This document summarizes literature on third-party crime reporting across cultures. It discusses how perceived social cohesion and trust in police affects crime reporting rates in individualistic vs. collectivistic cultures. In cultures with high social cohesion, third parties may be less likely to report crimes to avoid social consequences, while those in individualistic cultures may feel obligated to notify authorities. The document also examines how factors like gender, number of cosocialized siblings, and crime type influence willingness to report in different societies.
· What Did Robert Merton Know, AnywayChapter 12 discussed Polic.docxoswald1horne84988
· What Did Robert Merton Know, Anyway?
Chapter 12 discussed Policing and Special Populations. In a 1-2 page paper, using examples from policing, determine how prejudice and discrimination intersect with each other.
You are encouraged to seek examples from at least three (3) external sources.
Here are some notes down below to help!!
Police and Crime Prevention
The idea of crime prevention as an important function of policing can be traced to Sir Robert Peel who established crime prevention as one of the Metropolitan London Police goals. Since the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice Report in the late 1960s, crime prevention has become an acceptable function of policing in America. The concept of crime prevention involves education, training, public relations, and the development of strategies to prevent criminal activities. For the last several decades, there have been a variety of crime prevention studies, programs, and strategies advocated to help prevent the individual, neighborhoods, and government and private organizations from becoming victims of crime.
The community has a role to play in crime prevention. National commissions such as the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice and the National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice and Goals brought to national attention the importance of crime prevention for the community. The goal of Community Crime Prevention Programs (CCPPs) in the 1970s indicated that community organizations and local institutions had an important role in crime prevention efforts. The goal was for the police and community organizations to provide the impetus in neighborhood crime prevention efforts.
In the final decades of the twentieth century the police came to the realization, with a push from the federal government studies, that crime cannot be solved when left without the cooperation and assistance of the community. Only when citizen participation exists in crime prevention can we expect that crime can be reduced.
A community crime prevention approach involves the police and the communities working together not only to reduce crime but also to prevent it. To achieve community crime prevention several techniques and strategies are put into operation. Defensible Space as a crime prevention approach is workable and to a great extent successful. Defensible space provides residents with a secure environment relatively free from crime. Another technique similar to “defensible space” is Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED). This concept holds that crime prevention involves the physical design of buildings along with citizen involvement and the effective use of police agencies. The thrust of the CPTED model implies that the physical environment can be orchestrated to prevent potential offenders from committing incidents of crime along with improving the quality of life. The third strategy to prevent crime is Situational Crime Prevent.
Civilian review of police’s internal disciplinary and procedural mechanisms to address complaints are examined in this paper. Civilian oversight is a prominent feature of modern police efforts to improve community relations. The organizational theme of civilian oversight is characterized by terms used to critique police practices. Cultural competence, community policing, and mediation are key elements in reforming police practices and criminal justice goals. Modern theologians such as Christine Hayes and John Dominic Crossan offer insights about sociological concepts of biblical justice. Through the lens of restorative and distributive justice this paper examines complaint intake and criminal justice goals of San Diego's Civilian Review Board on Police Practices. Community policiing initiatives offer a holistic application of a socially just, transparent, and accountable process for building and restoring lawful communities. The views of prominent sociologists, active and retired police officers, and researchers are solicted in this exhaustive paper. Ultimately, this research will examine impacts and priorities for civilians to review police practices and develop and restore collaborative networks between police and their communities.
Research and Policy DevelopmentAfter reading Chapter 5 of th.docxrgladys1
Research and Policy Development
After reading Chapter 5 of the Mosher textbook, the article entitled "Internet Development, Censorship, and
Cyber
Crimes in China" by Liang and Lu, and the article entitled "'Snitches End Up in Ditches' and Other Cautionary Tales" by Morris, I can relate to how the contents of these sources affect research and policy development. While they are presented differently, these research articles have unique implications on the development of criminal justice policy. I am particularly drawn towards the text by Morris (2010). If members of the society such as teenagers can establish a culture that inhibits sharing information with formal authorities, one construct that is affected is the criminal justice public policy development process that depends on the ability of
law
enforcement to deliberate with members of the society to establish a consensus regarding which policies to pursue. Policing is a social process and if officers are denied information by the community through such codes, the criminal justice system cannot execute its mandate.
As a criminal justice leader, the National Crime Victimization Survey would concern me because this
survey
avails important information about the frequency of crime and the proportion that goes unreported (Ybarra & Lohr, 2002). When compared to the Uniform Crime Report, I would say that incident-based reporting provides official crime data and may be limited as with regards to its ability to provide a general view of crime rates that take place. In fact, it fails to capture crimes that are not reported to the police. As I have already mentioned, the “Snitches End Up in Ditches' and Other Cautionary Tales” is a particularly powerful article because it invokes action from criminal justice leaders. The action that I would take is to promote better relations between law enforcement entities and the community to establish a mutually inclusive work environment for better policy making.
References
Morris, E. W. (2010). “Snitches end up in ditches” and other cautionary tales.
Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice
,
26
(3), 254-272.
Ybarra, L. M., & Lohr, S. L. (2002). Estimates of repeat victimization using the National Crime Victimization Survey.
Journal of Quantitative Criminology
,
18
(1), 1-21.
.
2Crime Occurrence Evaluation PaperProfessor M. Callaha.docxlorainedeserre
2
Crime Occurrence Evaluation Paper
Professor M. Callahan
AJS/514
Grace Acevedo
October 28, 2019
Crime Occurrence Evaluation
Criminal Justice involves a set of interdisciplinary knowledge and integrated systematic actions to reach the awareness of a truth related to the criminal phenomenon, which includes the management of strategies that scrutinizes the role of the victim, the offender, and the crime as such, and the study of techniques aimed at countering, controlling and preventing criminal activity. This paper intends to interpret the occurrence of crime.
Current Trends in the Crime Rate
Based on FBI data, crime rates decreased by 3.9% during the past year and have continued to decrease. These include murder, robbery, burglary, vehicle thefts, larceny, and non-negligent manslaughter. With rape, the rate showed to have increased, subsequent in the last six years (https://www.themarshallproject.org/2019/09/30/new-fbi-data-violent-crime-still-falling)
Social and Environmental Factors Influencing Crime Rate
Economic circumstances as poverty and lack of employment are issues that affect low income communities. Communities where abnormal behavior is ignored and/or stimulated result in criminal activities. The population holding firearms has exploded. Between 6% to 10% of teenagers in high school have access to guns carry guns to school, this escalating to committing violent crimes (https://phoenix.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781337514910/). The recruiting of children and teenagers in gangs is rising, drugs and substance abuse are major causes for violent crimes. Exposing children to violent video games is an issue affecting today’s generation by teaching violence and undermining law enforcement (https://phoenix.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781337514910/).
Factors that contribute to Criminal Behavior and Crime Rate
Family relationships lead to criminal behavior. The lack of attention from parents to children, a household composed of one parent, child abuse, exposure to drugs and alcohol, and prostitution are some situations that push children and teenagers to seek support from other sources where bad influences can trigger delinquency.
Antisocial behavior leads to engage in delinquent acts. Risk-taking is another factor in committing delinquent activities and is most seen between the ages of 11 to 21. During this period, behaviors such as careless driving, substance use, unprotected sex, eating disorders, homicidal and suicidal behaviors, and dangerous sports are characteristics of risk-taking that lead to criminal behavior.
Investigating Crime Occurrence through Research and Theory Development
Social structure theories state that criminality is a product of social forces which include traditions, responsibilities, laws, morality, and religious beliefs (Calderon, M.). These theories are social disorganization, social change, conflict, and lack of social consensus as root causes of crime. The “broken window” theory focuses on ...
· What Did Robert Merton Know, AnywayChapter 12 discussed Polic.docxoswald1horne84988
· What Did Robert Merton Know, Anyway?
Chapter 12 discussed Policing and Special Populations. In a 1-2 page paper, using examples from policing, determine how prejudice and discrimination intersect with each other.
You are encouraged to seek examples from at least three (3) external sources.
Here are some notes down below to help!!
Police and Crime Prevention
The idea of crime prevention as an important function of policing can be traced to Sir Robert Peel who established crime prevention as one of the Metropolitan London Police goals. Since the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice Report in the late 1960s, crime prevention has become an acceptable function of policing in America. The concept of crime prevention involves education, training, public relations, and the development of strategies to prevent criminal activities. For the last several decades, there have been a variety of crime prevention studies, programs, and strategies advocated to help prevent the individual, neighborhoods, and government and private organizations from becoming victims of crime.
The community has a role to play in crime prevention. National commissions such as the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice and the National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice and Goals brought to national attention the importance of crime prevention for the community. The goal of Community Crime Prevention Programs (CCPPs) in the 1970s indicated that community organizations and local institutions had an important role in crime prevention efforts. The goal was for the police and community organizations to provide the impetus in neighborhood crime prevention efforts.
In the final decades of the twentieth century the police came to the realization, with a push from the federal government studies, that crime cannot be solved when left without the cooperation and assistance of the community. Only when citizen participation exists in crime prevention can we expect that crime can be reduced.
A community crime prevention approach involves the police and the communities working together not only to reduce crime but also to prevent it. To achieve community crime prevention several techniques and strategies are put into operation. Defensible Space as a crime prevention approach is workable and to a great extent successful. Defensible space provides residents with a secure environment relatively free from crime. Another technique similar to “defensible space” is Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED). This concept holds that crime prevention involves the physical design of buildings along with citizen involvement and the effective use of police agencies. The thrust of the CPTED model implies that the physical environment can be orchestrated to prevent potential offenders from committing incidents of crime along with improving the quality of life. The third strategy to prevent crime is Situational Crime Prevent.
