Does context matter? Examining robbery reporting in a high crime country
| Author | Wilson Hernández,Katrina R Heimark |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/17488958211031344 |
| Published date | 01 April 2023 |
| Date | 01 April 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/17488958211031344
Criminology & Criminal Justice
2023, Vol. 23(2) 218 –236
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/17488958211031344
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Does context matter?
Examining robbery reporting
in a high crime country
Wilson Hernández
GRADE, Peru
Katrina R Heimark
Universidad de Lima, Peru
Abstract
Most empirical studies that examine why individuals report property crimes to the police have
focused on Global North countries where crime rates are low. This study is situated in the most
violent area of the world, Latin America, and examines Peru, which has the highest robbery
victimization rate in the Americas. This article examines the applicability of theories of crime
reporting in this Global South context using a large sample and multilevel modeling. We find that
trust in the police has no impact on the reporting of the robbery of one’s cellphone, purse or
wallet. The theories of rational choice and Black’s stratification of law provide strong explanations
for the reporting of robbery of these personal items. Individuals of higher social status and those
who reside in districts with low levels of social disadvantage are more likely to report, as well as
those who have experienced violent victimization.
Keywords
Crime reporting, Global South, Latin America, property crime, violence
Introduction
Latin America is renowned for its violence and insecurity. As the most violent region in
the world, it lays claim to the world’s highest murder and crime rates (United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 2017). Given widespread crime, mistrust in the
police is rampant, with nearly two-thirds (65%) of the population having little to no trust
in the police (Latinobarómetro, 2018). When compared to countries in the Global North,
Corresponding author:
Katrina R Heimark, Universidad de Lima, Av Javier Prado s/n, Lima 100, Peru.
Emails: kheimark@ulima.edu.pe; katrina.heimark@gmail.com
1031344CRJ0010.1177/17488958211031344Criminology & Criminal JusticeHernández and Heimark
research-article2021
Article
Hernández and Heimark 219
such as Sweden, the United States, and Australia, where only 21%, 31%, and 16% of the
population respectively states the same (Inglehart et al., 2018), it is obvious that most
Latin American countries not only have a crime problem, they have a police legitimacy
problem. Perhaps among the most obvious manifestations of both problems is that most
Latin Americans do not report crimes to the police. However, despite its importance as a
mechanism to reduce crime, crime reporting in the region remains understudied.
The underreporting of crime is problematic regardless of context, yet the very low
crime reporting rates in Global South countries suggest that most citizens do not use
police intervention to deal with victimization. We illustrate these differences by compar-
ing robbery rates and reporting rates across 27 Global South countries (all from Latin
America plus South Africa) and the Global North (Figure 1). In this group, Peru is one of
the most extreme cases, with the highest robbery rate (19%) and the second lowest
reporting rate (12%).
The underreporting of crime is a serious problem and has consequences for state
capacity to fight offenders; weak state responses in the face of widespread crime may
also undermine democratic institutions (Khondaker et al., 2017). As most crimes are not
acknowledged in police administrative records, measures to combat insecurity (such as
officer, patrol, and police station resource allocation) are often based on incomplete
information. This inadequate information in turn limits the ability of the state to properly
distribute police resources across time and space where more security may be needed. In
CAN
DEN
FRA
GER
LUX
NET
SWE
SWI UK USA
BOL
CHI
COL
COS
ECU
MEX
PAR
PER
TRI
0
5
10
15
20
Victimization rate
0 20 40 60 80
Crime reporting rate
Global NorthGlobal South
Figure 1. Robbery and Robbery Reporting Rate, 2010-2014.
Sources: UNODC (2014).
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