CCJ 3011 Exam 2 Ways of Knowing about crime 1 Direct observation 2 UCR 3 Victim Surveys 4 Self report surveys How do they know what they are saying Limitations of the ways of knowing leads to knowledge of crimes Criminology as science Carl Popper has criteria of demarkation which is falsifiability Falsifiablilty includes o Evidence o Rationality seen as standard of affirming the truth also a standard for choosing a course of action when the action is based on evidence that this will efficiently move us towards our goal o Description ad explanation o Socially constructed reality Alternatives to rationality include authority tradition belief superstition habit and passion Ex Galelalo discovered observation of evidence using a telescope Gathered evidence by observation Systematic observed evidence proved earth went around sun not vice versa Tradition Why Its who we are Belief Ex Catholics eating meat on Friday it was a moral sin on your soal Rationality matter of design 1 More immediate ones access to evidence more rational 2 More careful to the the process of evidence is more rational 2 key activities Description and Explanation Explanation explains why to what has been observed Description Observation Answering Why what is Predication Theory is an explanation to what is observed Scientific Evidence and Falsifiability A claim is falsifiable if it can be tested against evidence and proven wrong Four primary ways of knowing evidence 1 Direct observation 2 UCR 3 Victim Surveys 4 Self Report Crime Surveys What are strengths weaknesses What kind of evidence do they provide access too None of them are a reflection of reality All are socially constructed takes on what the evidence is Direct Observation People who are directly involved in crime or justice are in a position to direct observe aspects of the reality of crime and justice Something that journalists policeman judicial actors and criminals do Advantages Disadvantages Immediacy to the real world Richness of detail substance Stimulates research Particularity of promulgated evidence The world you see isn t the same as someone from a different background Can t reproduce evidence very well Claims of evidence are difficult impossible to falsify Example books Monster There Are No Children Here and Code of the Street Uniform Crime Reports Most consistently used and citied source of descriptive knowledge of crime Used in a yearly report for Crime in the United States Tells us about the most important data Crimes known to the police for seven major crimes Seven include is murder manslaughter aggravated assault rape robbery larceny burglary and auto theft Index rate of serious crime of 7 crimes population x 100 000 Arrests data cleared by arrests shows volume of arrest and characteristics of people arrested age sex race Supplemental homicide reports that report additional data in terms of event victim offender and characteristics of the homicide Law Enforcement Employee statistics is the number of law enforcement officers by location 98 of the population is covered by the agencies of FBI Strengths of the UCR Comprehensiveness Lack of particularity Tells us about the what of crime the where of crime etc Consistent for decades same info is reproduced for a long period of time Covers most places Volume and rate of crime Volume and rate of arrests Characteristics of Arrested Crime and arrests overtime place Dollar cost of property crime Weaknesses of the UCR Do not directly address the who of crime only the who of arrests UCR don t directly address the issue of who Limited to what we know from ONLY arrests They substantially undercount crime Many crimes aren t reported to the police and when they are most don t result in an arrest so UCR isn t too representative Only 7 of crimes occurring end up with arrest for property crime 27 of crime to arrest rate for violent crime Percent of Victimizations reported to the police 51 violent 39 property 83 motor vehicle theft 59 household burglary 58 robbery 50 rape 47 simple assault 32 property theft What would incline people not to report a crime They might already be involved in a crime when another takes place They may not think that the police will not be responsive respectful or take them seriously There may be repercussions There s a concern as a victim that you may be blamed by the police or family friends There might be embarrassment Victim could be in the US illegally The victim might know the person that did the crime and you don t want to get them into serious crime They may not want to be involved because it may lead to accusations Other decisions of under reporting include the concept of one victim one crime Ex 3 people assault one person is counted as one crime even though 3 people may be arrested If two people break into your home two people are arrested but it only counts as one crime One operation one crime Ex someone breaks into a home kills the landlord and steals the car and drives off The murder is the only thing that gets counted in most places even though more crimes went on The worst crime is whats highlighted Both FDLE and justice department caution comparisons between places and over time although it s done all the time Limitations include crimes that are counted by different locations or times Differences in include availability of resources larger population less officers per capita social inclination to accept that a complaint is valid and specialized units that police departments have over time Ex a lot of rapes occur they start up a specialized rape unit until rates drop in that location NCVS Victim Surveys occur every year since 1973 They sample between 50 000 60 000 households each year to make a nationally represented example They interview every person in the household over 12 years old and survey them every 6 months Some are done in person some by phone Despite limitations these surveys are tightly correlated We also know the traits of those likely to be victimized greatest for young males Crime isn t as random as the media will lead you to believe based on knowledge from these NCVS For violent crimes we are showed the relationship between victim and offender another is location another is what was occurring at the time and if a weapon was being used 22 of the time yes Percent of Offenders Who Are Black Victim Identified 42 24 20 32 Arrested Increase 55 31 34 42 32 60 0 32 Robbery Agg Assault Simple Assault Rape When it comes to the who of reporting NCVS is the only
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