Counting the cost of crime
Estimating the cost of crime can be used as a means of developing evidence for the benefits of criminal justice interventions. A few European states use the cost of crime methodology to incorporate into the appraisal and evaluation of interventions and pilots, but this practice is by no means standard throughout Europe. The EU-funded 'Mainstreaming methodology for estimating the costs of crime' (MMECC) project aimed to spread awareness of a standard methodology for estimation of crime costs primarily through a website. Access to the website through http://costsofcrime.org/ gives details of the methodology as well as how to apply the estimates as justification for crime intervention methods. Two methodologies are outlined on the MMECC website. The first, a bottom-up approach is normally used by criminal justice experts who rely on using the estimated costs incurred by victims. Alternatively, a top-down method advocated by economists is based on the costs of crime as a whole and incorporates how willing consumers are to pay for crime reduction. The standard approach used by MMECC for the model is the bottom-up angle – that is, the various costs a crime may trigger in total. The model takes the best possible estimates available taking into account inherent variations between countries. A relevant example is loss of earnings incurred by an injured victim which would differ widely across Europe. A highly comprehensive treatment of crime cost components sets out an analysis of costs such as victim support services and goes as far as including intangible harm like pain and suffering. Looking ahead, a future development section contains some speculations regarding the development of the model and possible changes. MMECC has successfully brought together criminal justice policy analysts to share and apply findings on costs of crime. Dissemination of methodologies on the MMECC website will be invaluable to policy formulation on crime prevention throughout Europe.