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Gender Interaction Effects on Reporting Assaults to the Police
Keith L Hullenaar1, R Barry Ruback1
1The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA.
Journal of Interpersonal Violence
|February 13, 2020
Summary
Victim gender and offender gender significantly impact assault reporting. Victims are more likely to report assaults to police when the offender is of the opposite sex, influenced by gender norms.
Area of Science:
- Criminology
- Sociology
- Victimology
Background:
- Understanding factors influencing crime reporting is crucial for law enforcement and victim support.
- Existing research often overlooks the interplay between victim and offender gender in assault reporting decisions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how victim-offender gender dynamics influence the decision to report physical assaults to the police.
- To test the applicability of coercive power and gender norm perspectives in explaining these reporting patterns.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of a large dataset (18,627 cases) of non-intimate partner physical assaults from the National Crime Victimization Survey (1993-2015).
- Statistical modeling to assess the impact of victim-offender gender interaction on crime reporting.
- Examination of the relationship between self-help violence and crime reporting.
Main Results:
- Crime reporting models showed a significantly better fit when including the interaction between victim and offender gender.
- Female victims were 21.9% more likely to report male offenders than female offenders.
- Male victims were 45.8% more likely to report female offenders than male offenders.
- Reporting opposite-sex offenders was more common in simple assaults than aggravated assaults.
- Victims were more likely to use self-help violence and less likely to report same-sex offenders.
Conclusions:
- Victim-offender gender interactions significantly shape assault reporting decisions, supporting the gender norm perspective.
- Gender norms may encourage self-help violence and discourage police reporting in same-sex assaults.
- Offender gender plays a more substantial role in decisions regarding self-help violence compared to inaction.
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