EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY
FOR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS (FRA)
EU-MIDIS
Surveying ‘hate crime’ against
immigrants and ethnic minorities
Dr. Jo Goodey
Interim Head of Department ‘Freedoms and Justice’
FRA Mandate – Since March 2007
 Collect comparable data at EU-level to
inform knowledge-based policy relating to
FR – including crime victims
 Data collection on diverse populations –
racism and xenophobia a priority
 Absence of robust & comparable data
seriously hampers EU policy development
 RAXEN and FRALEX – 27 MSs
http://fra.europa.eu
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What is the data deficit like for policy
development?
Example - racist and xenophobic crime data
In any 12 month period - the police in E&W
collect more reports of racist incidents or
racist offences than the other 26 EU Member
States combined
Overall = Serious lack of hate crime data in
many areas (racist crime, homophobia)
http://fra.europa.eu
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‘Racist Crime’ official data collection classification - 2006
NONE
LIMITED
GOOD
COMP
Cyprus
Greece
Romania
Spain
Belgium
Bulgaria
Estonia
Hungary
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
Portugal
Slovenia
Austria
Czech Republic
Denmark
France
Germany
Ireland
Poland
Slovakia
Finland
Sweden
UK
http://fra.europa.eu
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Official criminal justice
data – ‘tip of the iceberg’
 Poor Data and its Implications
•
Under-reporting - low confidence in police …
•
Under-recording - police not taking offences
seriously; no field for data entry; inadequate data
entry …
•
CJS gap - hate crime does not come to the
attention of prosecution, courts …
•
No or inadequate data – inability to inform policy
developments, to inform public, to address hate
crime …
FRA Response to Victimisation
Data Deficit re Vulnerable Pops
Survey Research ‘EU-MIDIS’
=
‘European Union Minorities and
Discrimination Survey’
Includes data collection on criminal
victimisation and police stops
http://fra.europa.eu
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EU-MIDIS
Development Phases


PHASE 1 – PILOT SURVEY (2006)
Test sampling, questionnaire and mode of delivery in six
EU Member States on selected minority groups with a view
to developing future survey in EU27.



PHASE 2 – FULL SURVEY (2007-2008)
Pilot results informed development of full survey.
Survey fieldwork finalised Oct 2008.



PHASE 3 – SURVEY RESULTS (2009-2010)
Dissemination of survey results from early 2009+
Communication strategy
Full-Scale ‘EU – MIDIS’: General Info
 Selected minority groups – Group ‘matching’
 Random sample of 500 – 1,500 respondents
per country (min 500 per group)
 Standardised questionnaire
 Face-to-face interviews lasting between 20
to 50 minutes
 Fieldwork period May – mid July 2008,
finishing in some MSs in Sep 2008
http://fra.europa.eu
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EU-MIDIS – Topics Covered

General discrimination

Rights awareness

Discrimination
experiences
 Employment
 Education
 Housing
 Health care and
social services
 Consumer services

Victimisation
 Property crime
 Violent crime
 Harassment
 Corruption

Police contact

Stops by customs or
border control

Respondent
background
http://fra.europa.eu
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FRA Survey – Some Considerations

Developing a robust comparative survey
tool for groups that have not been
systematically surveyed across the EU


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Groups for surveying
Population data
Sampling
Questionnaire
http://fra.europa.eu
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GROUPS FOR SURVEYING
 Identify max 3 groups in each MS
 Identify groups considered vulnerable to
discrimination and victimisation (FRA
RAXEN annual reporting)
 Include only those age 16+
 Include only those living in MS for 1 yr+
 Identify groups that are in more than 1 MS
http://fra.europa.eu
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POPULATION DATA
 Different models for pop data collection
 UK practice of ethnic data collection
illegal and facing resistance in many
Member States (BUT data on nationality)
 Quality of pop data at local level and
distribution of minorities
 Some minorities under-registered
http://fra.europa.eu
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SAMPLING
Pilot tested:
 CATI screener + RR + FE
EU-MIDIS adopted following approach:
 RR + FE using in-person screening
 PSUs allocated on basis available pop data
 Population registers – names provided
 Network mapping as a fallback
http://fra.europa.eu
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QUESTIONNAIRE
 Development of standardised
questionnaire through consultation
 Other surveys provide questions for
comparison of results with majority
population
 Translation from EN into language of MS
and minority languages + back translation
 Minority interviewers and fieldwork
facilitators
http://fra.europa.eu
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NEXT STEPS …
 Publication of results as series of reports
Focus on specific results and groups –
Roma, North Africans, women etc.
Short reports
 Data set available through FRA website
Available for MSs, NGOs, researchers etc
for further analysis
http://fra.europa.eu
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http://fra.europa.eu
results available shortly in 2009 …
http://fra.europa.eu
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