Civilian review of police’s internal disciplinary and procedural mechanisms to address complaints are examined in this paper. Civilian oversight is a prominent feature of modern police efforts to improve community relations. The organizational theme of civilian oversight is characterized by terms used to critique police practices. Cultural competence, community policing, and mediation are key elements in reforming police practices and criminal justice goals. Modern theologians such as Christine Hayes and John Dominic Crossan offer insights about sociological concepts of biblical justice. Through the lens of restorative and distributive justice this paper examines complaint intake and criminal justice goals of San Diego's Civilian Review Board on Police Practices. Community policiing initiatives offer a holistic application of a socially just, transparent, and accountable process for building and restoring lawful communities. The views of prominent sociologists, active and retired police officers, and researchers are solicted in this exhaustive paper. Ultimately, this research will examine impacts and priorities for civilians to review police practices and develop and restore collaborative networks between police and their communities.
Research and Policy DevelopmentAfter reading Chapter 5 of th.docxrgladys1
Research and Policy Development
After reading Chapter 5 of the Mosher textbook, the article entitled "Internet Development, Censorship, and
Cyber
Crimes in China" by Liang and Lu, and the article entitled "'Snitches End Up in Ditches' and Other Cautionary Tales" by Morris, I can relate to how the contents of these sources affect research and policy development. While they are presented differently, these research articles have unique implications on the development of criminal justice policy. I am particularly drawn towards the text by Morris (2010). If members of the society such as teenagers can establish a culture that inhibits sharing information with formal authorities, one construct that is affected is the criminal justice public policy development process that depends on the ability of
law
enforcement to deliberate with members of the society to establish a consensus regarding which policies to pursue. Policing is a social process and if officers are denied information by the community through such codes, the criminal justice system cannot execute its mandate.
As a criminal justice leader, the National Crime Victimization Survey would concern me because this
survey
avails important information about the frequency of crime and the proportion that goes unreported (Ybarra & Lohr, 2002). When compared to the Uniform Crime Report, I would say that incident-based reporting provides official crime data and may be limited as with regards to its ability to provide a general view of crime rates that take place. In fact, it fails to capture crimes that are not reported to the police. As I have already mentioned, the “Snitches End Up in Ditches' and Other Cautionary Tales” is a particularly powerful article because it invokes action from criminal justice leaders. The action that I would take is to promote better relations between law enforcement entities and the community to establish a mutually inclusive work environment for better policy making.
References
Morris, E. W. (2010). “Snitches end up in ditches” and other cautionary tales.
Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice
,
26
(3), 254-272.
Ybarra, L. M., & Lohr, S. L. (2002). Estimates of repeat victimization using the National Crime Victimization Survey.
Journal of Quantitative Criminology
,
18
(1), 1-21.
.
2Crime Occurrence Evaluation PaperProfessor M. Callaha.docxlorainedeserre
2
Crime Occurrence Evaluation Paper
Professor M. Callahan
AJS/514
Grace Acevedo
October 28, 2019
Crime Occurrence Evaluation
Criminal Justice involves a set of interdisciplinary knowledge and integrated systematic actions to reach the awareness of a truth related to the criminal phenomenon, which includes the management of strategies that scrutinizes the role of the victim, the offender, and the crime as such, and the study of techniques aimed at countering, controlling and preventing criminal activity. This paper intends to interpret the occurrence of crime.
Current Trends in the Crime Rate
Based on FBI data, crime rates decreased by 3.9% during the past year and have continued to decrease. These include murder, robbery, burglary, vehicle thefts, larceny, and non-negligent manslaughter. With rape, the rate showed to have increased, subsequent in the last six years (https://www.themarshallproject.org/2019/09/30/new-fbi-data-violent-crime-still-falling)
Social and Environmental Factors Influencing Crime Rate
Economic circumstances as poverty and lack of employment are issues that affect low income communities. Communities where abnormal behavior is ignored and/or stimulated result in criminal activities. The population holding firearms has exploded. Between 6% to 10% of teenagers in high school have access to guns carry guns to school, this escalating to committing violent crimes (https://phoenix.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781337514910/). The recruiting of children and teenagers in gangs is rising, drugs and substance abuse are major causes for violent crimes. Exposing children to violent video games is an issue affecting today’s generation by teaching violence and undermining law enforcement (https://phoenix.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781337514910/).
Factors that contribute to Criminal Behavior and Crime Rate
Family relationships lead to criminal behavior. The lack of attention from parents to children, a household composed of one parent, child abuse, exposure to drugs and alcohol, and prostitution are some situations that push children and teenagers to seek support from other sources where bad influences can trigger delinquency.
Antisocial behavior leads to engage in delinquent acts. Risk-taking is another factor in committing delinquent activities and is most seen between the ages of 11 to 21. During this period, behaviors such as careless driving, substance use, unprotected sex, eating disorders, homicidal and suicidal behaviors, and dangerous sports are characteristics of risk-taking that lead to criminal behavior.
Investigating Crime Occurrence through Research and Theory Development
Social structure theories state that criminality is a product of social forces which include traditions, responsibilities, laws, morality, and religious beliefs (Calderon, M.). These theories are social disorganization, social change, conflict, and lack of social consensus as root causes of crime. The “broken window” theory focuses on ...
Vanessa Schoening January 24, 2014Module 1.docxdickonsondorris
Vanessa Schoening January 24, 2014
Module 1
M1 Research Journal
Question 1. Research problem
Is there a correlation between the frequency, nature of crimes, and the readiness to report them depending on the average income of neighborhoods in New York?
Question 2.
This statement captures the problem of crime in residential areas and tries to establish whether income is a factor that contributes to it. From the research, suggestions could be made on ways of trying to resolve the problem by solving the root issue.
There is no bias in this statement because once the research is commissioned; data would be collected from several neighborhoods.
The research can be carried out within a reasonable period and a small budget because data on the average incomes can be found at relevant authorities. Information on crimes is readily available from police stations. Law enforcement officers can also give useful information on the topic through interviews and questionnaires. The research would also involve collecting data from residents through questionnaires that is a faster and less expensive way of collecting information (Bhattacherjee, 2012).
This research, if conducted could lead to the discovery of new knowledge in the social sciences field. It could reveal on the kind of working relationship that exists between police officers and residents in different field. It would be important to find out the perception of the police in this field. It could also reveal past experiences with the police and their responsiveness depending on the neighborhoods. The research could also reveal whether the geographical areas that police officers work influence their level of job satisfaction. The data collected could tell whether officers view their roles differently when placed in dissimilar stations.
Question 3.
This research is quite feasible and a proposal could be drawn for funding. If conducted, the research could give insight on ways of improving the way police are perceived in different neighborhoods. When the image of police is bettered, people will be more willing to report crimes as soon as they happen in order to improve security in all areas. The research could help gain insight on why the response time in some areas may be less than in others despite the proximity of police stations to scenes of crime. The research findings would be shared with the police and they can read people’s suggestions on improvement of service delivery.
Previous research has focused more on the frequency of crime in different crimes and the conclusions have been that the income level affects the rate of crime (Bhattacherjee, 2012). Areas with high levels of unemployment have generally higher rates of petty crimes and muggings. However, research has not focused on the relationship between the police and citizens. There is an information gap on how exactly the nature of relationship affects service delivery. The research would act as a stepping-stone for future r ...
FACTORS OF HOMELESSNESS 1
Factors of Homelessness: An Annotated Bibliography Dedicated to the
Exploration of the Social Problem and Criminal Element
STUDENT NAME
Portland State University
FACTORS OF HOMELESSNESS 2
Introduction:
The intent of this bibliography was to explore the nature of homelessness with specific
attention to the population that has been involved with the criminal justice system. In the
City of Portland this population can be readily seen as they frequent the University
campus, and sleep unsheltered nearby. This topic became of interest to research because
of the visibility here on campus and the desire to change this behavior and lifestyle that
affects a small proportion of society. Wishing to achieve the greatest synthesis of the
criminal problem associated with homelessness, the research chosen for study provided
insight to the causes and factors of recidivism, and quantitative data from interviews and
surveys. This combination of research was chosen because it examined the reasons this
population enters and sometimes reenters the criminal system, as well as establishing
perspective. This scope does not account for crimes committed by the homeless, even
though it was a recurring topic in related research of the studies themselves. The research
question for this synthesis is what is the criminal problem associated with homelessness
and what factors have been found that influences this behavior?
This synthesis of research developed insight into the aggravating factors of homelessness
in states such as Minnesota, Arizona, Nevada, and also overseas in Milan, Italy. The
Recurring trends in the research suggest that though there is a small proportion of the
population that is actively involved with the court and legal systems, homelessness
provides for an overwhelming factor to recidivism. The community or condition that an
offender released to played a significant role on their desistance in criminal activity.
Further mediated through substance use and victimization, homelessness adds a
significant strain on those that experience it. The type of social interactions with other
homeless was also tested for effect on the topic, and it was found that interactions with
previous offenders also show signs of correlation. Because of the survivability aspect of
the lifestyle, and the frequent inability to secure food or shelter, this population
commonly is charged or arrested with crimes such as trespassing or other property crimes
because of their situation. Further analysis to the kind of crimes committed could further
detail the specific homeless problem for the city or places studied, but would probably be
different because this may be impacted by the resources for the population of the
concerned location.
FACTORS OF HOMELESSNESS 3
Annotations:
Clark V.A. (2014). Predicting two .
Running Head CRIMINOLOGY AND PUBLIC POLICY LITERATURE REVIEW1C.docxsusanschei
Running Head: CRIMINOLOGY AND PUBLIC POLICY LITERATURE REVIEW 1
CRIMINOLOGY AND PUBLIC POLICY LITERATURE REVIEW 6
Criminology and Public Policy Literature Review
Criminal Justice Capstone
Eric Butler
Argosy University
Abstract
The field of criminology in the modern community has become directly linked with public policy. The relationship between criminology and public policy has not fully been realized and this is impacting the different fields of criminology in the community. There have been different readings in the field of social policy and in relation to how policing can be an integral aspect in reduction of crime activities in the community. Although this is the case, governmental organizations have failed in the integration of effective policing to address emerging issues in the criminal community. The research will focus on the literature review of published and secondary data in addressing the importance of public policy participation in the criminology. The secondary data is also an essential affiliation based on the role played by crime related policies in the community. The review of the secondary data and its publications will offer the necessary foundations for accessing and discussing on the importance of public policy participation in criminology. In conclusion, the world of criminology is changing and this is influencing the participation of public policy in criminal justice.
