One in eleven crime victims suffers emotional consequences

The Dutch population reported having been victim of a total 4.7 million criminal offences in 2000. These include vandalism, burglary, theft, physical abuse and sexual offences. Just over one third of victims reported that they were still suffering emotionally from these incidents to a greater (9 percent) or lesser (28 percent) extent..

Two-thirds of victims hardly think about what happened

Most crimes do not have any serious emotional repercussions for the victims. In nearly two thirds of cases the victims hardly ever think back to what happened. About three in ten victims sometimes think back. For one in eleven victims, however, the emotional consequences are more serious: six percent regularly replay the events in their minds, two percent are still troubled about what happened and one percent report that the event still dominates everything they think and do. This means that 400 thousand crime victims are still suffering serious after effects of the criminal incident.

Emotional consequences of crimes, 2000

Theft and violence more often leave emotional mark

Victims of sexual offences, physical abuse, pickpocketing and burglary are most likely to suffer more emotionally. Nearly one in seven victims of these crimes reported that they often still thought about the event regularly, were still troubled by it or that it had become an obsession. For other crimes, such as bicycle theft or car vandalism the share of victims with more serious emotional consequences was smaller.

Serious emotional consequences by type of crime, 2000

Miranda de Vree