Understanding differences in crime reporting practices: a comparative approach

ABSTRACT

Despite a large body of literature detailing crime reporting practices, scant research examines the correlates of the crime reporting decision in developing nations with newer democracies, newer economies, or developing economies. Using a sample of 23 nations from the 2000 International Crime Victimization Survey (ICVS), this study tests the generalizability of correlates of robbery and assault reports to the police in a non-US sample to determine whether there are national differences in reporting practices. Based on this analysis emphasizing the developing world and countries in transition, an expanded model, integrating incident, demographic, police-related, and national variables, is developed that will enhance our understanding of differences in reporting practices in developing and developed nations. Results identified both similarities and differences in crime reporting practices between developed and developing nations. Although the findings reinforce the importance of incident and demographic characteristics on reporting crime to the police, they also suggest that national variables, reflecting economic and social context, should not be excluded from studies examining reporting practices.

KEYWORDS:

• Comparative research
• victimization
• crime reporting
• developing world
• police
• international research

Notes

1. The United Nations classifies all countries in three categories: developed economies, economies in transition, and developing economies. Membership in a particular group is based primarily on geographic proximity and similarities in economic structure (DESA & UNCTAD, 2000).

2. The excluded dimensions were: Political Stability and Absence of Violence, which quantifies perceptions of governmental and political instability; and Regulatory Quality measuring the extent to which the government supports private sector growth (Kaufmann et al., 2007).

3. Countries excluded from the analysis are Argentina, Botswana, Estonia, Lesotho, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zambia.

4. Although we had planned to discuss reporting sexual assault to the police, preliminary analyses indicated that multilevel modeling was not preferable over single-level modeling. This finding was most likely the result of the small sample size of ICVS respondents (n = 750) who indicated that they had been the victims of a sex offense.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elizabeth Estienne

Elizabeth Estienne is a doctoral candidate at the University of Massachusetts Lowell in the School of Criminology and Justice Studies. She previously received her MSc in Criminal Justice from Northeastern University. Most recently, she served as a research assistant on a national project examining decision-making in sexual assault cases. This project reflected her research interest in victims, as well as their experiences with and perceptions of the criminal justice system. Additional research interests include child maltreatment and its criminal consequences, as well as comparative research.

Melissa Morabito

Dr Melissa Schaefer Morabito is an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell in the School of Criminology and Justice Studies and an associate at the Center for Women and Work. She has an MSW from Columbia University and received her PhD in Justice, Law and Society from American University. She was previously a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health funded Center for Mental Health Services and Criminal Justice Research. Prior to her academic career, Dr Morabito was a policy analyst at the Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services where she focused on police response to social problems in the community. Dr Morabito has developed extensive experience with police agencies and has worked with the Philadelphia, Chicago and Boston police departments. Most recently, she was a co-Principal Investigator on the National Institute of Justice project, “Decision-making in sexual assault cases: replication research on sexual violence case attrition in the US” (2012-IJ-CX-0052), that examines case processing in six jurisdictions across the United States. Her additional research interests include understanding the intersection between police and public health challenges such as mental illness, domestic violence and drug addiction.