Technological Advocacy and Crime Reporting in an HBCU Setting: Addressing the Prospect of Legal Cynicism in the Ebony Tower

In comparison to white students, the study of Black student attitudes toward crime reporting on college campuses is deficient, especially in historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Using approximately 100 completed student questionnaires, statistical results suggest that the majority of students express a willingness to report a campus-related crime to campus police. The highest reported explanation for refusing to report a crime is based upon the prospect of being labeled in a negative manner. The highest reported explanation for reporting a crime is based upon the receipt of a financial reward and anonymity. Bivariate calculations indicate that age, gender, and residential status are significantly associated with crime reporting decisions. Policy implications, areas of further research, and limitations are provided.

Some Determinants of Crime Reporting Among Economic and Financial Crime Victims: The Case of Azerbaijan

Relatively limited attention has been paid by scholars to explore the crime reporting behavior of white-collar crime victims, especially in developing countries, such as Azerbaijan, where some forms of white-collar crimes are widespread. Using the dataset of the first nationwide victimization survey (n = 1,214) in Azerbaijan, the current paper attempts to explore the determinants of crime reporting among 4 specific white-collar offense (fraud, request for bribery, sale of unsafe good and sale of unsafe food for consumption) among randomly selected, yet unrepresentative subsample of victims (n = 186). Offenses were categorized in two groups for analysis—financial/economic offenses and non-financial/economic offenses, hence two models in a binary logistic regression analysis. The results indicate that the extent of financial loss predicts the crime reporting behavior for victims of financial offenses. Those with a higher level of the perceived probability of being victimized by a violent crime were more likely to have notified the authorities of their victimization. Applicable for non-financial crimes only, the level of income has an inverse association with a decision to invoke the law. The relationship of a victim to an offender predicted a decision to contact the authorities—cases in which the offender was identified as a stranger were less likely to be reported to the law enforcement authorities than cases in which the offender had not been identified. No socio-demographic variable has a predictive capacity for either crime category. In addition, as the main motives for not mobilizing the law, almost half of the cases have been resolved in between the offender and victims, such as through compensation. The findings have several theoretical implications for white-collar crime literature. Suggestions for further research, as well as the limitations, are discussed toward the end of the paper.

Socio-demographic variables and crime reporting attitude in Nigeria

The complexity involved in combating crime in different regions of the world makes information sharing fundamental in crime management. Unfortunately, crime victims, who should be in the frontline of providing this information to law enforcement agents are often lethargic and lackadaisical in doing so, owing to no fault of theirs. Thus, this paper explored the convergence between socio-demographic variables and crime reporting in Nigeria. Empirically, the study examined the relationship between the attitude of law enforcement agents, location of the crime, nature of the crime, and attitude to crime reporting. Mixed methods, including a cross-sectional survey and in-depth interview, was used to collect data from 1112 respondents through a multi-stage sampling technique. The quantitative data were analysed using simple linear regression; while, the qualitative data collected were analysed in themes as a complement to the quantitative data. Findings revealed that attitudes of law enforcement agents, crime location and nature of crime significantly affect attitude to crime reporting in the study area. The study concludes that there is a connection between selected socio-demographic variables such as attitudes of law enforcement agents, crime location, nature of crime and attitude to crime reporting. It was, therefore, recommended that law enforcement officers who fail to abide by the ethics of their profession and the standard procedure governing their interaction with both complainants and suspects should be severely sanctioned. Besides, law enforcement officers should be trained and re-trained in such areas as public relations and professional ethics guiding their operations

Police Fatal Force and Crime Reporting: A Test of Community Responses to Fatal Police-Civilian Encounters

Public perceptions of police legitimacy and effectiveness have been challenged by recent high-profile use of fatal force incidents by the police. Prior scholarship suggests that that controversial incidents involving police use of force can engender distrust of the police. Further, the neighborhood effects literature has demonstrated the importance of community context for police-community relationships and differential responses to controversial incidents by neighborhoods. The current study assesses how communities of varying racial compositions and levels of economic disadvantage respond to police fatal force incidents by assessing neighborhood crime reporting behaviors. Using monthly 911 call data from Los Angeles, CA neighborhoods, this study explores this relationship with a series of fixed effects negative binomial regression models that model police homicides and crime reporting over a seven-year time period. Comparisons between neighborhoods of varying racial/ethnic composition and structural conditions permit the comparison of differential responses across neighborhood context. The results indicate that neighborhood crime reporting decreases following fatal police use of force incidents. Further, these responses varied across neighborhood contexts. Predominately Hispanic neighborhoods experienced greater declines in crime reporting compared to predominately White neighborhoods. Neighborhoods characterized by high levels of concentrated disadvantaged also experienced greater reductions in crime reporting compared to their more advantaged counterparts. Utilization of the formal legal system can be challenged by controversial police incidents; however, these effects are dependent on neighborhood context. Future research should explore how spatial proximity and media portrayal of incidents influence community responses.

Are Asian Victims Less Likely to Report Hate Crime Victimization to the Police? Implications for Research and Policy in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Anti-Asian hate crimes have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, no research has considered whether crime reporting patterns are different among Asian hate crime victims, relative to other victims. Following this, this research presents an examination of differences in reporting victimization to the police between Asian and non-Asian victims using information from 997 respondents who experienced a hate crime in the first 1 to 2 months of the pandemic. Results indicate that Asian victims are significantly and substantially less likely to report victimization to the police than other victims. Taken together, these results suggest that current estimates of increases in anti-Asian hate crime based on official crime statistics—although high—may actually be an under-estimation of the true extent of the problem.

Stolen innocence? Observance of the EU Directive on presumption of innocence by Spanish crime reporting

This paper examines the compliance of Spanish crime reporting with the principles of the 2016 EU Directive on presumption of innocence, which aims at preventing the publication of information that might bias the public and the jurors against the suspect. A content analysis applied to a sample of 200 crime news stories published by eleven of the most popular print and online news platforms in 2018 reveals that the Spanish press coverage of crime is centered around the pre-trial and sentence stages, with little attention to the oral trial. The full name and the face portrait of the suspect appear in roughly one-third of the stories, but this overwhelmingly happens in news stories reporting on the court’s decision, so that the presumption of innocence is generally protected. Interestingly, the legacy media are more likely to report on the victim’s full name and the crime details that online digital media. One-fourth of the stories include accusations of guilt, as prosecutor attorneys and other officials are more frequently cited than defense lawyers. Although the Spanish press is largely compliant with the recommendations of the EU Directive, the lack of attention to the oral phase, where the arguments of both parts are deployed and contrasted, leads to a bias in the coverage against the suspect.