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

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)

‘Racist Crime’ official data collection classification NONELIMITEDGOODCOMP 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

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’ = 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

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 ( )  Pilot results informed development of full survey.  Survey fieldwork finalised Oct  PHASE 3 – SURVEY RESULTS ( )  Dissemination of survey results from early  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

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

FRA Survey – Some Considerations  Developing a robust comparative survey tool for groups that have not been systematically surveyed across the EU  Groups for surveying  Population data  Sampling  Questionnaire

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

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

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

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

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

results available shortly in 2009 …