The task of portraying accurate crime statistics is made difficult by the discrepancy between numbers of incidents reported to police, and numbers of people who respond positively to victim surveys. Many people respond to surveys stating that they have been victims of crime, but that they did not report the crimes to the police. Approximately one quarter of burglaries are not reported to police. About one half of robberies, and about two-thirds of assaults are not reported.
Knowledge of reporting patterns and the factors affecting reporting behaviour is instrumental for crime prevention and control. By using unit record data from the latest National Crime and Safety Survey, this paper identifies the factors affecting Australians’ willingness to report crime, analyses the impact they have on this decision, and raises a number of important questions for future work in this complex and important area.