Age and the Decision To Call the Police - A Re-Examination

• NCJ Number: 74190
• Author(s): J Liang; M C Sengstock
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 22 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: American Assoc of Retired Persons; National Retired Teachers Assoc; Andrus Family Fund
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Paper presented at the 1979 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Philadelphia (PA)

Annotation

Using data from the National Crime Survey series conducted in 1975 and 1976, this study found that age is a consistent predictor of crime reporting even when all other relevant variables are controlled.

Abstract

In previous studies, age was identified as an important predictor of failure to report victimization to the police. Typically, there is an inverse relationship between age and the likelihood of nonreporting. This study focused on victims of six crimes: rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larcency, and motor vehicle theft. Study variables included reporting, the seriousness of the victimization (measured by using the Sellin-Wolfgang seriousness scale), age, marital status, race, sex education, family income, and a number of neighborhood characteristics. A replication design, regression analysis, and logistic function analysis were used. Results showed that three variables were consistently correlated with reporting of personal crimes: crime seriousness, age and marital status. For property crimes, age was positively related to the likelihood of reporting and to the crime's seriousness. The association between age and reporting could be explained by a positive correlation between age and favorable attitudes toward the police and by a positive correlation between age and fear of crime. No systematic effect of the neighborhood characteristics on the seriousness of crime and crime reporting were found. Four tables and a list of 20 references are provided.