Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T02:16:53.604Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Victim Decision-Making

from Part II - Pretrial Phase Decision-Making

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2024

By
R. Barry Ruback  and
Allison Kurpiel
Edited by
Monica K. Miller ,
Logan A. Yelderman ,
Matthew T. Huss  and
Jason A. Cantone
Monica K. Miller
Affiliation:
University of Nevada, Reno
Logan A. Yelderman
Affiliation:
Prairie View A & M University, Texas
Matthew T. Huss
Affiliation:
Creighton University, Omaha
Jason A. Cantone
Affiliation:
George Mason University, Virginia
Get access

Summary

This chapter describes crime victims’ decision to call or not to call the police, which we discuss in terms of the extent to which it is rational, social, and normative. Examining these decisions is especially important as citizens function as the gatekeepers of our system. Victimization is likely to cause distress, anger, fear, and disbelief, meaning that the reporting decision is subject both to biased judgment and to influence from others in the form of information, advice, and normative standards. Although crime seriousness is generally the most important predictor of the reporting decision, factors about the victim and the offender moderate this relationship. Serious crimes against women are often not reported, and although juveniles generally have higher rates of victimization than adults, they have lower rates of reporting. Recent concern about certain hate crimes also indicates low rates of reporting. Future research possibilities and policy implications are also discussed in this chapter.

