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Crime Reporting: Profiling and Neighbourhood Observation

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  • Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay
  • Kalan Chatterjee

Abstract

We consider the effect of giving incentives to ordinary citizens to report po- tential criminal activity. Additionally we look at the effect of "profiling" and biased reporting. If police single out or profile a group for more investiga- tion, then crime in the profiled group decreases. If a certain group is reported on more frequently through biased reporting by citizens, crime in the group reported on actually increases. In the second model, we consider a neigh- bourhood structure where individuals get information on possible criminal activity by neighbours on one side and decide whether to report or not based on the signal. When costs of reporting are low relative to the cost of being investigated, costs of investigation are increasing in the number of reports and there is at least one biased individual, we show there is a "contagion equilibrium" where everyone reports his or her neighbour.

Suggested Citation

  • Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay & Kalan Chatterjee, 2010. "Crime Reporting: Profiling and Neighbourhood Observation," Discussion Papers 06-04r, Department of Economics, University of Birmingham.
    • Handle: RePEc:bir:birmec:06-04r
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Bandyopadhyay Siddhartha & Chatterjee Kalyan, 2010. "Crime Reporting: Profiling and Neighbourhood Observation," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-24, March.
    2. Sussman, Nathan & Slivinski, Al, 2019. "Tax administration and compliance: evidence from medieval Paris," CEPR Discussion Papers 13512, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Leslie M. Marx & Claudio Mezzetti & Robert C. Marshall, 2015. "Antitrust Leniency with Multiproduct Colluders," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(3), pages 205-240, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Neighbourhood; crime reporting and profiling;

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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