College Student Victims and Reporting Crime to the Police: The Influence of Collective Efficacy

Abstract

Campus crime and college student victimization are important social issues. Despite the existing research in this area, little is known about whether factors that influence police notification among college students are similar to those observed among the general population. Using data from a survey of 160 college students enrolled at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the current study assesses the influence of collective efficacy on crime reporting among college student victims, while controlling for relevant victim-, offender-, and incident-level characteristics of a crime. Results from multivariate regression analysis show that only one dimension of collective efficacy (i.e., social control) significantly influences police notification behavior among this college student sample. With the exception of crime severity, other factors that are commonly associated with crime reporting decisions among the general public are not correlated with these students' willingness to report crime to police. Findings are discussed in terms of both campus policies concerning crime reporting as well as theoretical implications.