Crime Victims and the Police

• NCJ Number: 74178
• Journal: Australian Psychologist Volume: 14 Issue: 3 Dated: (November 1979) Pages: 345-355
• Author(s): D Biles; J Braithwaite
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 12 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: Australia

Annotation

This paper reports on a crime victimization survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 1975 to determine why victims in Australia fail to report their victimizations to the police. Reasons for nonreporting in Australia are compared with those given in the United States.

Abstract

A total of 18,694 persons, aged 15 and over and located throughout the country, supplied data for the survey. The household response rate was 91.5 percent. Interview data were gathered on all victimizations during the 12 months preceeding the survey for eight types of crime: assault; robbery with violence; rape and attempted rape; breaking and entering; motor vehicle theft; fraud, forgery, and false pretenses; theft; and nuisance calls. The survey was conducted by experienced census interviewers, usually in the presence of the entire family. Tables illustrate standard errors for survey estimates of the number of reported and nonreported victimizations of each type, the percentage of crime reported (motor vehicle theft had the highest reporting rate and nuisance telephone calls the lowest), and reasons for not reporting victimizations. The most common reason for nonreporting was the victim's consideration of the crime as 'too trivial,' although many of the victims also cited police ineffectiveness as another reason. Marked differences in the reasons for nonreporting were found for different types of crime, and some differences were also found according to the sex, age, educational attainment, and marital status of the victims. A comparison with American reasons for nonreporting showed considerable similarity, although American victims are more inclined than Australians to cite police ineffectiveness and less likely to cite triviality as reasons for not reporting. Also, American victims are more inclined to report offenses to persons other than police. A few footnotes and three references are supplied. (Author abstract modified)