WHEN CRIME REPORTING GOES HIGH-TECH - AN EXPERIMENTAL TEST OF COMPUTERIZED CITIZEN RESPONSE TO CRIME

This study investigates the importance of the reporting mode as a fact or contributing to citizen crime reporting decisions in the United Sta tes. A randomized experimental design involving 140 subjects was used to compare the treatment effects of two crime reporting modes: one whi ch was telephonic and the other computer interactive, The findings of this exploratory study of citizen crime reporting within a con trolled laboratory setting revealed significant increases in reporting rates for subjects assigned to the computer reporting mode condition relativ e to those assigned to the telephonic reporting mode condition, This r elationship persisted for reporting behavior examined at both low and moderate levels of crime seriousness. The implications of these findin gs for these findings for predicting future changes in the incidence a nd distribution of reported criminal behavior or illegal incidents are presented and discussed.