Asia %	Eastern Europe %
A great deal	57	81	78	61	52	50	49
Fair amount	32	14	17	30	36	41	34
Not much/none	10	5	4	9	11	7	16
Don't know	1	0	1	0	1	2	1

How concerned about crime are you?

A reason for these concerns can definitely be found in the fact that the majority believes that crime has been on the increase during the last five years. Again Africans and Latin Americans seem to have been on the receiving end of this crime wave, with three quarters of Latin Americans saying that crime has increased a lot, followed by two thirds of Africans. However, if we look at the results from the other continents, crime is by no means a phenomenon confined to the developing world and pluralities on all continents said that crime has increased "a lot" over the last five years. In fact, on most continents, except Africa, less than a tenth say that there has been a decrease in crime.

Degree to which crime increased	Total %	Africa %	Latin America%	North America %	Western Europe %	South East Asia %	Eastern Europe %
A lot	54	77	65	55	53	48	43
A little	25	12	16	23	23	31	34
Remained same	14	7	5	15	15	14	18
Decreased	6	3	13	4	8	6	3
Don't know	1	1	1	3	1	1	2

Has crime increased?

It is thus quite clear that crime is a great concern to most people and the general consensus is that it is ever increasing. How did populations see the government's role in this issue? What was the general evaluation of government performance in combating crime?

Globally the scale is definitely tipped against governments and their ability to combat crime. (This opinion should be judged against the background of the Gallup International Millennium Survey press release titled "Government by the People", which commented on the finding that two thirds said, "My government is not governed by the will of the people".)

Close to two in every three persons indicated that they felt that government was not handling the issue of crime satisfactorily. Eastern Europeans and Latin Americans were the most critical of government performance. Although Africans were the most concerned about crime (as seen earlier), they quite ironically gave their governments the benefit of the doubt and were the least critical about this issue. Only one third were not satisfied at the way in which their governments were handling crime.

Level of govt. performance	Total %	Eastern Europe %	Latin America %	Western Europe %	South East Asia %	Northern America %	Africa %
Not well	64	86	73	67	54	53	32
Well	32	10	24	29	39	46	67
Don't know	4	4	3	4	7	1	1

How well is the Government handling crime?

If we turn to specific contentious issues related to crime, criminality and crime prevention, some interesting findings have come to light.

Gun Control
To control the possession of guns or not to control it is an issue eliciting worldwide debate. The overall results showed that people are more inclined to feel felt that control measures are not strict enough. Half indicated that they felt that there were not sufficient control measures. Latin Americans and East Europeans were the most outspoken about the fact that they felt that existing gun control measures in their countries were not sufficient. This opinion was also supported by North Americans and Africans, but to a lesser degree.

Level of gun control	Total %	Latin America %	Eastern Europe %	North America %	Africa %	Western Europe %	South East Asia %
Too little	50	76	65	49	49	43	31
About right	32	12	15	29	18	45	52
Too much	10	5	4	19	25	5	9
Don't know	8	7	16	3	8	7	8

Level Of Gun control

Western Europeans were divided on this issue and South East Asians were more satisfied with existing levels of gun control in their countries.

Still on the issue of maintaining law and order, people definitely have little humanitarian concern when faced with criminals – a third felt that the main aim of imprisonment should be "to make those who have done wrong pay for it". This notion was especially strong in South East Asia (42%) and Eastern Europe (35%). With a view to the future, just over three in ten (31%) believe that imprisonment should serve as a way of "re-educating" the prisoner. This view is shared by almost half (47%) of Latin Americans. A fifth argued that imprisonment is there to protect other citizens – this view was supported strongly by North Americans and Eastern Europeans.

Imprisonment as a deterrent to other criminals is not considered to be a huge issue – only 14% of people, with three in ten Africans, believed that this is an option. This opinion did not at all receive the same level of support from people on other continents.

Worldwide support was expressed in favour of the death penalty, with just more than half (52%) indicating that they were in favour of this form of punishment.

Death penalty	Total %	North America %	South East Asia %	Eastern Europe %	Africa %	Latin America %	Western Europe %
In favour	52	66	63	60	54	37	34
Against	39	27	21	29	43	55	60
Don't know	9	7	16	11	3	8	6

In favour or against the Death Penalty?

Interestingly, two thirds of North Americans and a slightly smaller proportion of South East Asians and East Europeans strongly supported capital punishment. In Latin America and Western Europe the majority do not favour the death penalty, while Africans were divided on this issue, with a slight majority in favour of capital punishment.

Mari Harris & Anneke Greyling, Markinor, South Africa

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