The Effect of Type, Importance and Location of Crimes on Not Reporting of Committed Crimes to Criminal Justice Authorities
Subject Areas : Journal of Law and Politics
Ali
Safary
1
(-)
Sahar
Seifi
2
(-)
Keywords: Unreported Crimes, Victim, Delinquency, Judicial Authorities. ,
Abstract :
One of the most important problems that every criminal justice system is faced with is the problem of unreported crimes to criminal justice authorities. The results of surveys carried out in different countries show that various factors affect the rate of reported crimes and lead to unreporting crimes. In this paper it is intended to analyse three of these factors including type, importance, and location of crime. While victims have a high tendency to report property crimes they refuse to report sexual crimes. Therefore in most countries unreported sexual crimes are more than others. Sometimes, there are victimless crimes, which mean they don’t have any real and identifiable victim. When these kinds of crimes committed, for different reasons such as lack of awareness of victim from the committed crime there is no complainant to report crime and we can see unreported crime in a high level. When a crime against the physical integrity of individuals occurs or a significant loss of life and property results from the crime or the offender uses from fatal instruments in committing crime people tend to report crimes. Location of crimes has also a significant impact on the rate of unreported crimes. The results of the researches show that when crimes are committed in public places, people's willingness to report crime is different when compared with crimes committed in private places. To adopt an efficient criminal policy in order to fight and prevent crimes, a maximum awareness of the quantity and quality of crimes and victimization in society, specially accurate and reliable statistics are needed. Therefore to identify the factors of not reported crimes and providing suitable solutions to reduce the rate of not reported crimes can contribute to the success and credibility of the criminal justice system and related institutions. It also helps criminal policy to adopt appropriate and effective measures to reduce the phenomena of crime and delinquency. or-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} One of the most important problems that every criminal justice system is faced with is the problem of unreported crimes to criminal justice authorities. The results of surveys carried out in different countries show that various factors affect the rate of reported crimes and lead to unreporting crimes. In this paper it is intended to analyse three of these factors including type, importance, and location of crime. While victims have a high tendency to report property crimes they refuse to report sexual crimes. Therefore in most countries unreported sexual crimes are more than others. Sometimes, there are victimless crimes, which mean they don’t have any real and identifiable victim. When these kinds of crimes committed, for different reasons such as lack of awareness of victim from the committed crime there is no complainant to report crime and we can see unreported crime in a high level. When a crime against the physical integrity of individuals occurs or a significant loss of life and property results from the crime or the offender uses from fatal instruments in committing crime people tend to report crimes. Location of crimes has also a significant impact on the rate of unreported crimes. The results of the researches show that when crimes are committed in public places, people's willingness to report crime is different when compared with crimes committed in private places. To adopt an efficient criminal policy in order to fight and prevent crimes, a maximum awareness of the quantity and quality of crimes and victimization in society, specially accurate and reliable statistics are needed.
