The Dark Figure of CrimeThe unknown and unknowable tally.Example: Tallying the number of crimes in regards to prison populationTotal CrimeOfficial ReportsVictim ReportsThe Science of Criminology(1) The Role of Ideology and Politics(2) Lack of Predictive PowerPoliticizationThe politicization of science is the manipulation of science for political gain. It occurs when government, business, or advocacy groups use legal or economic pressure to influence the findings of scientific research or the way it is disseminated, reported or interpreted—occurs on a continuumIdeologyBasic beliefs or values, usually formed in early life, and through which people filter information.Two Essential Components of Science: Theoretical and its Methodological branches.Theory and methods are integrally related in the scientific method of studying crime.Theory represents an effort to explain or make sense of the world, thus revolving around the “why” of crime, criminalization and similar concerns.Methodology refers to the techniques or methods that criminologists use as they attempt to determine the “whys” of crime.Cross-sectional and Longitudinal DataCross-sectional data: data collected at only 1 point in timeDefinitive point in time.Longitudinal data: data collected at more than 1 point in time.How many times have you been a victim in a crime, repeatedMacro and Micro Level of MeasurementMacro: societal- nations, states, citiesMicro: individualQuantitative and Qualitative DataQuantitative: statistical data (#), crime statisticsQualitative: stories, provides detailTo Establish Causality: 3 Criteria(1) Correlation (it is necessary but insufficient condition)(2) Temporal OrderingA cause has to precede the effect.(3) Spuriousness (not being what it purports to be) must be eliminatedAre their elements outside of the one you are pointing to that are the actual cause.Conflict and Consensus TheoryConflict: A belief that the law disproportionately reflects the interest of a powerful minority within society.Consensus: A belief that the law reflects the interest of most people in society more or less evenly.The Powerful vs. The MassesThe 3 Part Definition of CriminologyThe systematic study of (1) the processes of making law, (2) the breaking of law (pondering why people break the law), and (3) the reaction to the breaking of law.Politics—Theory—Criminal Justice (holy trinity)Correlation and CausationJust because two items are consistently related (correlated) does not imply a casual connectionExample: my having an umbrella handy every time it rains doesn’t mean I control the weatherMala in seEvil in itself, morally wrong regardless of government legislation. Commanded because they are just, inherent morality.Example: Murder, theft and rape.Mala prohibitaIt is wrong because it is prohibited by the law, there is no moral value to it, victimless crime. Just because they are commanded.Actus Reas“Guilty Act”—the physical element of crimeConduct that is prohibited or of failure to act in a manner required by the criminal lawMens Rea“Guilty Mind”Mental element of crime, generally termed intent—do not apply to civil law violations.BoundingAs a way of addressing memory decay and telescoping (threaten the validity of a self-report)Example:NCVS- This procedure produces a panel design that allows the same group of people to be queried over a period of time. It also provides the opportunity to control for the problem of telescoping by comparing the most recently reported victimizations with responses from the previous interview.Hierarchy Rule and Series VictimizationUnderestimate of the amount of crime that actually takes place, only reports most serious crimes.This can have the effect of understanding the extent of certain types of victimization.Victim-Offender OverlapThe relationship between the victim and offender being from the same background, roughly the same involvement with criminal activity, drawn from same kind of pools.White Collar CrimeTwo compelling definitions1. Restricted to the class position of people who commit certain kinds of offenses (i.e. corporate and banking executives)Identity issue, competing school of thought2. Applied to the offenses themselves, regardless of who the perpetrators are (i.e. abusing your position within a company for personal gain)Studying WCCDifficulty results from its complexity: criminology, criminal law, organizational theory, psychology, accounting, and othersManagement structure, institutional rewards that lead to this outcomeOffenders are less accessible to research effortsThey have a lot invested in this, jeopardize themselvesRelative Rates of Crime and Crime Numbers produced by UCR and NCVS11,250,000 index crimes 2007 (3,370 per 100,000)Murder rate of 6/100,000 is 5x the avg. rate for other 15 industrialized nations.22.9 million victimizationsViolent crime rate nearly 5x that of the UCRProperty rate more than 4x that of the UCRStrengths and Limitations: UCR and NCVSUCR (Uniform Crime Reports)StrengthsConsistent definition of crimeTrend dataNational figures can be broken down—these are raw counts, and represent a “census”.WeaknessesSubject to political manipulation (i.e. unfound crime)Hierarchy RuleUnderestimate of the amount of crime that actually takes place, only reports most serious crimesDespite best efforts difference remain in definitions (ex. Illinois and rape, only state that takes in account male rape)Ecological FallacyMeasure of police activity rather than crime—officially reported crime (66-7)Competing styles of police management- reflects in crime numbers (results into odd figures)National Crime Victimization Surveys (NCVS)StrengthsEliminates reportingAffects overall countWeaknessesRape question redesign in 1992 produced much higher estimatesHousehold survey excludes institutions, like jails, and businessesFor example, excludes dorms.Victimless crimes and homicide not included (because they are dead, really important element)Series victimizations produces undercounting (similar to hierarchy rule)Self-Report DataNational Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS)Goal #1: To enhance the quantity, quality and timeliness of statistical data collected by law enforcement.Goal #2: To improve the methodology used for compiling, analyzing, and publishing crime data.StrengthsGood context of the crime, gives you more details, evolution of crime, understanding crime through collecting richer data, allows for the reporting of multiple offenses,
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