Encouraging and discouraging factors to crime reporting in South Africa: a survey of residents’ crime reporting behaviour in Mthatha South Africa police service precinct

Figures & data

Table 1. Reliability on discouraging factors for crime reporting

	Cronbach’s Alpha
The police would not believe me.	.766
If my house was burglarized and report, the police would not take it seriously enough to investigate.	.775
If I was a victim of crime, I would not expect the police to do a follow-up investigation.	.785
I think the police are not very supportive of victims of crime.	.802
I think the police are not approachable.	.779
The police have no loyalty to citizens.	.809
I would not report a crime to the police if the criminal had already seen me.	.827
If I call the police to report a crime, I would prefer to remain anonymous.	.868

Table 2. Reliability on encouraging factors for crime reporting

	Cronbach’s Alpha
Reporting crime to find justice	.858
Reporting crime to recover lost property	.827
Reporting crime to have a safer community	.847
Reporting crime if the crime was serious	.859
Reporting offence trusting the police will solve the case	.826
Reporting crime to stop it from recurring	.823
Reporting offences for victim to have their dignity restored	.840
Reporting crime to stop police corruption	.831
Reporting crime because it is the right thing to do so	.851

Table 3. Responses on discouraging factors of reporting crime to the police

Discouraging factors of reporting crime to the police	SD	D	A	SA	Total	Mean	SD	V	Chi-Square	df	Sig
If I were to report a crime to the police, they would not believe me.	2 (1.7)	49 (40.8)	46 (38.3)	23 (19.2)	120 (100)	2.75	.781	0.609	48.333	3	0.000
If my house was burglarized and I reported the crime to the police, the police would not take it seriously enough to investigate.	1 (0.8)	30 (25.0)	58 (48.3)	31 (25.8)	120 (100	2.99	.739	0.546	54.200	3	0.000
If I was a victim of a crime, the police would not do a follow-up investigation.	_	19 (15.8)	55 (45.8)	46 (38.3)	120 (100)	3.23	.704	0.495	17.550	2	0.000
I think the police are not very supportive of victims of crime.	_	1 (0.8)	39 (32.5)	80 (66.7)	120 100	3.66	.494	0.244	78.050	2	0.000
I think the police are not approachable.	1 0.8	31 25.8	59 49.2	29 (24.2)	120 100	2.97	.733	0.537	56.133	3	0.000
The police have no loyalty to citizens.	_	1 (0.8)	33 (27.5)	86 (71.7)	120 (100)	3.71	.474	0.225	92.150	2	0.000
I would not report a crime to the police if the criminal had already seen me.	38 (31.7)	52 (43.3)	24 (20.0)	6 (5.0)	120 (100)	1.98	.850	0.722	38.667	3	0.000
If I call the police to report a crime, I would prefer to remain anonymous.	_	_	63 (52.5)	57 (47.5)	120 (100)	3.48	.501	0.251	0.300	1	0.584

Table 4. Variance explained and component matrix loading for discouraging factors

Component	Initial Eigenvalues			Factor Loading
	Total	% of Variance	Cumulative %	Component Matrix
If my house was burglarized and I reported the crime to the police, the police would not take it seriously enough to investigate	4.095	51.190	51.190	.842
If I were to report a crime to the police, they would not believe me.	1.050	13.128	64.318	.838
If I was a victim of a crime, the police would not do a follow-up investigation	.908	11.345	75.663	.825
I think the police are not approachable	.671	8.389	84.052	.811
I think the police are not very supportive of victims of crime	.474	5.923	89.975	.748
The police have no loyalty to citizens.	.316	3.947	93.922	.694
I would not report a crime to the police if the criminal had already seen me.	.294	3.675	97.598	.536
I would prefer to remain anonymous	.192	2.402	100	−.141

Table 5. Regression result of the impact of social profile on discouraging factors of crime reporting

