Essay

Today, relatively little is known about why citizens fail to report crimes. This makes it difficult to understand reactions to victimization at the local level. Little research has focused on the situational aspects of crime reporting, including the circumstances at the time of the attack and what alternative means of redress were available to the victim. To address this omission and further our understanding of the factors that influence crime reporting, this essay uses a unique set of data that provides more information on the contexts and contingencies that influence crime reporting than NCVS data. We begin by examining how individuals who have been victimized and called the police differ from those who failed to notify the police. We also examine factors that influence their decisions, and finally examine how individuals characterize the situations that led them to contact the police and their reactions to the responses they received from law enforcement.