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CRIME REPORTING:
Author(s) -
KIDD ROBERT F.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
criminology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.467
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1745-9125
pISSN - 0011-1384
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-9125.1979.tb01303.x
Subject(s) - unobservable , action (physics) , bystander effect , event (particle physics) , social psychology , psychology , cognition , decision maker , epistemology , economics , philosophy , physics , management science , quantum mechanics , neuroscience
Most of the recent work on crime reporting has yet to be integrated into a coherent theoretical scheme. In response to this theoretical void, the present article outlines a model of the social psychological processes involved in crime reporting. The processes underlying the reporting of an observed crime assume that the bystander is a rational decision maker. After sighting an unusual event. the bystander calculates how discrepant the event is from his personal norms, ponders the sort of label that is appropriate for explaining the event, assumes personal responsibility. and adds up the costs and benefits associated with action. Final action or inaction is the consequence of a long chain of unobservable, cognitive events. The model draws heavily from current theorizing in studies of help‐giving and altruistic behavior.