Research problem
The aim of the literature review is to offer an extensive classification on the importance of public policy participation in criminal justice and especially in the field of criminology. In relation to the changing circumstance as exhibited by the drastic policing in the community and its society in areas related with criminal justice. Is the ever changing public policy and its influence in the social sciences in the 21st century a solution in curbing different challenges influencing and affecting criminology strategies in the community? The aim of the public policing is influencing how the community integrates with different aspects such as social issues influencing the community from leadership to peaceful integration with law enforcement.
Justification of the Topic
There is a clear distinction in the field of criminology especially in the reduction of drug related activities in the contemporary community. There are also a number of different criminal based activities which have influenced the criminal and law enforcements to develop strategies to curb the spread of crime. Although this has become an effective methodology in curbing and reducing crime, it has not always offered an ultimate solution. For instance, American community is recognized as the highest nation with a highest mass incarceration in the community. The use of laws has only increased the mass incarceration in population, hence, it has not helped in the reduction of crime. Due to the lack of effective reformation of the public policing, the cri ...
In this assignment, you will expound on one of the topics you selected by conducting a literature review. Use the literature you developed for references to prepare an analysis of the topic, and identify required changes, revocation, or additions to the issue, problem, or policy you selected for study. Here, you will provide research analysis to defend your position on the selected topic.
Christian Castillo D2 Summer 2018Outline of Complete Research.docxchristinemaritza
Christian Castillo
D2 Summer 2018
Outline of Complete Research Proposal 1
RACE AND CRIME 5
1. Introduction
a. Topic introduction and context.
Racial discrimination, which is the way of targeting accused based on race prominence, could be responsible for the increase in rate of crime arrest. Subcultural theorists argue that poor people, also referred to as have-nots, normally reside in areas where the social respect is subject to violence and physical strength and this habit promote crime. More to this, race impacts who gets arrested, and some pieces of evidence show that minorities are disproportionate form crime statistics (Walker, Spohn, & DeLone, 2012). It is official that high rates of arrest, conviction, and incarceration of these minorities may be as a result of criminal justice actors. It is interesting to note that race and social stratification are related in the aspect that nonwhite form lower class and this poorer class lack the genuine ways to obtain goods and they choose to join crime.
b. Significance
Physical injury and death are grouped as homicide, and known as the biggest cause of death amongst the youths. According to the “U.S Public health” brutality is a chief health issues which is challenging the Americans. Crime is intertwined with acts of violence. Secondly, crime is associated with loss, such as vandalism, arson, and environmental destruction. Crimes also pose economic cost through expense linked with transfer of property through robbery, during crime, criminal violence brings about additional medical cost of attending to the victims. There is another form of cost: cost of protection, which includes funds used to guard dogs and surveillance systems. According to studies, race has a huge impact on crime, thus scientists and scholars have tried to uncover what triggers people with different skin color to engage in criminal acts. All these implications make it important to study the relation of race to crime with a mind of reducing the cost.
c. Research question and hypothesis.
Arguably, black people are more likely to engage in criminal activities than white people. Does this stereotype have any relevance to it? A black man in the US today has three times a higher chance of going to prison as well. There has to be a relationship that supports both statements. Comment by Microsoft Office User: State your hypothesis clearly.
d. Proposed research design
The research will use data collected by different institution to evaluate the relationship between crime and race. It will describe offending action of different races within the sample population and this will be used for descriptive purpose. Second, the explanation will predict race pattern in relation to crime. The analysis builds on existing records of crime documenting racial pattern. Comment by Microsoft Office User: How will the data be collected for analysis? Existing statistics?
e. Roadmap
The remainder of this research paper stereotypes the conce ...
Vanessa Schoening January 24, 2014Module 1.docxdickonsondorris
Vanessa Schoening January 24, 2014
Module 1
M1 Research Journal
Question 1. Research problem
Is there a correlation between the frequency, nature of crimes, and the readiness to report them depending on the average income of neighborhoods in New York?
Question 2.
This statement captures the problem of crime in residential areas and tries to establish whether income is a factor that contributes to it. From the research, suggestions could be made on ways of trying to resolve the problem by solving the root issue.
There is no bias in this statement because once the research is commissioned; data would be collected from several neighborhoods.
The research can be carried out within a reasonable period and a small budget because data on the average incomes can be found at relevant authorities. Information on crimes is readily available from police stations. Law enforcement officers can also give useful information on the topic through interviews and questionnaires. The research would also involve collecting data from residents through questionnaires that is a faster and less expensive way of collecting information (Bhattacherjee, 2012).
This research, if conducted could lead to the discovery of new knowledge in the social sciences field. It could reveal on the kind of working relationship that exists between police officers and residents in different field. It would be important to find out the perception of the police in this field. It could also reveal past experiences with the police and their responsiveness depending on the neighborhoods. The research could also reveal whether the geographical areas that police officers work influence their level of job satisfaction. The data collected could tell whether officers view their roles differently when placed in dissimilar stations.
Question 3.
This research is quite feasible and a proposal could be drawn for funding. If conducted, the research could give insight on ways of improving the way police are perceived in different neighborhoods. When the image of police is bettered, people will be more willing to report crimes as soon as they happen in order to improve security in all areas. The research could help gain insight on why the response time in some areas may be less than in others despite the proximity of police stations to scenes of crime. The research findings would be shared with the police and they can read people’s suggestions on improvement of service delivery.
Previous research has focused more on the frequency of crime in different crimes and the conclusions have been that the income level affects the rate of crime (Bhattacherjee, 2012). Areas with high levels of unemployment have generally higher rates of petty crimes and muggings. However, research has not focused on the relationship between the police and citizens. There is an information gap on how exactly the nature of relationship affects service delivery. The research would act as a stepping-stone for future r ...
FACTORS OF HOMELESSNESS 1
Factors of Homelessness: An Annotated Bibliography Dedicated to the
Exploration of the Social Problem and Criminal Element
STUDENT NAME
Portland State University
FACTORS OF HOMELESSNESS 2
Introduction:
The intent of this bibliography was to explore the nature of homelessness with specific
attention to the population that has been involved with the criminal justice system. In the
City of Portland this population can be readily seen as they frequent the University
campus, and sleep unsheltered nearby. This topic became of interest to research because
of the visibility here on campus and the desire to change this behavior and lifestyle that
affects a small proportion of society. Wishing to achieve the greatest synthesis of the
criminal problem associated with homelessness, the research chosen for study provided
insight to the causes and factors of recidivism, and quantitative data from interviews and
surveys. This combination of research was chosen because it examined the reasons this
population enters and sometimes reenters the criminal system, as well as establishing
perspective. This scope does not account for crimes committed by the homeless, even
though it was a recurring topic in related research of the studies themselves. The research
question for this synthesis is what is the criminal problem associated with homelessness
and what factors have been found that influences this behavior?
This synthesis of research developed insight into the aggravating factors of homelessness
in states such as Minnesota, Arizona, Nevada, and also overseas in Milan, Italy. The
Recurring trends in the research suggest that though there is a small proportion of the
population that is actively involved with the court and legal systems, homelessness
provides for an overwhelming factor to recidivism. The community or condition that an
offender released to played a significant role on their desistance in criminal activity.
Further mediated through substance use and victimization, homelessness adds a
significant strain on those that experience it. The type of social interactions with other
homeless was also tested for effect on the topic, and it was found that interactions with
previous offenders also show signs of correlation. Because of the survivability aspect of
the lifestyle, and the frequent inability to secure food or shelter, this population
commonly is charged or arrested with crimes such as trespassing or other property crimes
because of their situation. Further analysis to the kind of crimes committed could further
detail the specific homeless problem for the city or places studied, but would probably be
different because this may be impacted by the resources for the population of the
concerned location.
FACTORS OF HOMELESSNESS 3
Annotations:
Clark V.A. (2014). Predicting two .
Running Head CRIMINOLOGY AND PUBLIC POLICY LITERATURE REVIEW1C.docxsusanschei
Running Head: CRIMINOLOGY AND PUBLIC POLICY LITERATURE REVIEW 1
CRIMINOLOGY AND PUBLIC POLICY LITERATURE REVIEW 6
Criminology and Public Policy Literature Review
Criminal Justice Capstone
Eric Butler
Argosy University
Abstract
The field of criminology in the modern community has become directly linked with public policy. The relationship between criminology and public policy has not fully been realized and this is impacting the different fields of criminology in the community. There have been different readings in the field of social policy and in relation to how policing can be an integral aspect in reduction of crime activities in the community. Although this is the case, governmental organizations have failed in the integration of effective policing to address emerging issues in the criminal community. The research will focus on the literature review of published and secondary data in addressing the importance of public policy participation in the criminology. The secondary data is also an essential affiliation based on the role played by crime related policies in the community. The review of the secondary data and its publications will offer the necessary foundations for accessing and discussing on the importance of public policy participation in criminology. In conclusion, the world of criminology is changing and this is influencing the participation of public policy in criminal justice.
Research problem
The aim of the literature review is to offer an extensive classification on the importance of public policy participation in criminal justice and especially in the field of criminology. In relation to the changing circumstance as exhibited by the drastic policing in the community and its society in areas related with criminal justice. Is the ever changing public policy and its influence in the social sciences in the 21st century a solution in curbing different challenges influencing and affecting criminology strategies in the community? The aim of the public policing is influencing how the community integrates with different aspects such as social issues influencing the community from leadership to peaceful integration with law enforcement.
Justification of the Topic
There is a clear distinction in the field of criminology especially in the reduction of drug related activities in the contemporary community. There are also a number of different criminal based activities which have influenced the criminal and law enforcements to develop strategies to curb the spread of crime. Although this has become an effective methodology in curbing and reducing crime, it has not always offered an ultimate solution. For instance, American community is recognized as the highest nation with a highest mass incarceration in the community. The use of laws has only increased the mass incarceration in population, hence, it has not helped in the reduction of crime. Due to the lack of effective reformation of the public policing, the cri ...
