Crime victims’ evaluations of procedural justice and police performance in relation to cooperation: a qualitative study in the Netherlands

Previous research suggests that perceived negative treatment by police officers may have consequences for victims’ willingness to share information with the police. This might explain why particularly repeat victims are less likely to cooperate with the police. The current study explores why this would be true by conducting in-depth interviews with 32 crime victims who had recently reported their victimisation of property crime or violent crime to the police. Results indicate that victims of both types of crime had similar thoughts on what was deemed fair treatment. Victims who were deeply touched by the crime and/or the offender thought it was also important that the police took a clear-stance against the crime. While rapid case handling seemed to be more important for property crime victims than police officers’ investigative actions and the outcome, victims of violent crime expected the police to find the offender to make it clear to the offender that such (law-breaking) behaviour was not tolerated. When victims of violent crime felt that the police had failed in this task, they would feel abandoned by the police. This feeling had not only negative consequences for these victims’ willingness to cooperate, but could even lead to feelings of vigilantism, particularly among victims of violent crime who knew their offender. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.