Original scientific paper
THE INFLUENCE OF CITIZEN INTERACTION WITH THE POLICE ON CRIME-REPORTING BEHAVIOR: ITS MANIFESTATIONS AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
Avdi S. Avdija
; Indiana State University
Dennis M. Giever
; Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Abstract
Citizen’s crime-reporting is generally low, with a number of factors affecting its prevalence and incidence. Research suggests that
there is an interrelationship between the type of contacts citizens have with the police (e.g., citizen-initiated or police-initiated), attitudes
toward the police, police behavior, and crime-reporting behavior. To determine whether citizen interactions with the police
infl uence crime-reporting behavior and attitudes toward the police, this study tested four research hypotheses. The fi ndings of this
study suggest that predictors such as citizen-initiated contacts, police-initiated contacts, frequency of those contacts, and exposure
to media about police misconduct cannot be used as a group but rather individually to predict all three different levels of crimereporting
behavior (i.e., reporting of less serious crimes, reporting of medium-level crimes, and reporting of serious crimes).
Keywords
crime-reporting behavior; police-citizen interactions; media exposure; attitudes toward the police
Hrčak ID:
62469
URI
Publication date:
20.12.2010.
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