Lecture 2. Crime data and crime measurement - post

Overview

• Focus on crime data, measurement, and statistics.

Crime Data and Its Importance

• Crime data provides insights into crime patterns, trends, and prevalence.

Crime Data Resources

• Crime Data Explorer by FBI: Explore crime data by location and dataset. Highlights include:

  • Population: 332,643,466

  • Number of Agencies: 15,875

• Check agency participation for NIBRS data.

Crime Trends

• Violent Crimes: Rate of violent crime offenses shows a downward trend since the 1990s.

• Property Crimes: Property crime rates have also declined since the 1990s.

• Notable peak in early 1990s termed the "crime wave".

Crime Measurement Methods

1. Official law enforcement records:

   • Uniform Crime Reports (UCR): Compile national crime data from about 17,000 police agencies.

   • Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR): Provides detailed homicide information.

   • National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS): Gathers incident-based crime info from law enforcement.

2. Victim Surveys:

   • National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS): Collects data on victims' experiences with crime.

3. Self-Report Surveys:

   • Ask individuals about their own criminal behavior.

UCR and Its Implications

• UCR Strengths:

  • National coverage.

  • High participation (95%).

  • Allows comparison of crime across time and locations.

• UCR Shortcomings:

  • Underestimates actual crime.

  • Focuses on street crime, lacks victim/offender detail.

NIBRS Overview

• NIBRS Coverage: More comprehensive than UCR, covering 22 major crimes without the hierarchy rule.

• NIBRS Shortcomings:

  • Participation-based; not fully representative.

NCVS Overview

• Strengths:

  • Different estimates on crime occurrence.

  • Avoids police bias, includes victim demographics.

• Shortcomings:

  • Less info on offenders, limits on age group (no under 12).

Additional Measurement Methods

• Self-Report Data (SRD): Collects unfiltered data from offenders about their behaviors.

• Cohort and Ethnographic Studies: Focus on specific groups/behaviors, provide in-depth qualitative data.

Important Crime Trends

• Demographics:

  • Race, gender, and age heavily influence crime statistics.

  • Males commit more crime; youth (15-24 years old) are most crime-prone.

• Class and Crime: Serious street crimes more prevalent among the poor, while white-collar crimes are more common among the wealthy.

Theoretical Perspectives on Crime

• Data used to test and build theories on crime related to biological, psychological, and sociological aspects.

Key Takeaways

• Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of various crime data sources is crucial for accurate crime analysis.