Model		Unstandardized Coefficients		Standardized Coefficients	T	Sig.	Correlations
		B	Std. Error	Beta			Zero-order	Partial	Part
1	(Constant)	3.188	.244		13.062	.000
	Gender	.274	.079	.305	3.465	.001	.333	.314	.282
	Age	.054	.059	.084	.916	.362	−.037	.087	.074
	Race of the respondent	−.110	.054	−.193	−2.052	.043	−.145	−.192	−.167
	Location of the respondent	.073	.029	.276	2.519	.013	.063	.234	.205
	Socio-economic status	−.237	.099	−.339	−2.404	.018	−.285	−.223	−.195
	Level of education	−.043	.066	−.076	−.648	.518	−.155	−.062	−.053
	Employment status	−.047	.044	−.111	−1.075	.285	−.221	−.102	−.087
	Marital status	.014	.028	.049	.481	.632	−.163	.046	.039
	Religion	−.018	.039	−.041	−.455	.650	−.109	−.043	−.037

Table 6. Factors influencing citizens and victims dispositions to report crime

Factors encouraging reporting of crime to the police	SD	D	A	SA	Total	Mean	SD	V	Chi-Square	Df	Sig
I report crime to find justice.	1 (0.8)	6 (5.0)	74 (61.7)	39 (32.5)	120 (100)	3.26	.587	0.344	114.467^a	3	0.000
I report crime to recover lost property.	13 (10.8)	41 (34.2)	48 (40.0)	18 (15.0)	120 (100)	2.59	.874	0.765	29.267^a	3	0.000
I report crime to have a safer community.	_	3 (2.5)	70 (58.3)	47 (39.2)	120 (100)	3.37	.533	0.285	57.950^b	2	0.000
I report crime if the crime was serious.	_	1 (0.8)	49 (40.8)	70 (58.3)	120 (100)	3.57	.513	0.263	62.550^b	2	0.000
I report offences trusting the police will solve the case.	16 (13.3)	57 (47.5)	42 (35.0)	5 (4.2)	120 (100)	2.30	.751	0.565	56.467^a	3	0.000
I report crime to stop it from recurring.	24 (20.0)	64 (53.3)	24 (20.0)	8 (6.7)	120 (100)	2.13	.809	0.654	57.067^a	3	0.000
I report offences for victims to have their dignity restored.	2 (1.7)	19 (15.8)	72 (60.0)	27 (22.5)	120 (100)	3.03	.673	0.453	89.267^a	3	0.000
I report crime to stop police corruption.	28 (23.3)	63 (52.5)	20 (16.7)	9 (7.5)	120 (100)	2.08	.836	0.699	54.467^a	3	0.000
It is the right thing to do so.	_	_	46 (38.3)	74 (61.7)	120 (100)	3.62	.488	0.238	6.533 ^c	1	0.011

Table 7. Variance explained and component matrix of encouraging factors of crime reporting

Component	Initial Eigenvalues			Factor loading
	Total	% of Variance	Cumulative %	Component Matrix
I report crime to stop it from recurring.	4.230	46.996	46.996	.823
I report offences trusting the police will solve the case.	1.135	12.609	59.604	.807
I report crime to recover lost property.	.866	9.626	69.231	.800
I report crime to stop police corruption.	.709	7.879	77.110	.772
I report offences for victims to have their dignity restored.	.610	6.774	83.884	.702
I report crime to have a safer community.	.543	6.030	89.914	.630
It is the right thing to do so.	.398	4.418	94.332	.585
I report crime to find justice.	.329	3.656	97.988	.476
I report crime if the crime was serious.	.181	2.012	100.000	.454

Table 8. Regression on the encouraging factors of crime reporting

Model		Unstandardized Coefficients		Standardized Coefficients	t	Sig.	Correlations
		B	Std. Error	Beta			Zero-order	Partial	Part
1	(Constant)	3.128	.259		12.056	.000
	Gender	.016	.084	.017	.186	.853	−.086	.018	.015
	Age	−.093	.063	−.138	−1.483	.141	−.063	−.140	−.123
	Race of the respondent	.077	.057	.130	1.352	.179	−.007	.128	.112
	Location of the respondent	−.173	.031	−.633	−5.651	.000	−.397	−.474	−.470
	Socio-economic status	.179	.105	.246	1.705	.091	−.063	.160	.142
	Level of education	.046	.070	.079	.654	.514	−.049	.062	.054
	Employment status	−.041	.047	−.092	−.876	.383	−.002	−.083	−.073
	Marital status	−.002	.030	−.009	−.082	.935	−.026	−.008	−.007
	Religion	.034	.041	.075	.813	.418	.027	.077	.068