Article
Understanding Victim Cooperation in Cases of Nonfatal Gun Assaults
Criminal Justice and Behavior
(2019)
Abstract
Victims play a central role in criminal case processing, but research suggests many victims do not report crimes to police or cooperate in a police investigation. This study extends the literature on victim cooperation by examining the effect of incident-level variables and neighborhood characteristics on victim cooperation in nonfatal shooting incidents. The sample includes 1,054 nonfatal shooting victims from two Midwestern cities. Results using binary logistic regression suggest that incident and victim characteristics are significantly associated with cooperation, but race conditions the effect of injury severity and motive on cooperation. The willingness to cooperate among Whites is contingent on injury severity while non-White victims do not become markedly more cooperative when confronted with serious injury. Race also moderates the relationship between crime motive and cooperation. This work demonstrates the need to incorporate nonfatal firearm violence into studies of victim cooperation and gun crime more broadly.
Keywords
- gun violence,
- nonfatal shooting,
- victim cooperation,
- rational choice
Disciplines
Publication Date
May 16, 2019
DOI
10.1177/0093854819848806
Citation Information
Natalie Kroovand Hipple, Kristina J. Thompson, Beth M. Huebner and Lauren A. Magee. "Understanding Victim Cooperation in Cases of Nonfatal Gun Assaults" Criminal Justice and Behavior Vol. 46 Iss. 12 (2019) p. 1793 - 1811 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/beth-huebner/47/