Keywords

social influence on victimsnormative decision-makingarousal and victim decision-makingNational Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)Uniform Crime Reports (UCR)hate crime victimsjuvenile victimscrimes against womensexual assault
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Legal Decision-Making , pp. 69 - 85
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, E. (1999). Code of the street: Decency, violence, and the moral life of the inner city. W. W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Baumer, E. P. (2002). Neighborhood disadvantage and police notification by victims of violence. Criminology, 40, 579–616. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2002.tb00967.x.Google Scholar
Bell, M. C. (2016). Situational trust: How disadvantaged mothers reconceive legal cynicism. Law & Society Review, 50, 314–47. https://doi.org/10.1111/lasr.12200.Google Scholar
Black, D. (1976). The behavior of law. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Bosick, S. J., Rennison, C. M., Gover, A. R., & Dodge, M. (2012). Reporting violence to the police: Predictors through the life course. Journal of Criminal Justice, 40, 441–451. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2012.05.001.Google Scholar
Bureau of Justice Statistics. (1994). National Crime Victimization Survey: Questions and answers about the redesign. NCJ 151171. US Department of Justice. https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/ncsrqa.pdf.Google Scholar
Bureau of Justice Statistics. (1997). Criminal victimization in the United States, 1994. NCJ 162126. US Department of Justice. https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/cvius94.pdf.Google Scholar
Burke, T. (2021). Unbound: My story of liberation and the birth of the Me Too movement. Macmillan.Google Scholar
Chakraborti, N., Garland, J., & Hardy, S. J. (2014). The Leicester hate crime project. Findings and conclusions. The University of Leicester. https://le.ac.uk/hate-studies/research/the-leicester-hate-crime-project/our-reports.Google Scholar
Clement, S., Brohan, E., Sayce, L., Pool, J., & Thornicroft, G. (2011). Disability hate crime and targeted violence and hostility: A mental health and discrimination perspective. Journal of Mental Health, 20, 219–225. https://doi.org/10.3109/09638237.2011.579645.Google Scholar
Craig, K. M., & Waldo, C. R. (1996). So, what’s a hate crime anyway? Young adults’ perceptions of hate crimes, victims, and perpetrators. Law and Human Behavior, 20, 113–129. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1007/BF01499350.Google Scholar
Easterbrook, J. A. (1959). The effect of emotion on cue utilization and the organization of behavior. Psychological Review, 66, 183–201. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/h0047707.Google Scholar
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2020). Crime in the United States, 2019. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice. https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019.Google Scholar
Felson, R. B., & Paré, P. P. (2005). The reporting of domestic violence and sexual assault by nonstrangers to the police. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67, 597–610. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2005.00156.x.Google Scholar
Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7, 117–140. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F001872675400700202.Google Scholar
Finkelhor, D., & Ormrod, R. K. (2001). Factors in the underreporting of crimes against juveniles. Child Maltreatment, 6(3), 219–229. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1077559501006003003.Google Scholar
Goudriaan, H., & Nieuwbeerta, P. (2007). Contextual determinants of juveniles’ willingness to report crimes. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 3, 89–111. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-007-9030-4.Google Scholar
Greenberg, J. R., & Greenberg, M. S. (1982). Crime and justice in Tudor-Stuart England and the modern United States. Law and Human Behavior, 6, 261–272. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01044297.Google Scholar
Greenberg, M. S., & Ruback, R. B. (1992). After the crime: Victim decision making. Plenum Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3334-4.Google Scholar
Greenberg, M. S., Ruback, R. B., & Westcott, D. R. (1982). Decision making by crime victims: A multimethod approach. Law & Society Review, 17, 47–84. https://doi.org/10.2307/3053532.Google Scholar
Greenberg, M. S., Ruback, R. B., & Westcott, D. R. (1983). Seeking help from the police: The victim’s perspective. In Nadler, A., DePaulo, B. M., & Fisher, J. D. (Eds.), New directions in helping: Applied perspectives on help-seeking and -receiving (Vol. 3, pp. 71–103). Academic Press.Google Scholar
Gutierrez, C. M., & Kirk, D. S. (2017). Silence speaks: The relationship between immigration and the underreporting of crime. Crime & Delinquency, 63(8), 926–950.Google Scholar
Hart, T. C., & Rennison, C. (2003). Reporting crime to the police, 1992–2000. NCJ 195710. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics. https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/rcp00.pdf.Google Scholar
Haynes, S. H., Cares, A. C., & Ruback, R. B. (2015). Reducing the harm of criminal victimization: The role of restitution. Violence & Victims, 30, 450–469. https://doi.org/10.1891/0886-6708.vv-d-13-00049.Google Scholar
Hindelang, M., & Gottfredson, M. (1976). The victim’s decision not to invoke the criminal process. In McDonald, W. F. (Ed.), Criminal justice and the victim (pp. 57–78). Sage.Google Scholar
Hu, X., Wu, J., DeValve, M. J., & Fisher, B. S. (2020). Exploring violent crime reporting among school-age victims: Findings from NCVS SCS 2005–2015. Victims & Offenders, 15, 141–158. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2019.1705452.Google Scholar
Hullenaar, K., Kurpiel, A., & Ruback, R. B. (2021). Youth violent offending in school and out: Reporting, arrest, and the school-to-prison pipeline. Justice Quarterly, 38(7), 1319–1341. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2021.1967426.Google Scholar
Hullenaar, K. L., & Ruback, R. B. (2020). Gender interaction effects on reporting assaults to the police. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36, 23–24. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0886260520903134.Google Scholar
Hullenaar, K. L., & Ruback, R. B. (2020). Juvenile violent victimization 1995–2018. Office of Justice Programs: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/library/publications/juvenile-violent-victimization-1995-2018.Google Scholar
Janoff-Bulman, R. (1982). Esteem and control bases of blame: “Adaptive” strategies for victims versus observers. Journal of Personality, 50, 180–192. https://doi.org/10.1111/J.1467-6494.1982.TB01022.X.Google Scholar
Langton, L., Berzofsky, M., Krebs, C., & Smiley-McDonald, H. (2012). Victimizations not reported to the police, 2006–2010. NCJ 238536. Bureau of Justice Statistics. https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/vnrp0610.pdf.Google Scholar
Langton, L., Planty, M., & Lynch, J. P. (2017). Second major redesign of the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). Criminology & Public Policy, 16, 1049–1074. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12335.Google Scholar
Lantz, B., Gladfelter, A. S., & Ruback, R. B. (2019). Stereotypical hate crimes and criminal justice processing: A multi-dataset comparison of bias crime arrest patterns by offender and victim race. Justice Quarterly, 36, 193–224. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2017.1399211.Google Scholar
Laub, J. H. (1981). Ecological considerations in victim reporting to the police. Journal of Criminal Justice, 9, 419–430. https://doi.org/10.1016/0047-2352(81)90088-X.Google Scholar
