Crime in the Modern City 2009

The criminological and criminal sociological study “Crime in the Modern City” aims to describe and explain the development and emergence of delinquent behavior patterns over time. As part of the DFG-funded research project, the Social Science Survey Center (SUZ) at the University of Duisburg conducted a total of 13 waves of surveys in Duisburg between 2002 and 2019. The population of the first survey included all students who were in the 7th or 9th grade at a Gymnasium, a comprehensive school, a Realschule, a Hauptschule, or a special school for educational assistance in Duisburg in the spring of 2002. The survey began with a targeted full survey of the 7th and 9th grades of Duisburg schools. The aim was to build up a panel data set for both age cohorts in the following years. By using a combined panel-cohort design, it is possible to examine not only individual developments over time but also year-specific effects. The questionnaire includes questions on victimization, self-reported delinquency, educational experiences, conflict behavior, attitudes toward crime, and lifestyles, leisure activities, and consumption patterns. The survey instrument was adapted to the age and personal life situation (e.g., transition from school to working life, partnership, family) of the respondents. The surveys were conducted using self-completed questionnaires in class or by mail. The data sets are available for individual survey waves and as a cumulative panel data set. Future prospects; assessment of adulthood; belonging to a fixed group of peers; frequency of contact with this group/clique; composition of the group/clique according to gender and national origin; leisure activities and attitudes of the group/ clique (joint visits to bars, discos, concerts, rival groups, feeling of acceptance only within the group, use of violence to assert interests, joint theater, music or newspaper, fights with other groups, studying for (vocational) school, respect for other people, hanging out, alcohol consumption, doing forbidden things for fun, studying for training or university). Leisure activities and lifestyles: preferred music genre; favorite band or musician (open); no favorite band; group designation of the young people with whom the respondent likes to meet (e.g., rappers, breakdancers, skaters, punks, etc.); preferred film genres; time budget per day for various activities (watching TV, watching videos/DVDs, reading books and magazines, favorite magazine (open-ended), surfing/chatting on the Internet and e-mails, playing on the computer or a console, studying for training, university or school); number of books at home; outfit: preferred clothing, accessories and brands (open-ended); frequency of playing various computer and console games (e.g., building games, sports games, first-person shooters, etc.); favorite computer game (open-ended); no favorite computer game; Frequency of other leisure activities (parties, hanging out, meeting friends, youth center, listening to music, cinema, drawing, painting, playing a musical instrument, making music on the PC or in a band, hanging out at home, singing in a choir, acting in plays, shopping, meeting family members, sports, working (e.g., babysitting, delivering newspapers), political activities, charitable activities, activities within the church or a religious community, other volunteer activities, other (open-ended). Attitudes towards life and values: Problems (e.g., with parents, finding a steady boyfriend/girlfriend, etc.); self-efficacy (scale); attitudes towards life and values (urge for new experiences, not having to do dirty work for others, fun and consumption as the meaning of life, doing what you want, somehow you always manage, observing God´s commandments, achieving your life goal by fulfilling your duties, political and social self-realization in your career, a man´s duty to provide for and protect his family, an exciting life instead of security, dropping out of society, dissatisfaction due to limited financial possibilities, not working for enough money, work no longer as a means of earning money, enjoying and living comfortably, children have a duty to respect and obey their parents, giving up everything and running away, enjoying computers and other modern devices, upholding the honor of the family, technological progress destroys life, great personal significance of the old values of thrift, cleanliness and order, women find fulfillment in the family, new technologies are useful when used correctly, political engagement to combat oppression and exploitation, wrong to afford everything you can buy, technological progress makes life beautiful, religious beliefs play a role, fully supporting the state). Victimization: Victim experience since January 2008: personally experienced victimization in the last year and frequency in relation to various forms of crime (robbery, assault without a weapon, assault with a weapon, and sexual harassment); gender, nationality, and age of the perpetrator; perpetrators were parents/siblings, classmates, coworkers, friends, acquaintances, strangers); frequency of reporting; reporting the last incident. Deviance and delinquency: Self-reported forms of delinquent behavior (graffiti, scratching, property damage, vending machine theft, shoplifting, bicycle theft, car theft, car break-ins, purse snatching, robbery, burglary, other forms of theft, receiving stolen goods, assault with or without a weapon, fraud in a purchase or sale or in relation to work, insurance, or social benefits, driving a car, motorcycle, scooter, or moped while drunk or under the influence of drugs, driving without a valid driver´s license, hit-and-run, drug use, drug sales, pirating movies, photos, or computer programs from the Internet); For all forms of crime, the following questions were asked: Age at first offense; frequency since January 2008 (incidence of offense); number of offenses in the last year known to a teacher or school administration, employer, or police; Last offense committed alone or in a group; scene of the crime in Duisburg the last time; crime was reported to the police or public prosecutor´s office; shoplifting additionally: consequences of shoplifting (never caught, warned and had to pay the retail price, banned from the store, had to pay a penalty (processing fee), reported to the police), value of goods in the last shoplifting incident; handbag snatching, robbery, burglary, theft, assault without a weapon, assault with a weapon, fraud: additional information on the gender and age of the victim, the nationality of the victim (open), victim is personally known; insurance/authority affected (fraud only); drug use: additional information on the type of drugs used and the dealer (gender, nationality (open), age, personally