In this assignment, you will expound on one of the topics you selected by conducting a literature review. Use the literature you developed for references to prepare an analysis of the topic, and identify required changes, revocation, or additions to the issue, problem, or policy you selected for study. Here, you will provide research analysis to defend your position on the selected topic.
Christian Castillo D2 Summer 2018Outline of Complete Research.docxchristinemaritza
Christian Castillo
D2 Summer 2018
Outline of Complete Research Proposal 1
RACE AND CRIME 5
1. Introduction
a. Topic introduction and context.
Racial discrimination, which is the way of targeting accused based on race prominence, could be responsible for the increase in rate of crime arrest. Subcultural theorists argue that poor people, also referred to as have-nots, normally reside in areas where the social respect is subject to violence and physical strength and this habit promote crime. More to this, race impacts who gets arrested, and some pieces of evidence show that minorities are disproportionate form crime statistics (Walker, Spohn, & DeLone, 2012). It is official that high rates of arrest, conviction, and incarceration of these minorities may be as a result of criminal justice actors. It is interesting to note that race and social stratification are related in the aspect that nonwhite form lower class and this poorer class lack the genuine ways to obtain goods and they choose to join crime.
b. Significance
Physical injury and death are grouped as homicide, and known as the biggest cause of death amongst the youths. According to the “U.S Public health” brutality is a chief health issues which is challenging the Americans. Crime is intertwined with acts of violence. Secondly, crime is associated with loss, such as vandalism, arson, and environmental destruction. Crimes also pose economic cost through expense linked with transfer of property through robbery, during crime, criminal violence brings about additional medical cost of attending to the victims. There is another form of cost: cost of protection, which includes funds used to guard dogs and surveillance systems. According to studies, race has a huge impact on crime, thus scientists and scholars have tried to uncover what triggers people with different skin color to engage in criminal acts. All these implications make it important to study the relation of race to crime with a mind of reducing the cost.
c. Research question and hypothesis.
Arguably, black people are more likely to engage in criminal activities than white people. Does this stereotype have any relevance to it? A black man in the US today has three times a higher chance of going to prison as well. There has to be a relationship that supports both statements. Comment by Microsoft Office User: State your hypothesis clearly.
d. Proposed research design
The research will use data collected by different institution to evaluate the relationship between crime and race. It will describe offending action of different races within the sample population and this will be used for descriptive purpose. Second, the explanation will predict race pattern in relation to crime. The analysis builds on existing records of crime documenting racial pattern. Comment by Microsoft Office User: How will the data be collected for analysis? Existing statistics?
e. Roadmap
The remainder of this research paper stereotypes the conce ...
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Literature Review for third party crime reporting.pdf
1. Literature Review for third party crime reporting
psychology project and need a sample draft to help me learn.
Write a literature review for cross-cultural third-party crime reporting. Split the review into
crime reporting and crime reporting in America and Japan. Use the essay from when
previously helped as a reference for writing style. Feel free to pull from it but not copy it.
Use the references cited in the essay attached and the references attached to this. Find 2 or
more sources as needed.1500 words APA style
Requirements: 1500 words
An integral feature of the criminal justice system, third-party crime reporting is critical to
ensure the system's smooth operation. Police officers can see crime through direct
observation or citizen reporting. According to research, reported crimes are much more
likely to result from citizen initiative. One of the most important mechanisms for ensuring
the correct operation of the criminal justice system is the public's willingness to report
illegal conduct to the police.
The study on crime reporting patterns, however, mainly focuses on victims' reporting
habits, while the literature investigating third-party reporting behaviors is very small, with
varied results. According to studies, 25% of misconducts were described to the police, while
third parties conveyed around 9% of all events recorded in the Nationwide Crime
Persecution Survey (NCVS) between 1993 plus 2013. (Linning, & Barnes,2022). Given these
figures, we must increase our knowledge of the factors that affect the choices of third
revelries to report misconduct. Cross-cultural psychology is crucial in this situation.
People's perceptions of crime and willingness to report it might vary by culture. Contextual
factors influencing victim-reporting habits include perceived social cohesiveness and trust
in police efficacy. Third-party journalists have not yet looked at these contextual variables
(Linning & Barnes, 2022). Warner (2003a) looked at the connections between drug use,
informal social control, attenuated culture, and social disorder in Lexington and Louisville,
Kentucky. The study also sought to determine how personal characteristics affected third-
party reporting habits.
To analyze the unique features of inhabitants within 34 neighborhoods in each city,
individual-level survey data were acquired for Warner's study, which made use of
previously gathered survey data. All defendants were asked if they were mindful of any
wrongdoings in their area during the previous six months. The study strong-minded a
specimen frame of all discourses situated on each of the highway parts within this block
2. 1,343 accused who had seen or heard concerning at least one significant misdemeanor in
their area in the previous six months were included in the study after questions were asked
to weed out those who had not observed or heard about a severe crime (Linning, &
Barnes,2022). The respondents were questioned whether they had phoned the police in the
previous six months to report a neighborhood incident that did not directly affect them but
that they believed to be a crime.
Increased social cohesiveness beliefs were shown to reduce the likelihood of broadcasting,
although self-assurance in the police did not appear to have any statistically significant
effects (Romaniuc et al., 2022). As a result, perceived neighborhood social cohesiveness may
positively affect victim reporting while negatively impacting third-party reporting
behaviors. According to this result, culture may influence how individuals view crime and
their willingness to report it.
People's perceptions of crime and willingness to report it might vary by culture. People may
be less inclined to tell a crime to the law enforcement agency in collectivistic societies
where social cohesiveness is valued because they may fear unfavorable social
consequences. In contrast, people may be more inclined to call the police in individualistic
cultures that value individual autonomy because they may believe they have to do so
(Romaniuc et al., 2022). Therefore, it is essential to comprehend cultural variations in crime
reporting patterns while creating measures to promote third-party reporting.
These findings imply that while third-party reporting may be discouraged by perceived
societal cohesiveness, victim reporting may be encouraged. This can be because people in
the community feel they have to solve problems among themselves without engaging
outside authorities. Third-party reporting may also be discouraged by the worry of reprisal
from the offender or other community members.
The study results have significant ramifications for cross-cultural psychology since they
imply that there may be cultural differences in the propensity of third parties to report
crimes. For instance, third parties may be less inclined to report crimes in cultures with
high social cohesiveness because they have a more incredible feeling of obligation to
preserve peace and prevent confrontation. In contrast, individuals who feel less a part of
their society and more dependent on external mechanisms for security may be more
inclined to report crimes in societies with low levels of social cohesiveness.
These cultural variations could significantly affect how well the criminal justice system
works. Police may be better equipped to identify and stop more crimes in societies where
third-party reporting is frequent, resulting in increased public safety (Romaniuc et al.,
2022). However, the police may rely more heavily on direct observation in cultures where
third-party reporting is less widespread, which may be less efficient in spotting some
crimes.
The study results demonstrate the necessity of promoting third-party reporting with
cultural sensitivity. Instead of depending on individual reporting, it may be more successful
in highlighting the value of community collaboration and shared responsibility in reducing
crime in cultures with high social cohesiveness. In contrast, it could be more productive to
concentrate on fostering trust and confidence in the police in societies where social
cohesiveness is poor, as people may be less inclined to report crimes if they do not think the
3. police would respond.
The sort of crime being reported is another contextual factor that could affect third-party
reporting behavior. According to prior studies, some crimes, like property crimes, are more
likely to be testified by third parties than others, drug offenses (Van Rooij & Fine, 2019).
This can be because people believe that crimes against property are more noticeable and
have an enormous impact on the community.
Additionally, cultural variations could influence third-party reporting habits. In some
cultures, there may be a stronger feeling of collective duty and collectivism, which
encourages people to report crimes they have seen or heard about. Other cultures could
place more value on independence and self-preservation, which deters people from being
involved in illegal activity.
Third-party crime broadcasting considerably aids the unlawful justice system, to sum up, it
allows the authorities to learn about crimes they would not have seen via simple
observation. Numerous individual-level and environmental factors impact the public's
propensity to report criminal conduct as victims or independent reporters. The studies
presented in this essay shed light on how third-party commenting behavior is influenced by
claimed societal coherence and confidence in police performance (Van Rooij & Fine, 2019).
The relevance of cultural differences in third-party reporting must be further investigated,
and strategies must be developed to encourage reporting practices among community
members.
Reference
Linning, S. J., & Barnes, J. C. (2022). Third-party crime reporting: examining the effects of
perceived social cohesion and confidence in police effectiveness. Journal of Crime and
Justice, 45(1), 39-54.
Romaniuc, R., Dubois, D., Dimant, E., Lupusor, A., & Prohnitchi, V. (2022). Understanding
cross-cultural differences in peer reporting practices: evidence from tax evasion games in
Moldova and France. Public Choice, 190(1-2), pp. 127–147.
Van Rooij, B., & Fine, A. D. (2019). Preventing corporate crime from within: Compliance
management, whistleblowing, and internal monitoring. The Handbook of White‐Collar
Crime, 229-245.
Third-
partyattitudestowardsiblingincestEvidenceforWestermarck’shypothesesDanielM.T.Fessler*
,C.DavidNavarreteCenterforBehavior,Evolution,andCultureandDepartmentofAnthropology,
UniversityofCalifornia,LosAngeles(UCLA),LosAngeles,CA90095-
1553,USAReceived29March2004;accepted25May2004AbstractWhilesubstantialevidencesu
pportstheexistenceofWestermarck’s[Westermarck,E.(1891).Thehistoryofhumanmarriage.L
ondon:Macmillan&Co.]hypothesizedinbreedingavoidancemechanism,questionsremain.Wee
xaminedtheWestermarckhypothesisusingthird-
partyreactionstoafictionalcaseofsiblingincest,amethodparallelingthatofLiebermanetal.[Proc.
