NCJ Number
105493
Date Published
1985
Length
279 pages
Annotation
This study tests the hypothesis that a property-crime victim's decision to report or not to report the crime to the police is related to the victim's perception of the police, how the crime occurred, the dollar value of the property, and the return of stolen property or its equivalent value by the police or insurance companies following the reporting of a previous property crime.
Abstract
An experimental design with presurveys and postsurveys along with a 6 months reference period based on the victimization data, gathered by the U.S. National Crime Surveys, was used for data collection. A stratified random sample of 13,923 households divided into presurvey (7,081 households) and postsurvey (6,842 households) was selected to record property-crime reporting patterns. Of those who responded to the questionnaires, 626 indicated they had been victimized by a property crime. These were the subjects for the study. The study found that the factors which influenced the crime reporting decisions were, in the order of influence, the victim's perception of the police, how the crime occurred, and the dollar value of the stolen or damaged property. 47 tables, 14 figures, 15 footnotes, 112-item bibliography, and appended survey instrument and operational definitions.