known); drug trafficking (dealing): additional information on the type of drugs sold. Alcohol consumption: ever been drunk; age of the person interviewed when they were drunk for the first time; frequency of excessive alcohol consumption; alcohol consumption mainly alone or in a group. Attitudes toward crime: Assessment of various crimes (shoplifting CDs, assault, provoking and intimidating, smoking marijuana or hashish, breaking into a kiosk, selling hashish or ecstasy, stealing bicycles, breaking into cars, extorting money from others so that they are left alone (rip-offs), spraying graffiti at bus stops) as serious or rather harmless; presumed attitudes (norms) of parents and friends towards the respondent´s criminality in relation to the above-mentioned crimes; estimated frequency of delinquent behavior among friends in relation to the above-mentioned crimes; assessment of the personal risk of discovery for the above-mentioned crimes; probability of committing one of these crimes in the next 12 months; attitude toward violence (scale). Social network: Frequency of contact with people/people in different groups (boyfriend, girlfriend or partner, friends, clique, family, sports club, etc.); characterization of the relationship with the circle of friends (e.g., can talk to my friends when I am sad, friends explain things I did not understand, my friends are indifferent to me, support me financially, can talk to my friends about problems, etc.). Partnership: Number of partners in the last year; duration of the current or last partnership (years, months); quality of the relationship; characterization of the relationship with partner (can talk to my partner when I am sad, my partner explains things I don´t understand, my partner is indifferent to me, supports me financially, can talk to my partner about problems, etc.); ever been a victim of violence in a relationship; frequency since January 2008; frequency of reporting; reported the last incident; information about the perpetrator in terms of gender, nationality (open) and age (open); ever used violence against partner; age when first used violence; use of violence against partner since January 2008; frequency since January 2008; number of incidents known to the police; incident reported to the police or public prosecutor. Parents: Quality of relationship with parents; characterization of relationship with parents (Frequency in the last 12 months: can talk to my parents about it when I am sad, my parents explain things to me that I did not understand, my parents are indifferent to me, support me financially, I can talk to my parents about my problems, my parents take care of me when I am sick, support me in official matters, my parents are indifferent to me, lend me things I need, help me with questions about education, studies, or career, would like to break off contact with my parents). Living environment: District in Duisburg; district; place of residence outside Duisburg (open); length of residence in the district (years, months); neighborhood: Probability of neighbors intervening in various situations involving young people (group of young people making noise outside in the evening and unsettling residents, young people deliberately damaging property, fight between several young people in which someone is injured, a young person behaving rudely towards an adult); characterization of the neighborhood (people help each other, people know each other well, you can trust people in the neighborhood, people do not get along well, no shared values, no respect for law and order); problems in the neighborhood (dilapidated, vacant buildings, trash and bulky waste on sidewalks and green spaces, drunk people, drug addicts, destroyed phone booths, mailboxes, garbage cans, bus stops and benches, graffiti on building walls, young people who threaten, rob or beat up others, too many foreigners/asylum seekers, undisciplined drivers, noisy neighbors, bored young people, loud arguments between adults); proportion of friends in the neighborhood. Suspicion of a crime and prosecution: after suspicion of a crime, court hearing by a juvenile judge or dismissal of the case by the police or public prosecutor; decision of the juvenile judge (warning, community service, discussions with a social worker, victim-offender mediation, apology, compensation, traffic lessons, payment of money, arrest, prison sentence with or without probation, placement in a rehabilitation center for alcohol or drugs, placement in a psychiatric institution, discontinuation of proceedings without further measures, acquittal); orders by the police or public prosecutor´s office to discontinue criminal proceedings (warning, discussions with a social worker, community service, traffic lessons, victim-offender mediation, compensation, apology, monetary payment, nothing); assessment of the decision by the police/prosecutor or juvenile court judge; conviction under juvenile criminal law or adult criminal law; reaction of parents or best friends to the criminal proceedings (thought the act was okay, stood by me even though they thought my act was wrong, didn´t care about the act, wanted nothing more to do with me because of the act); agreement with selected arguments against committing crimes (e.g., risk of arrest, you just don´t do it, important to obey the law, valuable to have a clear conscience, etc.). School: Grade point average on the last report card from (vocational) school. Demography: age; year of birth; sex; marital status; born in Germany; age when entering Germany; nationalities, country of origin of parents (migration background); own children; number of own children; age of children; family structure and living situation: living with parents, parents divorced or separated, living with father, with mother, alone, with relatives/friends/in a shared apartment, in a home/assisted living, living with partner); type of building; tenant status or house/apartment owned by parents; monthly income; sufficient funds; driver´s license (for moped, scooter, motorcycle, car, other driver´s license, no driver´s license); debts; debtors and amount of debt; monthly repayment amount; no debts; currently in military service, civilian service, non-armed service, voluntary social/ecological year; highest general school leaving certificate; professional status; vocational training qualification or desired vocational training qualification; parents´ general school leaving certificate; parents´ gainful employment; parents´ occupation (open); parents´ professional status; current vocational training; type of current training; start of current training (month, year); satisfaction with training; apprenticeship terminated; studies; course of study (open); occupation; satisfaction with occupation. The following was also coded: survey mode.