Impact of Race on the Decision of Reporting Victimization to the Police - Asians’ Pattern of Reporting Robbery and Assaults Victimizations

Impact of Race on the Decision of Reporting Victimization to the Police

  In the victimization report literature, Asians have been categorized as either Blacks or Whites, and as a result, the victimization-reporting pattern of Asians has never been examined. To test whether Asians were different from other racial groups in their reporting decisions, the robbery and assault victimization cases identified in the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) from 1992 to 2002 were used. The logistic regression analysis revealed Asians were significantly less likely to report robbery and assault victimization to the police than other ethnic groups, particularly Black victims. Interestingly, Asians were less likely to report robbery cases involving Black robbers. Asians however were more likely to report the assault cases involving Black assailants. While the reasons for Asian victims’ underreporting pattern were not directly provided by the NCVS, it was speculated that Asians’ language problems, immigration status, business styles, and relationship with the police might have contributed to the underreporting decisions.