Abstract
The difference in official crime statistics between women and men is a constant fact in criminology, but has yet to be explained in a satisfactory way. There are few studies addressing the issue of why this gender gap is larger in registered crime than it is in self-report studies. The study at hand comprises a survey among Greek and German students to examine whether this gap could be attributed to a gender-specific reporting of crime. Participants’ self-reported experiences of victimisation and their rating of the seriousness of offences depicted in case vignettes were used to gain insight into varying tendencies to report a crime depending on the offender’s gender. The act of reporting a crime did not vary gender-specifically.
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Notes
To include a multicultural component into the survey we profited from the close partnership between Aristotle University Thessaloniki and the University of Cologne. Our departments have repeatedly cooperated regarding the issue of offence seriousness rating (cf. Brezing 2011; Neubacher et al. 2006; Walter et al. 2000). During the previous cooperation we discovered national differences in gender-related ratings of offence seriousness (Brezing 2011, 42) and assumed that these differences depend on social and cultural conditions of the particular country. The existing investigation follows up on this line of investigation.
Partially this reflects today’s reality, approx. fifty percent of Cologne’s law students are female (cf. University of Cologne’s student statistics as at 2015, other years similar).
Vignettes are depicted in the appendix.
The offences chosen were mainly those which the young respondents would presumably have experienced, either as offenders or as victims.
“Insult constitutes ‘an illegal attack on the honour of another person by intentionally showing disrespect or no respect at all.’ … According to §185 of the German Penal Code, ‘Insult will be punished by imprisonment not exceeding one year or by a fine….’ This provision is applicable to cases in which disparaging value judgments amounting to an ‘insult’ are levelled against a person in front of others” (Brugger 2002, para. 28).
Breach of the peace is a regulatory offence in Germany. This rule has also been applied for ‘fare evasion’ in Greece since 1994 (statute no. 2207/1994). In 2011 (statute no. 3920/2011) this was changed to a misdemeanour (offence prosecuted upon application by authorised person) and it is now once again regulated within the Special Part of the Greek criminal code.
Percentage of male offenders out of all male respondents (prevalence rate for men) divided by the percentage of female offenders out of all female respondents (prevalence rate for women).
To carry out a meaningful comparison with the PCS, we only included the 18–25-year-old age group in our calculations. Due to this, it was not possible to carry out a comparison with official Greek statistics as these data are not listed according to the age and gender of the offender; however, they are listed by offence.
However, a comprehensive comparison of all offences failed due to the amount of cases being too small.
See all vignettes in the appendix of the paper.
In the paper-based survey, the groups were formed by the surveys being alternately handed out during sessions; one person received version A, the person next to them version B. In the online survey, an alphabetical list of all students at the University of Cologne was divided into two equal-sized groups by splitting the alphabetically sorted list in half; a random division was not possible on the side of the IT-department.
For a replication of the study the questionnaire can be obtained from the Institute of Criminology, Cologne.
Van Dijk et al. (2005), 66, also established higher fear of crime values.
The set of items contains statements such as: ‘There is no reason why girls should not hit each other during a fight’, or ‘It is a woman’s job to take care of the home’.
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Acknowledgments
We appreciate the helpful comments of two anonymous reviewers. Furthermore the authors would like to thank Anna Heidel for her assistance with data entry and evaluation, and particularly for her contribution to the evaluation strategy. Our special thanks also go to Dr. Athanasia Antonopoulou and Dr. Sofia Giovanoglou from the University of Thessaloniki. In addition, we would like to thank the RheinEnergie Stiftung (RheinEnergie Foundation) for their financial support, and Nivene Raafat who translated the text together with Nicole Bögelein into English.
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Appendix — Vignettes used in the questionnaire
Appendix — Vignettes used in the questionnaire
“Fare evasion (obtaining services by deception): A 25-year old male offender intentionally rides the train without getting a ticket (fare: 2.50 Euros)”
“Shoplifting: A 25-year old female offender intentionally takes a pullover home from a shop without paying the price of 50 Euros”
“Insult: A 25-year-old male offender screams out of a car from the top of his lungs: ‘Move it, asshole!’ because the car in front of him does not move immediately when the traffic light turns green.”
“Damage to property: A 25-year-old female offender intentionally scratches a parking car by using a key. She causes a damage of 200 Euros.”
“Assault: In anger, a 25-year-old male pushes somebody walking in front of them down a flight of stairs. The victim suffers a broken arm, grazes and bruises.’
“Fraud: A 25-year-old female offender claims to work for a charitable organisation and asks for donations from door to door. As intended she keeps the money (25 Euros) to herself.”
“Theft: In a café a 25-year-old male offender intentionally takes another person’s new mobile phone. He takes the 400-Euro-phone home to keep it.”
“Robbery: A 25-year-old female offender intentionally snatches a backpack away from a passer-by with the intention to keep the backpack. (It contains a mobile phone, a wallet, a photo camera altogether worth 850 Euros.) In the beginning the passer-by to the backpack and is subsequently overthrown by the offenders’ pulling.”
“Breach of the peace: A 25-year-old male offender at 3 am wakes up four persons by singing and playing loud music under a window.”
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Stroh, M., Eichinger, M., Giza, A. et al. Are Female Offenders Underreported Compared to Male Offenders? A German-Greek Comparison of Crime Reporting, Rating of Offence Seriousness and Personal Experiences of Victimisation. Eur J Crim Policy Res 22, 635–653 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-016-9302-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-016-9302-5