R.Soc.Lond.,BBiol.Sci.273(2003)819].Controllingforculturalattitudes,ahistoryofcosocializati
onwithanopposite-
sexindividualwasassociatedwithincreaseddisgustat,anddecreasedtoleranceof,others’incestu
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RICHARD B. FELSON AND PAUL-PHILIPPE PARE The Pennsylvania State University The
Reporting of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault by Nonstrangers to the Police We
examine the effects of the gender of the vic- tim and offender and their relationship to each
other on whether sexual and physical assaults are reported to the police. We also examine
the reasons victims give for not reporting assaults and whether reporting patterns have
changed over time. The analyses are based on a sample of 6,291 physical assaults and 1,787
sexual as- saults from the National Violence Against Women Survey. The results suggest
that victims are just as likely to report domestic assaults as they are to report assaults by
other people they know. Male victims are particularly reluctant to report assaults by their
intimate partners, whereas third parties are particularly unlikely to report assaults by
partners of either gender. Sex- ual assaults, particularly those that involve ac- quaintances,
are less likely to be reported. These patterns have not changed since the 1960s. It is
commonly believed that domestic violence and sexual assaults are hidden from society's
view because most incidents are not reported to the police (e.g., Frieze & Browne, 1989;
Herzberger, 1996; Pagelow, 1984). Only "the tip of the iceberg" is observed-the rest occurs
"behind closed doors" (Straus, Gelles, & Steinmetz, 1980). In this research, we examine
whether these offenses are less likely to be Department of Sociology, The Pennsylvania
State Univer- sity, 1012 Oswald Tower, University Park, PA 16802 (rbf7@psu.edu). Key
Words: assault, crime reporting, domestic violence, gender, police, sexual assault. reported
to the police than other violent of- fenses, and if so, why? Violence is unlikely to come to the
attention of the criminal justice system unless someone reports it. If domestic violence and
sexual assault are less likely to be reported than other crime, then the offenders may be
more likely to recidivate. In addition, if they are less likely to be reported, then official data
on domestic and sexual assault are less useful. Some scholars emphasize the role of gender
in the reporting of domestic and sexual assault (e.g., Belknap, 2001; Dobash & Dobash,
1998). Although they do not make explicit compari- sons between different crimes, they
imply that domestic and sexual assaults against women are particularly likely to go
unreported. Women's reluctance to report assaults by their male partners has been
attributed to fear of reprisal, economic and psychological dependence, and anticipation that
the police do not take these charges seriously (e.g., Frieze & Browne, 1989; Pagelow, 1984).
Women's reluctance to report sexual assaults has sometimes been attributed to their lack of
confidence in a criminal justice sys- tem that assigns blame to them rather than to offenders
(e.g., Belknap; Williams, 1984). In general, these scholars emphasize gender dis- crimination
in the criminal justice system and in the larger society. A second approach to police
notification focuses on the "relational distance" between the victim and offender (Black,
1976). The smaller the relational distance between adversaries, the less likely it is for the
legal system to become involved in disputes. Thus, violent disputes Joural of Marriage and
Family 67 (August 2005): 597-610 - 597This content downloaded from
13. 155.247.166.234 on Mon, 27 Feb 2023 07:41:54 UTC All use subject to
https://about.jstor.org/terms
Journal of Marriage and Family between strangers are likely to activate a legal response,
disputes between intimates or family members tend to be handled privately, and disputes
between friends and acquaintances tend to fall somewhere in between. Differences between
domestic and stranger assault reflect a broader structural relationship between rela- tional
distance and the activation of law. Black's (1976) approach would also predict gender
effects on reporting. He argues that vic- tims have less access to the law if they have lower
status than their adversaries. If women have lower status than men, then men's assaults on
women should be less likely to be reported than assaults involving other gender combina-
tions. The argument implies a statistical interac- tion between the gender of offender and
victim. In the present study, we use data from the National Violence Against Women Survey
to examine the effects of gender and social rela- tionship on police notification for physical
and sexual assault. We also examine the reasons victims give for not reporting the incident
to the police. Finally, we examine whether police noti- fication has changed over time. We
first review the literature on reporting physical assault and then review the separate
literature on reporting sexual assault. REPORTING PHYSICAL ASSAULT The evidence as to
whether domestic violence is less likely to be reported to the police than violence between
strangers is mixed. On the one hand, evidence from violence surveys suggests that the
police are less likely to be notified when the offender is a partner or other family member
than when the offender is a stranger (Block, 1974; Felson, 1996; Gartner & Macmillan,
1995). On the other hand, research based on the National Crime Vic- timization Survey
(NCVS) suggests that the victim-offender relationship affects third-party reporting but not
victim reporting (Felson, Messner, & Hoskin, 1999; see also Avakame, Fyfe, & McCoy, 1999;
Bachman, 1998). Third parties were less likely to report assaults involv- ing couples and
friends than assaults involving strangers, and they were more likely to notify the police
when a man attacked a woman (con- trolling for the victim-offender relationship). Felson,
Messner, Hoskin, and Deane (2002) analyzed the victim's reasons for not reporting physical
assaults using NCVS data. They found that victims of domestic violence were more likely to
mention privacy concerns, fear of reprisal, and a desire to protect the offender than victims
of stranger violence. Men were more likely to think the incident was trivial and that it was a
private matter, whereas women were more likely to say they were afraid of reprisal,
particularly when the offender was their partner. To our knowledge, no one has examined
changes over time in the reporting of domestic assault. It may be that rates of reporting
have increased because of publicity about the issue of domestic violence in the past 30
years. In addition, the introduction of mandatory arrest laws for domestic violence during
this time period may have encouraged reporting, if the caller preferred to see the offender
arrested (Bachman & Coker, 1995). Alternatively, manda- tory arrest laws might discourage
victims from calling if they do not want family members ar- rested (Buzawa & Buzawa,
2003). REPORTING SEXUAL ASSAULT Studies of police notification during the early 1970s
found that victims of sexual assault were much less likely than victims of other violent
crimes to call the police (e.g., Hawkins, 1973; Hindelang & Gottfredson, 1976). A more
recent study, using the NCVS, suggests that male vic- tims are even less likely to report the
14. crime than female victims (Pino & Meier, 1999). Research suggests that sexual assaults
involv- ing nonstrangers are particularly unlikely to be reported (Hindelang & Gottfredson,
1976; Lizotte, 1985; Williams, 1984). It is unclear, however, whether victims of sexual
assaults are more reluctant to report the incident than victims of physical assaults when
they know the of- fender. Perhaps the reluctance to report reflects more general inhibitions
related to knowing an offender and it does not matter whether the assault has a sexual
element. Only a comparison of reporting for sexual and physical assault will reveal whether
sexual assaults by nonstrangers are particularly unlikely to be reported. Sexual assaults
may be less likely to be re- ported to the police than physical assaults for a variety of
reasons: (a) the embarrassment and stigma associated with the crime (Bachman & Taylor,
1994), (b) perceptions by victims that they will not be believed or that the criminal 598This
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Reporting Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault justice system is ineffective (Feldman-
Summers & Ashworth, 1981; Fisher, Daigle, Cullen, & Turner, 2003; LaFree, 1980), (c)
perceptions that some incidents are not serious enough (Fisher et al., 2003), (d) ambiguity
about what constitutes illicit sexual conduct (DeKeseredy & Schwartz, 2001; Gavey, 1999;
Russell, 1982), (e) less fear of future attack because sex- ual assaults are less likely to be
repeated, (f) greater fear of reprisal if they do report (Amir, 1971; Fisher et al.; Singer,
1988), and (g) less third-party reporting because sexual assaults are much more likely to
occur in private. These inhibitory factors may be particularly important when the sexual
assault victim knows the offender. On the other hand, perhaps these fac- tors are just as
likely to inhibit the reporting of physical assaults or inhibit the reporting of both physical
and sexual assaults if the victim knows the offender. A variety of legal, political, and cultural
re- forms were initiated in the early 1970s whose purpose, in part, was to encourage
victims of sexual assault to call the police (Berger, Searles, & Neuman, 1988; Epstein &
Langenbahn, 1994; Spohn & Homey, 1992). There is some speculation in the literature that
these reforms, or the publicity surrounding the reforms, have resulted in increased
reporting, especially among those attacked by somebody they know (e.g., Bachman, 1993;
Bryden & Lengnick, 1997; Spohn & Homey). Evidence that the reforms or the publicity
associated with them had a causal effect is lacking. The evidence is fairly clear, however,
that rates of police notification for rape have increased, especially among those attacked by
somebody they know (Bachman, 1998; Baumer, Felson, & Messner, 2003; Jensen & Karpos,
1993; Orcutt & Faison, 1988). Evidence from victimization surveys suggests that the
reporting of violent crime in general increased slightly from 1973 to 1992 (Bureau of Justice
Statistics, 1993) and from 1992 to 2000 (Hart & Rennison, 2003). Perhaps trends in the
reporting of sexual assault reflect a general trend in reporting rather than cultural or legal
changes in response to sexual assault. THE CURRENT STUDY In this study, we examine
whether police noti- fication depends on gender, victim-offender relationship, and type of
assault. We examine both victim and third-party reporting because of evidence that they
sometimes respond differ- ently (e.g., Felson et al., 1999). We examine both sexual assault
and physical assault in order to determine whether there are special inhibi- tions about
reporting sexual assaults by non- strangers or whether the pattern reflects more general
15. inhibitions about reporting any violent offender the victim knows. Because we take a
multivariate framework, we can disentangle the effects of type of crime from the effects of
victim's gender, offender's gender, and social relationship. We hypothesize that the
following assaults will have low rates of reporting: HI: The offender is a partner or family
member (rather than a stranger or someone else the victim knows). This hypothesis follows
from Black's (1976) ideas on relational distance. Intermediate levels of reporting should be
observed when the offender is someone else the victim knows. H2: Women assaulted by
male partners. This fol- lows from the literature suggesting that there are special barriers
that inhibit a woman from report- ing such as her fear of reprisal or belief that her charges
will not be taken seriously. H3: Women assaulted by men. This follows from Black's (1976)
ideas on the availability of law to victims with lower status than offenders. H4: Sexual
assaults committed by nonstrangers. This hypothesis follows from the sexual assault
literature, which emphasizes special difficulties in prosecuting these cases. It is also
possible that sexual assaults generally are less likely than physical assaults to be reported.
