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Examining the Paradox of Crime Reporting: Are Disadvantaged Victims More Likely to Report to the Police?
Author(s) -
Zaykowski Heather,
Allain Erin Cournoyer,
Campagna Lena M.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
law and society review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.867
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1540-5893
pISSN - 0023-9216
DOI - 10.1111/lasr.12440
Subject(s) - disadvantaged , distrust , disadvantage , criminology , logistic regression , inequality , poverty , demographic economics , sociology , psychology , political science , economics , law , medicine , mathematical analysis , mathematics
This study uses an intersectional approach to examine the “paradox” that disadvantaged victims often mobilize the police, despite their distrust and lack of confidence in the law. Data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (1994–2016) were analyzed using logistic regression to model the predicted probabilities of police notification by victims of crime. Economic disadvantage, as measured by family poverty and lack of a high school education, increased the probability that females reported their victimization to the police, but decreased the likelihood that males did so. Economically disadvantaged black females had the highest probability of reporting, while economically disadvantaged black and Hispanic males had the lowest. Examining the intersectional differences across social groups shows that reporting behavior is not just a function of one attribute but rather is a function of multiple identities and structural inequalities.