Levine, J. M., & Moreland, R. L. (1995). Group processes. McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Menjívar, C., & Bejarano, C. (2004). Latino immigrants’ perceptions of crime and police authorities in the United States: A case study from the Phoenix metropolitan area. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 27, 120–148. https://doi.org/10.1080/0141987032000147968.Google Scholar
Morgan, R. E., & Truman, J. L. (2020). Criminal victimization, 2019. NCJ 255113. Bureau of Justice Statistics. https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv19.pdf.Google Scholar
Norris, F. H., & Kaniasty, K. (1994). Psychological distress following criminal victimization in the general population: Cross-sectional, longitudinal, and prospective analyses. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62, 111–123. https://doi.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0022-006X.62.1.111.Google Scholar
Norris, F., Kaniasty, K., & Scheer, D. (1990). Use of mental health services among victims of crime: Frequency, correlates, and subsequent recovery. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 58, 538–547. https://doi.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0022-006X.58.5.538Google Scholar
Patterson, D., & Campbell, R. (2010). Why rape survivors participate in the criminal justice system. Journal of Community Psychology, 38, 191–205. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.20359.Google Scholar
Planty, M., Langton, L., Krebs, C., Berzofsky, M., & Smiley-McDonald, H. (2013). Female victims of sexual violence, 1994–2010. NCJ 240655. Bureau of Justice Statistics. https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/fvsv9410.pdf.Google Scholar
Pogrebin, M. R., & Poole, E. D. (1990). Culture conflict and crime in the Korean-American community. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 4, 69–78. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F088740349000400105.Google Scholar
Powers, R. A., Khachatryan, N., & Socia, K. M. (2020). Reporting victimisation to the police: The role of racial dyad and bias motivation. Policing and Society, 30(3), 310–326. https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2018.1523164.Google Scholar
Rennison, C. M., Dragiewicz, M., & DeKeseredy, W. S. (2012). Context matters: Violence against women and reporting to police in rural, suburban, and urban areas. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 38, 141–159. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-012-9164-4.Google Scholar
Rossi, P. H., & Berk, R. A. (1997). Just punishments: Federal guidelines and public views. Aldine de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Ruback, R. B. (1994). Advice to crime victims: Effects of crime, victim, and advisor factors. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 21, 423–442. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854894021004003.Google Scholar
Ruback, R. B., & Ivie, D. L. (1988). Prior relationship, resistance, and injury in rapes: An analysis of crisis center records. Violence and Victims, 3, 99–111. https://doi.org/10.1891/0886-6708.3.2.99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ruback, R. B., & Ménard, K. (2001). Rural/urban differences in sexual victimization and reporting: Analyses using UCR and crisis center data. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 28, 131–155. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0093854801028002001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruback, R. B., Ménard, K. S., Outlaw, M. S., & Shaffer, J. N. (1999). Normative advice to campus crime victims: Effects of gender, age, and alcohol. Violence and Victims, 14, 381–396. https://doi.org/10.1891/0886-6708.14.4.381.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Skogan, W. (1984). Reporting crimes to the police: The status of world research. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 21, 113–137. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0022427884021002003.Google Scholar
Sokoloff, N. J., & Dupont, I. (2005) Domestic violence at the intersections of race, class, and gender: Challenges and contributions to understanding violence against marginalized women in diverse communities. Violence Against Women, 11, 38–64. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1077801204271476.Google Scholar
Sunshine, J., & Tyler, T. R. (2003). The role of procedural justice and legitimacy in shaping public support for policing. Law & Society Review, 37, 513–548. https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-5893.3703002.Google Scholar
Theodore, N., & Habans, R. (2016). Policing immigrant communities: Latino perceptions of police involvement in immigration enforcement. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 42, 970–988. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2015.1126090.Google Scholar
Tyler, T. R., Schulhofer, S., & Huq, A. Z. (2010). Legitimacy and deterrence effects in counterterrorism policing: A study of Muslim Americans. Law & Society Review, 44(2), 365–402. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5893.2010.00405.x.Google Scholar
US Bureau of Justice Statistics. (1985). Reporting crimes to the police. US Department of Justice. www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/46852NCJRS.pdf.Google Scholar
Van Kirk, M. (1978). Response time analysis: Executive summary. Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, US Department of Justice. https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/rcp.pdf.Google Scholar
Watkins, A. M., & Maume, M. O. (2011). School victims and crime reporting. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 9, 333–351. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1541204011409069.Google Scholar
Whatley, M. A. (1996). Victim characteristics influencing attributions of responsibility to rape victims: A meta-analysis. Aggression and Violent Behavior: A Review Journal, 1, 81–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/1359-1789(95)00011-9.Google Scholar
Wickes, R. L., Pickering, S., Mason, G., Maher, J. M., & McCulloch, J. (2016). From hate to prejudice: Does the new terminology of prejudice motivated crime change perceptions and reporting actions? British Journal of Criminology, 56, 239–255. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azv041.Google Scholar
Wolfgang, M. E., Figlio, R. M., & Singer, S. I. (1985). National survey of crime severity. NCJ No. 96017. Bureau of Justice Statistics. www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/national-survey-crime-severity.Google Scholar
Wortman, C. M., & Brehm, J. W. (1975). Responses to uncontrollable outcomes: An integration of reactance theory and the learned helplessness model. In Berkowitz, L (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 8, pp. 277–336). Academic Press.Google Scholar
Xie, M., & Baumer, E. P. (2019). Crime victims’ decisions to call the police: Past research and new directions. Annual Review of Criminology, 2, 217–240. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-criminol-011518-024748.Google Scholar
Xie, M., Pogarsky, G., Lynch, J. P., & McDowall, D. (2006). Prior police contact and subsequent victim reporting: Results from the NCVS. Justice Quarterly, 23, 481–501. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418820600985339.Google Scholar
Zaykowski, H. (2010). Racial disparities in hate crime reporting. Violence and Victims, 25, 378–394. http://dx.doi.org/10.1891/0886-6708.25.3.378.Google Scholar
Zaykowski, H., Allain, E. C., & Campagna, L. M. (2019). Examining the paradox of crime reporting: Are disadvantaged victims more likely to report to the police? Law & Society Review, 53, 1305–1340. https://doi.org/10.1111/lasr.12440.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×