H5: Sexual assaults and couple violence that occurred before the 1980s. We examine
whether reporting increased during the 1980s and 1990s, when public attention to these
crimes increased and when changes were instituted in the legal system that may have
facilitated prosecution. This hypothesis implies a statistical interaction between time period
and sexual assault and between time period and couple violence. We also examine the
reasons victims give for their decision not to call the police. If victims are particularly
unlikely to report assaults by their partners or sexual assaults by people they know, these
analyses may reveal why. We examine the following inhibitory beliefs among nonreporting
victims: embarrassment, fear of reprisal, the belief that the police will not believe their
charges, the belief that the police would be ineffective, and the belief that the offense was
too minor. We examine, for exam- ple, whether fear of reprisal inhibits women 599This
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All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Journal of Marriage and Family from reporting assaults by their male partners and whether
embarrassment inhibits the report- ing of sexual assault and assaults by partners and family
members. In our analyses, we include controls for situa- tional characteristics of the crime
that might be associated with reporting. The seriousness of the offense is indicated by
whether the offender injured the victim, used a weapon, had assaulted the victim before, or
assaulted the victim in his or her home. Prior research suggests that inci- dents that involve
injury and weapon use, and that occur in the home, are more likely to be re- ported (Felson
et al., 2002). We also control for variables that could affect culpability, that is, whether the
victim was the first to use violence and whether the offender and victim were using alcohol
and drugs at the time of the offense. Finally, we control for standard demographic variables,
such as the age, race, education, and income of the victim. Previous research finds that
victims are more likely to report assaults if they are older and Black (Felson et al.). METHOD
The National Violence Against Women Survey includes data collected in 1995-1996 from a
nationally representative sample of 8,000 women and 8,000 men, aged 18 and over (see
Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000). A computer- assisted telephone interview was conducted with
each respondent, asking about experiences with violence. We used items in which respon-
16. dents were asked about incidents of physical assault during adulthood and sexual assaults
since childhood. Some respondents, however, described incidents of physical assault that
occurred when they were teenagers, and a few described childhood victimizations. For
physical assaults, respondents were asked whether anyone had "Thrown something at you
that could hurt you? Push, grab or shoved you? Pulled your hair? Slapped or hit you? Kicked
or bite you? Choked or attempted to drown you? Hit you with some object? Beat you up?
Threat- ened you with a gun? Threatened you with a knife or other weapon besides a gun?
Used a gun on you? Used a knife or other weapon on you besides a gun?" For sexual
assaults, respondents were asked "Has a man or boy ever made or tried to make you have
sex by using force or threatening to harm you or someone close to you? Has anyone, male or
female, ever made or tried to make you have oral sex by using force or threat of harm? Has
anyone ever made or tried to make you have anal sex by using force or threat of harm? Has
anyone, male or female, ever put fingers or objects in your vagina or anus against your will
by using force or threats?" Respondents were asked about the most recent incidents and
could report up to six physi- cal assaults by different offenders and six sexual assaults by
different offenders. If a victim was assaulted multiple times by the same offender, only the
most recent incident was recorded. The sample includes a sufficient number of male victims
of sexual assault (n = 226, or 12.6% of sexual assault incidents) to disentangle the effects of
gender and sexual assault. Incidents involving same-gender couples were eliminated from
analyses because their number is insuffi- cient (n = 30, or 0.34%). We also excluded 741
(8.4%) cases including 259 cases with no infor- mation on the assault, 293 cases with
unknown police notification, and 47 cases that were re- ported by the offender. The final
sample in- cludes 6,291 physical assaults and 1,787 sexual assaults reported by 6,026
respondents. We estimate all equations using Stata soft- ware, treating the incident as the
unit of analysis. Because many respondents reported more than one incident, the
assumption of independence of errors across observations is violated. We use Stata's cluster
adjustment to address this issue. Effects on victim and third-party reporting are estimated
using multinomial logistic regression. We also analyze the victims' reasons for not
reporting. A potential problem is that nonreport- ing victims might not be representative of
the entire population of victims (see Heckman, 1979). To address the problem of selection
bias, we estimate the equations for reasons using maximum-likelihood probit estimation
with selection. Measurement Our main dependent variables are based on re- sponses to two
questions: "Was this incident reported to the police?" and, for those who answered yes,
"Who reported the incident to the police?" From these responses, we constructed a three-
category dependent variable: victim re- ported the incident, third party reported the inci-
dent, and no one reported the incident (the reference category). 600This content
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Reporting Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Our other dependent variable is the
respon- dent's reasons for not reporting the incident. Nonreporting victims were asked "Is
there a rea- son why you didn't report the incident to the police?" Victims could provide up
to four differ- ent reasons per incident. Our analyses are based on the following reasons: (a)
didn't think police could do anything; (b) wouldn't be believed, inci- dent would be viewed
17. as my fault; (c) too minor, not a police matter, not serious enough, not a crime; (d) fear of
offender, fear he/she would get even, scared; (e) shame, embarrassment, thought it was my
fault; and (f) did not want any- one to know about it. We collapsed the last two categories
because they both concern embarrass- ment and concern for image. We then created five
dichotomous variables, coded 1 if they men- tioned a particular reason and 0 if they did not.
The principal independent variables of inter- est include whether the offense was a sexual
or physical assault, the relationship between the offender and victim, the decade the offense
was committed, the gender of the offender, and the gender of the victim. Victim-offender
relation- ship is coded as either partner (spouses, former spouses, partners, and former
partners), other family (parents, children, uncle, aunt, cousin, brother, sister, in-laws), other
known (i.e., friend, date, and acquaintance), or stranger (the reference category).
Preliminary analyses sug- gest that it is unnecessary to code couples in more detail. People
known by sight only are coded as strangers. The categories for the rest of the variables are
presented in Table 1. Victim precipitation is based on whether the victim was the first to use
or threaten to use violence. The only continuous variable is level of education. It is coded
from 1 to 7, where 1 is no schooling, 2 is lst-8th grade, 3 is some high school, 4 is high school
graduate, 5 is some college, 6 is 4-year college degree, and 7 is postgraduate. The victim's
annual income is based on total household income in 1995, from all sources, before taxes.
The decade the offense was committed is based on an item in which victims were asked
how long ago the incident happened; we subtracted the number of years reported from the
year of the survey. To preserve sample size, we created dummy variables to handle missing
data for independent variables with significant missing data. Our analyses of time trends
depend on the ability of respondents to remember events that may have occurred in the
distant past. Physical and sexual assaults, however, are memorable events (see Woltman &
Cadek, 1984, for a com- parison of memory of violent crime and prop- erty crime). Although
most respondents should have no trouble remembering objective facts, they may have
difficulty remembering their rea- sons for not calling the police. Respondents are given the
opportunity to say that they don't know in response to the questions, but they may think
they remember but are in error. These mistakes, however, are likely to produce ran- dom
measurement error, that is, they are not likely to be systematically related to victim-
offender relationship or gender, our central vari- ables of interest. The time variable is more
worrisome. It is possible that the sample of inci- dents in the distant past includes a higher
inci- dence of more serious incidents because they are more likely to be remembered. Our
controls for injury and weapon use in our equations should address this potential sampling
bias, but there could be others. RESULTS Descriptive statistics are presented in Table 1.
They show that victims are almost twice as likely to report incidents as third parties but
that only about one out of four incidents are re- ported. Less than a quarter of the incidents
involved a sexual assault. Victims are less likely to have been assaulted by other family
members than by partners, strangers, and other known of- fenders (friends, dates, and
acquaintances). The most common reason victims give for not re- porting the assault is that
it was too minor. Finally, two thirds of the incidents occurred since 1980. Determinants of
Reporting The multinomial logistic regression coefficients are presented in Table 2. The
equation includes three multiplicative terms representing statisti- cal interactions. Recall
18. that we hypothesized that reporting would be particularly unlikely when women are
assaulted by their partners (H2), when women are assaulted by men (H3), and when sexual
assaults are committed by someone the victim knows (H4). Interactions involving time
period are discussed later. The hypothesis that women are particularly unlikely to report
their partners (H2) is not 601This content downloaded from 155.247.166.234 on
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Journal of Marriage and Family TABLE 1. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS (N = 8,077) Dependent
variables Police notification Reported by victim Reported by third party Unreported
Reasons for not reporting Police could not do anything Would not be believed Too minor
Embarrassment Fear of reprisal Victim characteristics Gender Men Womena Education
(mean) Race or ethnicity Black Whitea Hispanic Other or unknown race Income High
income (more than $50,000) Medium income ($20,000-$50,000)a Low income (less than
$20,000) Unknown income Incident characteristics Type of offense Sexual assault Physical
assaulta Gender of the offender Men Womena Victim-offender relationship Partner Other
family Other known Strangera Weapon used Gun Other weapon Unknown weapon No
weapona Injury to victim Physical injury Unknown injury No injury Offender alcohol or
drug use Offender used alcohol Offender used drugs TABLE 1. CONTINUED Unknown
alcohol or drug use No alcohol and no drug 15.1 Victim alcohol or drug use 8.0 Victim used
alcohol 76.9 Victim used drugs Unknown alcohol or drug use 4.8 No alcohol and no drug 2.7
Location 29.0 Victim's home 6.1 Unknown location 5.0 Other locationa Victim precipitation
Victim precipitation 51.2 Unknown victim precipitation 48.8 No victim precipitationa 4.8
Prior victimization 1-4 prior victimizations 9.5 5 and more prior victimizations 76.1
Unknown prior victimization 5.8 No prior victimizationa 8.5 Decade Before 1970a 11.8
1970s 36.4 1980s 40.0 1990s 11.8 Unknown decade Victim's age at time of incident 30 and
older 22.1 18-29a 77.9 Less than 18 Unknown age 85.3 14.7 aReference category.
