Does context matter? Examining robbery reporting in a high crime country

Most empirical studies that examine why individuals report property crimes to the police have focused on Global North countries where crime rates are low. This study is situated in the most violent area of the world, Latin America, and examines Peru, which has the highest robbery victimization rate in the Americas. This article examines the applicability of theories of crime reporting in this Global South context using a large sample and multilevel modeling. We find that trust in the police has no impact on the reporting of the robbery of one’s cellphone, purse or wallet. The theories of rational choice and Black’s stratification of law provide strong explanations for the reporting of robbery of these personal items. Individuals of higher social status and those who reside in districts with low levels of social disadvantage are more likely to report, as well as those who have experienced violent victimization.

Order Effects of Presenting Coercive Tactics on Young Adults’ Reports of Sexual Victimization

Measures designed to collect prevalence reports of sexual victimization need to be robust against variations of question context to yield valid findings. Previous research has examined variations in the order in which questions about unwanted sexual acts and questions about coercive tactics are presented. The current study examined potential effects of the order in which coercive tactics are presented on self-reported prevalence rates of sexual victimization. The following two versions of the Sexual Aggression and Victimization Scale (SAV-S), a validated measure for studying sexual aggression victimization and perpetration in college students, were used: (a) the standard version in which the physical-force items were presented first and the items referring to the use of verbal pressure were presented last, and (b) a reversed order in which the verbal-pressure items were presented first and the physical-force items were presented last. Items referring to the exploitation of the victim’s inability to resist were placed in the middle in both versions. In a sample of 856 participants from Germany (475 female, 381 male, mean age of 24 years), most of whom were university students, 80.4% of women and 55.3% of men reported at least one experience of sexual victimization since the age of 14. No order effects on overall victimization rates were found. For both genders, the victimization rate through verbal pressure was higher when this tactic was presented first. Victimization rates through the threat or use of force were higher in the force-first than in the force-last condition for women, but could not be tested for men due to small cell sizes. No order effects were found for both men and women on reports of victimization through exploiting the inability to resist. The implications of the results for the reliable measurement of sexual aggression are discussed.

Prevalence of Sexual Aggression Victimization and Perpetration in a German University Student Sample

This study examined the prevalence of sexual aggression perpetration and victimization in a sample of 1,172 students (755 female, 417 male) from four universities in Germany. All participants were asked about both victimization by, and perpetration of, sexual aggression since the age of 14 years, using the Sexual Aggression and Victimization Scale (SAV-S). Prevalence rates were established for different coercive strategies, sexual acts, and victim–perpetrator relationships. Both same-sex and opposite-sex victim–perpetrator constellations were examined. The overall victimization rate was 62.1% for women and 37.5% for men. The overall perpetration rate was 17.7% for men and 9.4% for women. Prevalence rates of both victimization and perpetration were higher for participants who had sexual contacts with both opposite-sex and same-sex partners than for participants with exclusively opposite-sex partners. Significant overlap was found between victim and perpetrator status for men and women as well as for participants with only opposite-sex and both opposite-sex and same-sex partners. A disparity between (higher) victimization and (lower) perpetration reports was found for both men and women, suggesting a general underreporting of perpetration rather than a gendered explanation in terms of social desirability or the perception of consent cues. The findings are placed in the international research literature on the prevalence of sexual aggression before and after the #metoo campaign, and their implications for prevention efforts are discussed.

Black Out-group Marriages and Hate Crime Rates: A Cross-sectional Analysis of U.S. Metropolitan Areas

Objectives: This study introduces an indicator of racial out-group marriage to the research on hate crime. Drawing upon a variant of group threat theory, we hypothesize that Black out-group marriage with Whites will be positively related to anti-Black hate crime rates insofar as such marriages are perceived as transgressions of cultural boundaries. Informed by Allport’s contact theory, we hypothesize that Black out-group marriage with Whites will be negatively related to anti-Black hate crime rates insofar as such marriages indicate intercultural accommodation. Methods: Using data for a sample of U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas circa 2010, we assess our hypotheses with two operationalizations of levels of hate crime—incidence rates and victimization rates. Results: Our results reveal that levels of Black out-group marriages with Whites are positively related to the Black hate crime victimization rate but not related to the incidence rate. Conclusions: Our analyses suggest that any salutary effect of intercultural accommodation associated with interracial marriage is overwhelmed by the influence of the perceived cultural threat and intensification of animus for the “at-risk” population for perpetrating anti-Black hate crimes.

The relationship between fear of crime and risk perception across Europe

Cross-national comparisons of fear of crime have been gaining in popularity within the academic community, as they allow for the examination of both individual and country-level correlates of this phenomenon. Nevertheless, the role of perceived victimization risk in fostering fear of crime with respect to various country specifics is often neglected. Drawing on data from the European Social Survey Round 5 (ESS R5), the aim of this study is to explore the relationship between fear of crime and risk perception in the context of 23 European countries. Risk perception is positively correlated with fear of crime in all of the analysed countries, although the strength of the relationship differs. Contrary to expectations, countries with a higher victimization rate exhibit a weaker relationship between fear of crime and risk perception, while in countries with a lower victimization rate, risk perception plays a relatively important role in shaping fear of crime. No effect of unemployment rate, size of migrant population or income inequality was found in the data.

