The perception of small crime

In this paper we measure perceptions of incorrect behavior or 'small crime', based on a questionnaire administered to a large representative sample from the Dutch population. In the questionnaire we ask the respondents to rate the severity or justifiability of a number of small crimes. We present short questions that only state the nature of the small crime, as well as vignette questions, describing in detail a fictitious person committing the small crime and other factors related to the circumstances in which the small crime is committed. We find that the perceived severity of small crimes varies systematically with characteristics of the respondent as well as of the person committing the crime. Also, the association between respondent characteristics and perceived seriousness changes if the respondents are given more information about the offender and the circumstances of the offense.

Research highlights► Perception of small crime varies systematically with respondent characteristics. ► Offender and offense characteristics matter for respondent's judgment. ► Providing more details of the small crime affects respondent's judgement.