supported. We do observe a significant Male X Couple interaction (b = -.789), but it is not in
the predicted direction. It is men who are particu- larly unlikely to report assaults by their
partner. In general, however, reporting is much less likely if the offender and victim know
each other in any way. These main effects are quite strong. For example, the odds that
victims will notify the police are about five times lower if the offender is a family member
rather than a stranger (odds ratio of .203). Victim reporting levels for differ- ent
relationships are presented in Figure la. We do observe some variation in the strength of
reporting for different types of nonstrangers. In order to examine the statistical significance
of these differences, we changed the reference 19.1 33.7 18.9 2.8 1.8 76.5 37.4 2.7 59.9 5.7
4.7 89.6 24.4 12.0 9.1 54.5 12.9 18.1 30.7 33.8 4.5 28.5 48.4 13.4 9.7 602This content
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Reporting Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault TABLE 2. MULTINOMIAL LOGISTIC
REGRESSION OF VICTIM AND THIRD-PARTY REPORTING (VS. NOT REPORTING; N = 8,077)
Victim Reporting b SE Odds Ratio Third-Party Reporting b SE Odds Ratio Incident
characteristics Sexual offense Partner Other family Other known Male offender Gun Other
weapon Unknown weapon Physical injury Unknown injury Offender used alcohol Offender
used drugs Unknown alcohol or drug use by offender Victim used alcohol Victim used drugs
19. Unknown alcohol or drug use by victim Victim precipitation Unknown victim precipitation
Home Unknown location 1-4 prior victimizations 5 or more prior victimizations Unknown
number of prior victimizations 1970s 1980s 1990s Unknown decade Victim 30 and older
Victim less than 18 years old Victim age unknown Victim characteristics Men Education
Black Hispanic Other or unknown race High income Low income Unknown income
Interactions Male Victim X Partner Male Victim X Male Offender Sexual Assault X Other
Known Constant *p < .05. -.329* .126 -.964* .155 -1.595* .212 -1.079* .112 .361 .230 1.196*
.115 .629* .097 .225 .419 .999* .078 -.289 .502 .456* .101 .918* .121 .819* .109 -1.146* .125
-.994* .249 -.192 .276 -.495* .171 -.692* .227 .293* .105 -.040 .256 -.065 .091 .222 .118 .116
.139 .105 .175 .231 .164 .629* .163 1.153* .311 .356* .080 -.640* .164 -.941* .292 .248 .250
.013 .035 .273* .116 .084 .174 .154 .133 -.038 .123 -.165 .090 .213 .118 -.789* .246 -.824*
.273 -.601* .236 -2.245* .337 .720 .381 .203 .340 1.435 3.307 1.876 1.252 2.716 .749 1.578
2.504 2.268 .318 .370 .825 .610 .501 1.340 .961 .937 1.249 1.123 .900 1.260 1.876 3.168
1.428 .527 .390 1.281 1.013 1.314 .919 1.166 .963 .848 1.237 .454 .439 .548 .040 .146 -
1.481* .198 -1.202* .212 -.955* .138 -.050 .248 1.313* .135 .855* .111 -.180 .624 1.020* .092
.373 .611 .669* .136 .908* .161 .822* .141 -.387* .128 -.838* .309 -.168 .344 -.203 .200 -
.717* .295 .189 .134 -.890 .480 -.215 .122 .221 .149 -.116 .189 -.257 .194 .115 .185 .285 .287
-.891* .377 .144 .109 .311* .136 .173 .256 -.806* .331 .117* .043 .070 .155 .032 .178 .151
.164 -.137 .156 -.135* .108 .012 .151 .169 .391 .354 .350 -.569* .247 -1.810* .384 1.041 .227
.301 .385 .951 3.717 2.351 .835 2.773 1.452 1.952 2.479 2.275 .679 .432 .845 .816 .488
1.208 .411 .807 1.247 .890 .773 1.122 1.330 .410 1.155 1.365 1.189 .447 .890 1.073 1.033
1.163 .872 .874 .988 1.184 1.425 .566 603This content downloaded from
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Journal of Marriage and Family FIGURE 1A. PROBABILITY OF VICTIM REPORTING BY
VICTIM-OFFENDER RELATIONSHIP U.o3 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.05 0 Female Partner Male Partner
Other Family Other Known Stranger Offender Note: Probabilities are calculated from the
multinomial logistic equation in Table 2 using the following formula: p =
(exp[gl(x)])/(l+exp[gl(x)]+exp[g2(x)]). Estimates are based on incidents involving male
offender (reverse for female part- ner), physical assault, no alcohol or drug use by victim or
offender, no weapon, victim injured, during the 1990s, outside victim's home, no prior
incident, victim is a woman (reverse for female partner), high school graduate, White,
$20,000- $50,000 income, and 18-29 years old. category from stranger to other known (not
pre- sented in tabular form). The results provide mixed support for the hypothesis that
reporting increases with relational distance (H1). Victims are just as likely to report
partners as other known offenders. They appear to be less likely to report family members
than other known offenders, but the difference is not quite statis- tically significant (p =
.07). For third-party re- porting, the coefficients are in line with Black's (1976) prediction:
more strongly negative for partners and other family members than for other known
offenders, but only the difference between partners and other known is significant (p = .04).
In testing the hypothesis regarding sexual assaults by nonstrangers (H4), we initially in-
cluded three interaction terms involving Sexual Assault X Partners, Family Members, and
Other Known Offenders. The coefficients for the terms involving partner and family
20. members were close to zero and statistically insignificant, indicating that sexual assaults
involving part- ners and family members are just as likely to be reported as sexual assaults
by strangers. We did find an interaction between sexual assault and other known offenders,
however. The results, displayed in Figure lb, indicate that both vic- tims and third parties
are particularly unlikely to report sexual assaults involving other known offenders. These
are the types of assaults typi- cally referred to as "acquaintance rape." We also examined
whether the reporting of sexual assaults depends on the victim's gender. An interaction
term for sexual assault by male victim was added to the equation in Table 2 (not presented
in tabular form). The coefficients for victim and third-party reporting were opposite in sign
and neither was significant (b = -.62, p = .25; b = .58, p = .08). The hypothesis that men's
assaults on women are particularly unlikely to be reported (H3) is not supported. We do
observe a statistical inter- action for victim reporting, but the interaction is not in the
predicted direction. The interaction, depicted in Figure 2, shows that women are par-
ticularly likely to report assaults committed by men and men are particularly likely to
report as- saults committed by women. We only observe a main effect for gender of victim
on third-party reporting. Third parties are more likely to report violence against women,
regardless of the gen- der of the offender. The results in Table 2 also show that police
notification is more likely if the incident is more serious. Thus, victims are more likely to call
the police if they were injured, if the offender used a weapon, or if they were assaulted at
home. Third parties are more likely to report incidents that involve injuries or weapons.
Variables associated with culpability of the victim also affected reporting. Thus, victims who
were the first to use violence or who were drink- ing alcohol or using drugs at the time were
less U.4 U._ U.Z'I 604This content downloaded from 155.247.166.234 on Mon, 27 Feb
2023 07:41:54 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Reporting Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault FIGURE lB. PROBABILITY OF REPORTING
OF PHYSICAL AND SEXUAL ASSAULT COMMITTED BY STRANGERS AND OTHER KNOWN
OFFENDERS 605 0.4 0.35 - 0.3- 0.25 - 0.2- 0.15- 0.1- 0.05 - Physical assault by Sexual assault
by Physical assault by Sexual assault by Stranger Stranger Other known Other known Note:
Probabilities are calculated from the multinomial logistic equation in Table 2 using the
following formula: p = (exp[gl(x)])/(l +exp[gl(x)l+exp[g2(x)]). Estimates are based on
incidents involving male offender, no alcohol or drug use by victim or offender, no weapon,
victim injured, during the 1990s, outside victim's home, no prior incident, victim is a
woman, high school graduate, White, $20,000-$50,000 income, and 18-29 years old. likely
to call the police. Third parties were also less likely to report if the victim was drinking
alcohol or using drugs. If the offender was drinking alcohol or using drugs, however, both
victims and third parties were more likely to report the incident. The demographic
variables also had some ef- fects. Victims who are Black or older are more likely to call the
police, whereas third parties are more likely to report incidents if the victim is less
educated. Finally, victim reporting, but not third- party reporting, significantly increased
during the 1990s. There is some indication of an increase in the 1980s, but it is not
statistically significant. Changes Over Time Recall that we predicted that the reporting of
partner and sexual assault would increase in the 1980s and 1990s because of changes in the
legal treatment of these crimes and changes in public attitudes (H5). For these analyses, we
21. added FIGURE 2. GENDER EFFECTS ON PROBABILITY OF VICTIM REPORTING U.q- 0.35 0.3
0.25 0.2 -*-Male Offender 0.15 - Female Offender 0.1 0.05 0 Male Victim Female Victim Note:
Probabilities are calculated from the multinomial logistic equation in Table 2 using the
following formula: p = (exp[gl(x)])/(l+exp[gl(x)]+exp[g2(x)]). Estimates are based on
incidents involving male offender (reverse for female part- ner), physical assault, no alcohol
or drug use by victim or offender, no weapon, victim injured, during the 1990s, outside
victim's home, no prior incident, victim is a woman (reverse for female partner), high school
graduate, White, $20,000- $50,000 income, and 18-29 years old.This content downloaded
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Journal of Marriage and Family multiplicative terms involving the decade the inci- dent
occurred and either partner violence or sex- ual assault. None of the multiplicative terms
was significant (results not shown but available upon request). The results do not support
the hypothesis that the rate of reporting of partner and sexual assault increased during the
1980s and 1990s, relative to the reporting of other assaults. In analyses not presented, we
examined other interactions involving decade to determine whether there were changes in
the reporting of certain types of crime. For example, we exam- ined interactions between
decade and gender of victim, nonstrangers, weapon use, and injury. A few interactions were
statistically significant, but no patterns were observed. Finally, we found no change over
time in the reporting of sexual assaults by nonstrangers. Reasons for Not Reporting Physical
and Sexual Assaults We analyze the reasons victims gave for not re- porting the incident in
Table 3. The analyses are based on victims who did not report the incident and include a
correction factor that takes into account sample selection for nonreporters. We include the
same control variables in the equa- tion as before, but we only present our main variables of
interest. Results in Table 3 suggest four reasons why victims of sexual assault are less likely
than vic- tims of physical assault to report the incident. Victims of sexual assaults are more
likely to say that they did not notify the police because (a) they did not think the police
could do anything, (b) they would not be believed, (c) they were afraid of reprisal, and (d)
they would be embar- rassed. They are less likely to say, however, that sexual assaults were
too minor to report. We also observe statistical interaction involv- ing Sexual Assault X
Other Known, indicating that victims respond differently to what are sometimes called
acquaintance rape. Victims are particularly likely to be too embarrassed to report sexual
assaults committed by other known offenders. Also, victims are more likely to say that
sexual assaults by acquaintances are too minor compared to sexual assaults by strangers.
