Читать книгу Criminology For Dummies - Steven Briggs - Страница 53

Knowing about every crime that occurs is impossible because many crimes go unreported. For example, a typical cocaine sale involves two willing parties, and neither party is likely to share news of the exchange with the police.

Even with a violent crime, the victim doesn’t always report it. For example, rival gang members involved in a fight aren’t likely to call the police, and victims of domestic violence often don’t report their abuse. (See Chapter 5 for more info about why domestic violence victims often keep quiet.) Similarly, rape victims may not want to endure the emotional trauma of making a report to police.

Fraud and property crimes present other challenges. For instance, you probably don’t call the police every time you receive a fraudulent email that asks you to cash a large check for a “Nigerian official.” (See Chapter 6 for a discussion of the infamous Nigerian scams.) And you may not even call the police when someone steals your wallet or purse. After all, many people believe that, at least for property crimes, filing a police report simply doesn’t do any good.

Even though many crimes don’t get reported to the police, crime reports are still one of the most important sources for gathering crime stats.