Almost 40% of Violent Thefts in Luxembourg Not Reported to Police

According to a new report by STATEC, Luxembourg's national statistical institute, nearly 40% of violent thefts in the Grand Duchy go unreported.

STATEC noted that the statistics on delinquency and crime produced by the Grand Ducal Police are based on the prior reporting of incidents by victims or third parties - however, many crimes are not reported to the police.

Based on the results of the latest Security Survey conducted by STATEC in 2019/2020, the new publication examines the extent of non-reporting in the case of theft and fraud against persons. STATEC pointed out that acts of physical, sexual or psychological violence, theft and fraud are not always reported to the police. The rate of reporting varies according to the type and seriousness of the incident, according to the socio-demographic characteristics of the victim and more subjective factors linked in particular to the victim's feeling of safety and his/her perception of the means of fighting crime.

The report found that whilst only 11% of vehicle thefts went unreported, non-reporting reached 23% for (attempted) burglaries and 38% for violent thefts (compared to 46% for non-violent thefts). The incidents least reported to the police concerned the fraudulent use of bank details - although nearly 70% of victims of such a crime reported it to a financial institution, for example their bank.

STATEC added that incidents having a financial impact on the victim or his/her household were more often reported to the police. Limited to incidents with a financial impact, the non-reporting rate drops to 14% for (attempted) burglaries, 31% for violent thefts and 10% for vehicle thefts.

The report also found that young victims were less likely to report crime to the police. Among victims of violent theft under the age of 30, 42% did not report the incident to the police, compared to 38% for the general population. For victims of non-violent theft, 56% of victims under the age of 30 did not report the incident, compared to 46% for victims as a whole. Women were found to report incidents of violent theft more often than men.

Moreover, victims born in Luxembourg appeared less likely to report such crimes to the police than those born abroad: 43% of Luxembourg-born victims of violent theft did not report the incident, compared to 30% of victims who were born abroad. The gap is much smaller for non-violent thefts, with a non-reporting rate of 47% among the former and 44% among the latter.

The full report can be downloaded via the STATEC website at https://statistiques.public.lu/en/publications/series/regards/2023/regards-12-23.html.