Criminology Notes 1 31 02 18 2011 Measuring Crime 1 Who is Criminal a Operationalization 2 How much crime is out there a Measurement and sources of crime statistics b Uniform Crime Report UCR i 1930 ii voluntary reports to the police iii 97 US population covered iv standardized v crimes known to law enforcement vi clearance rate vii police employee data viii Part One Offenses 1 Murder rape agg Assault burglary larceny theft motor vehicle theft arson ix Part Two Offenses 1 Not used in crime rate 2 DUIs underage drinking etc 3 The Crime Rate a Index Crimes Population 100 000 Crime Rate 4 Weaknesses and Limitations of the UCR a Only crimes reported to the police b Hierarchy rule c Aggregate level data d Emphasis on street crime e Classification details can be tricky f Changes in reporting 5 Redesigning the UCR NIBRS a National Incident Based Reporting System b Better incident level info c More offender and victim info d NIBRS is stuck i Technology in police departments ii Huge code book iii Increasing police paperwork 6 The Dark Figure of Crime a Offenses not reported c Survey data 7 National Crime Victimization Survey NCVs a National sample b 50 000 households c data presented as rate i of victims per 1 000 households d logic unfiltered by official reporting e weaknesses i only personal and household crimes ii false and mistaken reports iii memory decay telescoping iv selection bias b All official data underestimates the amount and distribution of crime 8 Self Report Measures a National Youth Survey NYS b victimless crimes captured c more crimes reported than victim surveys d limitations i mainly youth samples ii a lot more people look criminal iii school drop outs iv dishonesty memory decay telescoping v lack of trust by subject of researcher 9 Alternative Data Gathering Strategies a Participant observation b Case studies c Life histories d Multi method studies 10 Important Measurement Issues a Validity b Reliability c Triangulation i Are we actually testing what we claim to be testing i If we test again will we get the same answer i If we used another method would we get the same results 11 The Experimental Model a Classic Experimental Model b sample RA treatment or control outcome data c spurious relationships d non experimental designs try to control for external factors in mathematical systems 12 Experimentation v Observation a Mimic through observation c Not manipulated d No cause effect b Observational data helps us draw inferences about relationships 02 18 2011 02 18 2011
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