Högskolan i Skövde

While the prevalent use of digital devices has many benefits in a modern society, it has also increased the complexity of evidence acquisition in crime investigations. With a digital device being seized in almost all criminal cases, creating investigation backlogs, a need for investigating how this challenge affects victims’ willingness to report crimes is rising. Previous research show that victims are less inclined to report crimes when having to hand in a mobile phone for evidence acquisition. However, why that is remains unclear. Taking a quantitative approach, we investigate the assumed relation between the willingness to report crimes and the time a mobile phone is seized for evidence collection. A survey was sent out to 500 Swedish citizens inquiring how likely they are to report various crimes in relation to the time their mobile phone would be seized by the police. The results show a significantly reduced willingness to report crimes as the seizure times increase, consequently resulting in unreported crimes. The findings also indicate a variation in reporting willingness among various crimes, suggesting a reluctance to report crimes of less monetary consequence, ultimately accepting victimization and enabling unlawful behavior.