Direct and Indirect Victims of Urban Crime in the Historic Centre of Porto (Portugal): Prevalence, Dynamics and Associated Variables

What is it about?

Historic Center of Porto is located in northern Portugal, an urban area in the downtown area of Porto, which is the second largest Portuguese city. It covers an extension of 5.43 km2 and based on the last National Census in 2011 , 40400 inhabitants lived in the HCP, and the population density was 7447.5/km2. However, currently, the HCP is frequented by tourists because, in 1996, it was classified by UNESCO as a World Heritage site, and recently (i.e., 2012, 2014, and 2017), Porto was awarded a Best European Destination distinction. As a consequence, HCP is not only a residential zone but also a very overcrowded area attended by workers, students, and tourists day and night. In this study, we aimed to quantify and characterize direct and indirect crime victims at HCP. Additionally, we were interested how features such as sociodemographic, criminal, environmental, and community impacted on victimization. Therefore, we analysed inhabitants, students, and workers from HCP through a face-to-face inquiry We found that overall prevalence of victimization was 38.11%; specifically, 17.7% were direct victims, and 29.0% were indirect victims. The most reported crimes were robbery, theft and offense to physical integrity, which occurred mainly at night on the street. The majority of victims sought police support, but their satisfaction level was low. Some sociodemographic, criminal and environmental characteristics were associated with (in)direct victimization, while others did not.

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