Reporting Rate
Definition
The proportion of crimes experienced by victims that are brought to the attention of police. Reporting rates vary substantially by offence type, victim characteristics, and trust in law enforcement, and are the first filter through which the dark figure of crime is created.
- Domain
- Official crime statistics
- Measures
- Victim reports made to police
- Varies by
- Offence type, victim traits, trust
- Role
- First filter creating dark figure
Common questions
Why do reporting rates differ so much by offence type?+
Some offences, such as vehicle theft tied to an insurance claim, are reported almost always for practical reasons, while others are reported far less often due to stigma, fear, or distrust of the process.
How does reporting rate relate to the dark figure of crime?+
Crimes never reported never enter police records, so the reporting rate sets the first and largest gap between crime that actually occurs and crime that is officially counted.
Related terms
- Attrition
- The progressive loss of cases as they move through the criminal justice system: from crime committed, to reported, to recorded, to prosecuted,...
- Counting Rules
- Administrative instructions that specify how agencies should convert incidents into statistical records: how to count multiple victims of one incident, how to...
- Notifiable Offences
- In England and Wales, the category of offences that must be formally reported to the Home Office and included in national crime...
- Police-Recorded Crime
- Criminal incidents formally logged by police following a report or officer discovery, counted according to nationally defined rules and submitted to a...
- Secondary Victimisation
- Additional harm caused to a victim through the process of reporting and investigation, such as disbelief, insensitive questioning, or retraumatisation. Fear of...