CITIZEN REPORTING OF CRIME - SOME NATIONAL PANEL DATA (FROM SURVEY STUDIES OF THE VICTIMS OF CRIME, 1975 BY WESLEY G. SKOGAN - SEE NCJ-31964)

• NCJ Number: 31967
• Author(s): W G Skogan
• Date Published: 1975
• Length: 15 pages
• Grant Number(s): 74-NI-99-0028
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Justice
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

SUMMARIZES AND ANALYZES DATA AS OF 1974 ON NONREPORTING PRODUCED BY THE NATIONAL CRIME PANEL STUDY CONDUCTED BY THE BUREAU OF THE CENSUS.

Abstract

THE ESSAY EXAMINES THE IMPACT OF SEVERAL HYPOTHESIZED DETERMINANTS OF REPORTING RATES. REPORTING APPEARS TO BE RELATED ONLY WEAKLY TO THE CHARACTERISTICS OF INDIVIDUAL CRIME VICTIMS. CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTIMS' EXPERIENCES, ON THE OTHER HAND, WERE HIGHLY RELATED TO THEIR EVOCATION OF THE POLICE. CRIMES WHICH THREATENED THEIR PERSON, VIOLATED THEIR PERSONAL SPACE, INFLICTED INJURY, OR COST THEM MONEY, WERE REPORTED AT RELATIVELY HIGH RATES. ATTRIBUTES OF THEIR EXPERIENTIAL WORLD RATHER THAN SOCIAL OR SYMBOLIC FORCES APPEAR TO MOTIVATE THE VICTIMS OF CRIME, SUGGESTING THAT THE DECISION TO REPORT MAY BE A HIGHLY COGNITIVE, REALITY-TESTING PROCESS. FAR FROM A PATHOLOGY, IT MAY REFLECT PEOPLE'S JUDGMENTS ABOUT THE USE OF THEIR TIME, AND THE POLICE'S TIME AS WELL. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT)