The Help-Seeking Decisions of Violent Crime Victims

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Abstract
National data are used to examine the help-seeking strategies of male and female crime victims. Victims who seek help from family and friends and the users of mental health, social services, and self-help groups tend to be female. In contrast, most male victims do not seek help. When men do seek help, they are more likely to call the police than to call on family and friends. This study also finds that attacks by known offenders lead to help-seeking strategies that rely primarily on family and friends. Finally, the author finds that the victim-offender relationship conditions the effect of gender on help-seeking decisions. Help-seeking strategies are unique to particular gender/victim-offender relationship categories. Women victimized by known offenders rely on family and friends. In contrast, men victimized by strangers most often do nothing, but some men who have been victimized by a stranger will report the victimization to the police