Decisions of Shoplifting Victims to Invoke the Criminal Justice Process

Abstract

Relatively little research has addressed issues related to factors affecting the decisions of victims of crimes to report offenses to the police. Since these decisions have important consequences for offenders, and since official police and court statistics are often relied upon to make inferences about characteristics of offenders and offenses, it is crucial to examine the effects of selective mechanisms such as victim behavior. To this end records of shoplifters apprehended by drug and grocery stores in 1963, 1965, and 1968 were examined. Overall, the decisions of victims to refer shoplifters to the police were found to be more closely related to the value of the goods stolen, as well as to what was stolen and how it was stolen, than to the characteristics of the offender.