Normative standards for crime victims: Implications for research and policy

Research has revealed that crime victims often seek advice about what action they should take, that victims' families and friends often provide this advice, and that this advice is based on norms for when reporting is appropriate. Results from this study indicated that research participants were more approving of reporting crimes committed by strangers than crimes committed by relatives, participants believed it was more appropriate to report crimes involving female victims than those involving male victims, and female participants believed it was more appropriate to report the crimes than did male participants. There were relatively small differences in how research participants in north and south India judged the appropriateness of reporting.