BA Criminology student receives UK Data Service Dissertation Award
Aiste Timukaite鈥檚 dissertation aimed to better understand the factors that contribute to the under-reporting of violent crime.
One of the students of the BA Criminology short dissertation pathway has received one of the three . These awards celebrate undergraduate dissertations based on the use of archived data available through the .
The focus of Aiste Timukaite鈥檚 dissertation was on how a victim鈥檚 attitudes towards the police influence their perceptions of the costs and benefits associated with reporting violent crimes to the police. Using data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales, the dissertation examined how the reporting of violent crime to the police is associated with attitudes towards the police as well as demographic and situational characteristics.
Through a series of binary logistic regression models, the analysis found no evidence that the decision to report victimisation is influenced by a victim鈥檚 trust in police effectiveness. However, factors such as the presence of a weapon and injury to the victim are important predictors of violent crime reporting, as well as sex and age.
Drawing on the results, Aiste proposes the need for further efforts to promote reporting amongst male and younger victims. The dissertation also stresses that while the analysis identified victim and situational characteristics associated with reporting crime to the police, they only accounted for a small fraction of the variation in violent crime reporting.
Therefore, she argues further research is needed to explore broader contexts that impact victims鈥� cost-benefit considerations of violent crime reporting. Timukaite鈥檚 dissertation was supervised by Dr David Buil-Gil.