Valuing the costs of violent crime: a stated preference approach

We seek to bridge some of the existing gaps in knowledge on the costs associated with the intangible impacts of crime. In doing so, we present results from the first stated preference study of crime risks in the United Kingdom as well as the first such study, more generally, to present respondents with realistic descriptions of the physical and mental health impacts of violent crime of varying severity. Our findings suggest that the costs of three officially classified (statistical) crimes are £5,300 for common assault (no injury), £31,000 for other (moderate) wounding, and £36,000 for serious wounding. Such monetary values are important in the economic appraisal of policies that seek to reduce the incidence of violent crime. Nevertheless, valuing the intangible costs of crime is a challenging task and we outline a number of problem areas that we have encountered in eliciting the economic value of reducing crime risks.