Victim Willingness to Report Crime to Police: Does Procedural Justice or Outcome Matter Most?

Research has shown that procedural justice is an important predictor of victims' satisfaction with the criminal justice system. What remains relatively unclear, however, is whether procedural justice is more important to victims than other instrumental factors, such as the outcome favorability of their encounters with police. Some studies find that victims are more satisfied with the criminal justice system when they have received a favorable outcome, while others show that procedural justice elements dominate their concerns. To date, only three studies have investigated this issue in the context of victims' willingness to cooperate with the police. Again, however, the results have been inconclusive. The present study utilizes survey data collected from a representative sample of 1,204 Australians to show that the effect of procedural justice on victims' willingness to report crime to police is context specific. For some victim types, procedural justice is more important, while for other victim types, instrumental factors dominate their decision to report crime.