The Victim and the Police: Confronting Lay and Professional Views of Crime

Comparing surveys of victims with police statistics illustrates the differences between lay & professional views of crime. Victims' expectations & the police handling of cases do not always match. The determinants of victims' decisions to report incidents to the police are briefly summarized; & the ways the police classify victims' account & handle their complaints, examined. This analysis is based on two sets of data: a victimization survey of a sample of 10,504 persons aged 15 & older, drawn from the Ile-de-France Region: the police statistics corresponding to the same area. 6 Tables, 16 References. Adapted from the source document.