NCJ Number
189393
Date Published
2001
Length
26 pages
Annotation
Based on data from the International Crime Victims Survey for 1988, 1992, and 1996, this study compared the expectations, experiences, and judgments of crime victims from various countries regarding the police.
Abstract
Findings showed that repeat victims in western countries reported crimes more often than victims in other countries, so as to have the offender arrested and/or to stop repeat victimization. Repeat victims knew or assumed that the same offenders were victimizing them repeatedly. Repeat victims contacted the police with more demanding concerns than other victims. The reporting patterns of repeat victims in western countries resembled those of all victims in poorer countries. Like the victims in these countries, western repeat victims were less inclined to report at all. This finding suggests that they were less certain that the police could do what was necessary to satisfy their needs. Repeat victims in the western countries did not refrain from reporting because they considered their victimization not to be sufficiently serious for police intervention. They were more likely than one-time victims to refrain from reporting their victimization to the police because they believed that the police could not or would not do anything to help them. In this respect they resembled victims in poorer countries. Repeat victims were less often satisfied with the police response in all regions. The differences were most pronounced among victims from industrialized countries. The reduced level of satisfaction of repeat victims with overall police performance was based in negative personal experiences with the police. 11 tables and 22 references