Victims are not more likely to view domestic violence as too minor to report. Rather, victims
assaulted by other people they know were more likely to think the incident was too minor
to report. In addition, we observe a significant gender interaction. The pattern indicates that
women are particularly unlikely to consider as- saults by men as too minor to report. We
find no support for the hypothesis that women are particularly likely to fear reprisals from
male partners. The gender and partner effects are additive: Both men and women are more
likely to fear reprisal from male offenders and from partners. Victims are more likely to say
that they did not think the police could do anything if the offender was a partner (vs. a
stranger). They are more likely to think that they "wouldn't be believed" if the offender was
22. a family member. Victims are not particularly reluctant to report domestic violence because
of embarrassment. TABLE 3. VICTIM'S REASONS FOR NOT REPORTING USING PROBIT
REGRESSION WITH SELECTION (N = 6,211) Police Could Would Fear Not Do Anything Not
Be Believed Too Minor Embarrassment of Reprisal b SE b SE b SE b SE b SE Sexual offense
.250* .077 .593* .087 -.892* .079 .488* .080 .586* .075 Partner .287* .116 -.130 .146 .135
.107 -.021 .110 .253* .116 Other family -.030 .120 .268* .134 .106 .111 .096 .118 -.050 .123
Other known -.033 .083 .186 .103 .282* .088 -.098 .097 .010 .093 Male offender .150 .200
.298 .223 -.377* .102 .070 .157 .714* .268 Male victim .165 .228 .100 .262 .029 .117 -.000
.192 .078 .340 Male Victim X Partner -.210 .181 .215 .228 .086 .116 -.340 .207 -.509 .330
Male Victim X Male Offender -.032 .241 -.389 .280 .337* .130 .135 .174 -.596 .357 Sexual
Assault X Other Known .228 .129 .178 .141 .280* .100 .385* .114 -.075 .127 Note: Control
variables from the equations in Table 2 are included in the models but not presented. *p <
.05. 606This content downloaded from 155.247.166.234 on Mon, 27 Feb 2023
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Reporting Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault DISCUSSION Our results suggest that
victims are less likely to report an assault if they know the offender in any way; if they are
men and the offender is their female partner; if the offender is someone of the same gender;
or if they were sexually assaulted, particularly if the offender is a friend, date, or
acquaintance. Third parties are less likely to report violence involving people who know
each other in any way, particularly violence involving couples. They are more likely to
report violence against women and less likely to report sexual assaults than physical
assaults, particularly when the offender is a friend, date, or acquaintance. We now discuss
these results in more detail. Social Relationships The effects of social relationship on victim
re- porting observed here are consistent with evi- dence from some research (e.g., Block,
1974; Gartner & Macmillan, 1995) but somewhat inconsistent with research using the NCVS
(Felson et al., 1999). The former finds that vic- tims are less likely to report violence by
people they know, whereas the latter does not. Neither the NCVS-based study, however, nor
the cur- rent study finds statistically significant differ- ences in victim reporting between
assaults committed by partners and family members and assaults committed by other
nonstrangers. The results are consistent in showing that victims are no more likely to
tolerate domestic violence than violence by other people they know. We do observe one
exception to this pattern: Men are particularly unlikely to report assaults by their female
partners. This finding does not support claims that women have special inhibi- tions about
reporting their male partners (e.g., Belknap, 2001; Dobash & Dobash, 1998). Our analyses of
reasons for nonreporting suggest why victims are more reluctant to report offenders they
know than strangers. If the of- fender was a partner, victims were more likely to fear
reprisal and to think that the police could not do anything to help. If the offender was a
family member they thought their charges would not be believed. If the offender was
someone else they knew, they were more likely to think the incident was too minor to
report. Apparently, victims have a variety of reasons for not reporting people they know,
and those reasons vary somewhat depending on their relationship to the offender. The
effects of social relationship on third- party reporting are generally consistent with prior
research from the NCVS (Felson et al., 1999). The evidence shows that third parties are less
23. likely to report couple violence than stranger violence. We cannot determine whether
effects on third-party reporting reflect a reluctance to report an assault or a lack of
knowledge that the assault occurred because we do not know whether third parties
witnessed the incident or otherwise knew about it. Previous research using the NCVS
suggests that both factors are operating (Felson et al.). The results provide mixed support
for Black's (1976) hypothesis that reporting increases with relational distance. Relational
distance was more clearly related to third-party reporting than vic- tim reporting. The
evidence suggests that the victim's closeness to the offender is a factor in reporting
decisions but that the relationship is not linear. Further, we believe that Black's structural
approach, which ignores social psy- chological factors, is not adequate for under- standing
the decision-making process. It is important to examine the incentives and costs for
reporting and how they vary depending on the victim's relationship to the offender. In addi-
tion, the key difference for reporting is whether the offender is someone the victim knows
at all. The results also do not support Black's hypothesis that the reporting of violence de-
pends on the relative status of offender and vic- tim, if one assumes that men have higher
status than women (for counterevidence on gender and status, see Eagly & Mladinic, 1994).
Men's violence against women is not particularly unlikely to be reported. In fact, third
parties are more likely to report violence against women. This finding is consistent with
prior research using the NCVS (Felson et al., 1999), and it is consistent with evidence that
third parties take special efforts to protect women (see Felson, 2002, for a review). Note,
however, that we only examine the net effects of gender. The types of violent crime that
target women, sexual assault and nonstranger violence, both tend to be underreported. This
pattern of victimization leads to the concealment of violence against women and increases
their vulnerability. The finding that victims are more likely to report assaults committed by
someone of the opposite gender is also consistent with the litera- ture (Felson, 1996; Felson
et al., 1999). Women may be more likely than men to report male 607This content
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Journal of Marriage and Family offenders because of gender differences in rela- tive
strength and the importance of protection as a motive for calling the police. On the one
hand, men may be less likely to report male offenders because they believe they will be per-
ceived as cowardly or unable to defend them- selves. On the other hand, there is no honor in
fighting a woman because it is not seen as a "fair fight." Men lose face whether they win or
lose, so they may prefer to rely on the police. Sexual Assault Our findings are consistent with
the literature in showing that sexual assaults are less likely to be reported than physical
assaults. The reluctance of victims to report sexual assault does not appear to reflect a
gender bias because it is ob- served with controls for gender and because we do not observe
a significant gender by sexual assault interaction. The results suggest that it is the nature of
the crime not the gender of par- ticipants that inhibits the reporting of sexual assault. The
analyses of reasons help explain why vic- tims are less likely to report sexual assaults than
physical assaults. Victims of sexual assault are less likely to report the incident for four
reasons: (a) they were more likely to be embarrassed, (b) they were more likely to fear
reprisal, (c) they were more likely to think the police would not believe them, and (d) they
24. were more likely to believe the police would be ineffective. All these factors have been
mentioned in the sexual assault literature as factors inhibiting the report- ing of sexual
assault. Note that victims under- report sexual assault in spite of the fact that they view it as
more serious. Sexual assault committed by friends, dates, and acquaintances are
particularly likely to go unreported. The results support the literature suggesting that there
are special inhibitions about reporting sexual assault involving ac- quaintances. The
analyses of reasons suggest that victims are particularly unlikely to report these assaults
because of embarrassment and because they think the incidents were too minor or not a
crime (in comparison to sexual assaults by strangers). The perception that some of these
assaults were too minor to report is con- sistent with evidence that many victims of what
researchers consider acquaintance rape do not consider themselves crime victims (Koss,
Gidycz, & Wisniewski, 1987). Time Trends The evidence argues against the idea that
cultural and legal changes in the treatment of domestic violence and sexual assault in the
past two de- cades affected police notification. We observed no evidence that trends in
reporting these crimes were different from trends in reporting other vio- lent crimes. Thus,
we find no support for the idea that mandatory arrest laws, changes in the legal treatment
of sexual assault cases, or the publicity associated with these crimes had any effect on
reporting. We do observe a nonsignificant in- crease in general reporting by victims during
the 1980s and a significant, substantial increase in the early 1990s. The results are
consistent with prior research showing that the reporting of vio- lent crime in general has
increased since 1973 (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1993, 2000). They suggest that the
increases in reporting of rape over time that have been consistently reported in the
literature (e.g., Baumer et al., 2003) may reflect a general phenomenon. Our conclusions
about time trends must be tentative, however, because of the possible influence of the
victim's memory (Woltman & Cadek, 1984). In sum, theoretical discussions that emphasize
inhibitions about reporting family members or barriers to women cannot explain the
reporting patterns that we observe in this study. Our re- sults suggest that the reluctance to
report sexual assaults reflects the nature of the crime not the victim's gender. Inhibitions
about reporting domestic violence and sexual assault by non- strangers reflect a more
general pattern: Violence is less likely to be reported if the victim knows the offender in any
way. Increases in the report- ing of sexual assault and domestic violence over time also
reflect a more general pattern: an increase in the reporting of all types of assaults. Thus, our
results are consistent with a growing body of research that shows the utility of study- ing
the causes and consequences of domestic violence and violence against women in the con-
text of violence generally (e.g., Felson, 2002). By examining this larger context, researchers
can discover how these crimes are different and they can avoid what might be called an
overspe- cialized conception of violence. NOTE We thank Eric Baumer, Steve Messner, and
Paul Amato for their comments on earlier drafts of this paper. Funding for this research was
provided by the National Institute of Justice. 608This content downloaded from
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