Customer Satisfaction: Crime Victims' Willingness to Call the Police

• NCJ Number: 230336
• Author(s): Candace Kruttschnitt; Kristin Carbone-Lopez
• Date Published: December 2009
• Length: 16 pages
• Sale Source: Police Foundation
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Research Paper
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: From Ideas in American Policing, Number 12, December 2009

Annotation

Using data from a sample of women offenders, this study examined citizens' willingness to report being the victim of a crime.

Abstract

Results from the original victimization survey conducted by the 1967 President's Crime Commission and the most recent National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) indicate relatively little improvement in citizens' willingness to call the police when they have been victimized, despite substantial improvements in police recruitment standards and the implementation of community policing. Using data from a sample of women offenders in Minneapolis, who have a low probability of being included in a NCVS, the authors explore who reports crimes to the police and the reasons given for failing to report being victimized. The analyses are confined to crimes of violence perpetrated by intimates, acquaintances, and strangers. Findings indicate both that NCVS data underestimate the extent of non-reporting and that in a substantial number of cases the police failed to respond to citizens' reports. The authors consider both the practical and theoretical significance of these findings. Tables and references (Published Abstract)