Measuring Crime1. Who is Criminal?a. Operationalization2. How much crime is out there?a. Measurement and sources of crime statisticsb. Uniform Crime Report (UCR)i. 1930ii. voluntary reports to the policeiii. >97% US population coverediv. standardizedv. crimes known to law enforcementvi. clearance ratevii. police employee dataviii. Part One Offenses1. Murder, rape, agg. Assault, burglary, larceny, theft, motor vehicle theft, arsonix. Part Two Offenses1. Not used in crime rate2. DUIs, underage drinking, etc.3. The Crime Ratea. #Index Crimes/Population *100,000 = Crime Rate4. Weaknesses and Limitations of the UCRa. Only crimes reported to the policeb. Hierarchy rulec. Aggregate level datad. Emphasis on street crimee. Classification details can be trickyf. Changes in reporting5. Redesigning the UCR: NIBRSa. National Incident-Based Reporting Systemb. Better incident-level infoc. More offender and victim infod. NIBRS is stuck:i. Technology in police departmentsii. Huge code bookiii. Increasing police paperwork6. The “Dark Figure” of Crimea. Offenses not reportedb. All official data underestimates the amount and distribution of crimec. Survey data7. National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVs)a. National sampleb. 50,000 householdsc. data presented as ratei. # of victims per 1,000 householdsd. logic “unfiltered” by official reportinge. weaknesses:i. only personal and household crimesii. false and mistaken reportsiii. memory decay; telescopingiv. selection bias8. Self Report Measuresa. National Youth Survey (NYS)b. “victimless” crimes capturedc. more crimes reported than victim surveysd. limitations:i. mainly youth samplesii. a lot more people look criminaliii. school drop outsiv. dishonesty, memory decay, telescopingv. lack of trust by subject of researcher9. Alternative Data Gathering Strategiesa. Participant observationb. Case studiesc. Life historiesd. Multi-method studies10. Important Measurement Issuesa. Validityi. Are we actually testing what we claim to be testing?b. Reliabilityi. If we test again, will we get the same answer?c. Triangulationi. If we used another method, would we get the same results?11. The Experimental Modela. “Classic Experimental Model”b. sample RA treatment or control outcome datac. spurious relationshipsd. non-experimental designs- try to control for external factors in mathematical systems12. Experimentation v. Observationa. Mimic through observationb. Observational data helps us draw inferences about relationshipsc. Not manipulatedd. No cause/effectCriminology Notes 1/31 02/18/2011Measuring Crime1. Who is Criminal?a. Operationalization2. How much crime is out there?a. Measurement and sources of crime statisticsb. Uniform Crime Report (UCR)i. 1930ii. voluntary reports to the policeiii. >97% US population coverediv. standardizedv. crimes known to law enforcementvi. clearance ratevii. police employee dataviii. Part One Offenses1. Murder, rape, agg. Assault, burglary, larceny, theft, motor vehicle theft, arsonix. Part Two Offenses1. Not used in crime rate2. DUIs, underage drinking, etc.3. The Crime Ratea. #Index Crimes/Population *100,000 = Crime Rate4. Weaknesses and Limitations of the UCRa. Only crimes reported to the policeb. Hierarchy rulec. Aggregate level datad. Emphasis on street crimee. Classification details can be trickyf. Changes in reporting5. Redesigning the UCR: NIBRSa. National Incident-Based Reporting Systemb. Better incident-level infoc. More offender and victim infod. NIBRS is stuck:i. Technology in police departmentsii. Huge code bookiii. Increasing police paperwork6. The “Dark Figure” of Crimea. Offenses not reportedb. All official data underestimates the amount and distribution of crimec. Survey data7. National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVs)a. National sampleb. 50,000 householdsc. data presented as ratei. # of victims per 1,000 householdsd. logic “unfiltered” by official reportinge. weaknesses:i. only personal and household crimesii. false and mistaken reportsiii. memory decay; telescopingiv. selection bias8. Self Report Measuresa. National Youth Survey (NYS)b. “victimless” crimes capturedc. more crimes reported than victim surveysd. limitations:i. mainly youth samplesii. a lot more people look criminaliii. school drop outsiv. dishonesty, memory decay, telescopingv. lack of trust by subject of researcher9. Alternative Data Gathering Strategiesa. Participant observationb. Case studiesc. Life historiesd. Multi-method studies10. Important Measurement Issuesa. Validityi. Are we actually testing what we claim to be testing?b. Reliabilityi. If we test again, will we get the same answer?c. Triangulationi. If we used another method, would we get the same results?11. The Experimental Modela. “Classic Experimental Model”b. sample RA treatment or control outcome datac. spurious relationshipsd. non-experimental designs- try to control for external factors in mathematical systems12. Experimentation v. Observationa. Mimic through observationb. Observational data helps us draw inferences about relationshipsc. Not manipulatedd. No
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