The Impact of Changing Demographic Composition on Aggravated Assault Victimization During the Great American Crime Decline

The United States experienced a dramatic decline in interpersonal violence rates between the early 1990s and mid-2000s. This decline, however, was much steeper in urban and suburban relative to rural areas. Prior research showed changing demographic composition can account for a substantial amount of change in inequality in victimization rates. We employed National Crime Victimization Survey data and counterfactual modeling to determine if changes in demographic composition—including proportion of population young, unmarried, male, unemployed, and in several income groups—of urban, suburban, and rural areas were partially responsible for changes between 1993 and 2005 in (1) area-specific aggravated assault victimization rates and (2) urban–suburban, urban–rural, and suburban–rural victimization rate ratios. Results showed changes in individual demographic characteristics played a very minor role in changes in area-specific assault rates. The one exception was income, which explained a substantial amount of change in victimization rates across all three areas. Changes in demographic composition explained a greater amount of change in rural relative to urban and suburban victimization rates. Changes in demographic composition across these three area types were also responsible for a small proportion of the large changes in the urban–rural and suburban–rural victimization rate ratios over time.

Coping Victimization among Peers in Spain

BackgroundBullying at school and victimization problems in adolescence have a negative impact in personal identity development specifically in mental health field.ObjectiveTo analyze coping profiles used in a communitarian adolescents sample in relation to victimization among peers and controlling the other victimization subtypes.MethodFrom Barcelona Metropolitan area, 1031 adolescents between 12 and 20 years old participated (37.5% boys; 15.7% foreigners). The different coping strategies were assessed with adolescent coping orientation for problem experiences test and the victimization types with juvenile victimization questionnaire.ResultsA 46.2% of adolescents suffered a victimization event by peers in the last year. As victimization level by peers advance, it presents an increase of unproductive coping strategies (P < .001; d-Cohen = 0.92). Regularly women score higher than men in low and moderate victimization groups (P < .05). However, when it reaches the highest expression (higher risk profile), unproductive strategies use in both genders is very similar and significant differences disappear. The results show that avoidant coping type is associated with a higher rate of victimization by peers. Positive relationship between previous victimization in other areas and peer victimization rate was found.ConclusionsIt is of high importance to develop and strengthen coping psychoeducation programs centered in solving this problem and struggling against victimization consequences by peers in adolescence. Due to that, increase of this victimization type is very related to the use of unproductive strategies use and therefore a coping by avoiding the problem.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Stationary patterns and their selection mechanism of urban crime models with heterogeneous near-repeat victimization effect

In this paper, we study two PDEs that generalize the urban crime model proposed by Short et al. (2008 Math. Models Methods Appl. Sci.18, 1249–1267). Our modifications are made under assumption of the spatial heterogeneity of both the near-repeat victimization effect and the dispersal strategy of criminal agents. We investigate pattern formations in the reaction–advection–diffusion systems with non-linear diffusion over multi-dimensional bounded domains subject to homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions. It is shown that the positive homogeneous steady state loses its stability as the intrinsic near-repeat victimization rate ε decreases and spatially inhomogeneous steady states emerge through bifurcation. Moreover, we find the wavemode selection mechanism through rigorous stability analysis of these non-trivial spatial patterns, which shows that the only stable pattern must have a wavenumber that maximizes the bifurcation value. Based on this wavemode selection mechanism, we will be able to predict the formation of stable aggregates of the house attractiveness and criminal population density, at least when the diffusion rate ε is around the principal bifurcation value. Our theoretical results also suggest that large domains support more stable aggregates than small domains. Finally, we perform extensive numerical simulations over 1D intervals and 2D squares to illustrate and verify our theoretical findings. Our numerics also demonstrate the formation of other interesting patterns in these models such as the merging of two interior spikes and the emerging of new spikes, etc. These non-trivial solutions can model the well-observed phenomenon of aggregation in urban criminal activities.

Mind the Gap: Hong Kong’s Sexual Conviction Record Scheme

It is likely that no criminal behaviour breeds as much condemnation and fear as sex offences. Tragic examples of young victims of sex offenders from around the world have raised societal concerns and prompted calls for increased surveillance and control. It is responsible public policy to address these concerns in ways that will increase public protection and allay unnecessary fears. The purpose of this paper is three-fold. First, the paper examines Hong Kong’s recently implemented Sexual Conviction Record Check Scheme against the Territory’s low crime victimization rate. Second, it compares the Scheme with pre-employment screening checks in Australia and the UK. The paper finally concludes with proposals for changes to the Scheme.