CCJS300 EXAM 3 NOTES 11 03 2014 SELF REPORT based on asking subjects on own criminal behavior admissions of crime by people I History 1958 Short and Nye o 2 samples o juvenile training school o local high school o subjects would admit to committing crime major o firmly established the self report as a useful way of finding measuring crime II Criticisms of the report itself and the way the method has been used A Typically the self report has been used on juveniles and males o Sometimes exclusion of females and adults o Problem is that we should be looking at the entire population B Typically self reports ask about minor trivial offenses o We are generally more concerned with the serious crimes o We are afraid they won t admit to serious crimes C Often used in schools o Most delinquent group may not be attending school D No standardized instrument o Every researcher creates their own self report survey Made up to reflect what they want to measure o Makes it hard to compare generalize E Honesty F Recall o People do lie on these things May not admit to things or they may not believe its anonymous o Some people make things up immaturity o Memory o Sometimes difficult to remember exact numbers o Primarily an issue for someone who has done a lot G Telescoping o Moving or shifting the time frame o Subjects have a tendency to telescope backwards In we asked for 4 months they may tell us about the last 5 months o Why is group gathered school prisons my be a specific H More expensive than UCR I Biased Samples group of people III Strengths and Advantages A covers unreported crimes B May provide information on the demographics of offenders C May provide information on etiology of crime CAUSES o Important for theory development and to test hypothesis IV Findings of Self Reports with Juveniles A official records UCR type grossly underestimate the amount of crime B Most juveniles admit to violating the law however a relatively small percentage are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime C Males admit to committing more crime than females o Women are more cautious D Most delinquency is committed in groups E Most delinquency is property crime related VICTIMIZATION METHOD ask subjects about their own victimization experiences I History Introduction 1967 Presidents Commission on Law Enforcement o 4 pilot tests to see what they thought was going to work o 1 National household sample whole U S o 2 City Level household sample selected typical representative cities o 3 National commercial sample businesses o 4 City Level Commercial sample businesses in representative cities businesses reluctant to cooperate crossed out commercial samples concluded that the city level was not good enough left them with national household sample Now called the National Crime Victimization Survey II Description of NCVS 50 000 households o 5 clusters 10 000 households each o each cluster treated uniquely once selected you stay in for 3 years interviewed every 6 months o 7 total interviews staggered the start time of the clusters o cluster one started and interviewed o cluster one interviewed twice and started cluster 2 o cluster one interviewed for third time cluster 2 second cluster 3 started o by the time cluster one has ended a new one replaces it o continuous rotation that has never stopped originally the seven interviews were done in person recently only the first and the fifth are in person and the rest are on the telephone Household respondent o Starts the process answer preliminary questions o Must be 18 years or older Part I State your hypothesis which one will have the higher mean RP7 INTERPRETATIONS and why Part II o Chart with 11 24 14 Household Respondent gather different information depending on which of two types of victimizations o Household victimizations Effects everyone that lives in that household directly Burglary Household Larceny Motor Vehicle theft Respondent provides the details If yes o Individual victimizations Directly effects only that victim Rape robbery assault and personal larceny Expectation is respondent knows if these victimizations have occurred If yes Details come from the victim Bounding o Setting up the timeframe o Helps to prevent duplication of reports very important 1st bounds the second second bounds the third etc o whole point of the first is to bound the second 6 data points III Criticisms A Inaccurate reporting o Recall victims may not completely accurately remember If you are victimized a lot you may have a harder time recalling o Honesty May not be honest to underreport o Only asks about a small subset of crime B Response biases o We are not all equal in how we report o Certain types of people tend to report less accurately Low education and low socio economic status tend to report less accurately in NCVS C Time in Sample Bias o The longer you stay in the study the few the victimizations you report 1 Victim exhaustion effect as time goes on they get tired of reporting only explains a drop in reporting 2 Insulating effect maybe it isn t quite normal to be victimized this much so they protect steps to protect themselves D Method of Interview o Increased use of the phone will result in inaccuracy Its personal information so in person may be easier Distraction factor while on the phone you may multi task E Movers and Stayers o People leave the study because They move Household breaks up Drop out 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 o if this happens replacement household is selected if first household is there for 4 interviews then a new one is interviewed 3 times Problems Time in sample bias new to study more reporting No bounding Different demographics Mobility You may not know the area so you are victimized more Mobile households are typically poorer people F Series Victimization o Victimization that occurs repeatedly by the same offender o Series victimizations only count as one continuing offense Talking about domestic violence rape assault G Expensive IV Advantages A Get unreported crime o And why B Get at demographics of victims C Measures the Costs of Crime D Potential to Gather Additional Information o EX Experiences with criminal justice system V Finding from Victimization Research Victimization is not uniformly distributed o Some people are victimized more than others Violent Victimization declines with age o More opportunity when you are younger o Younger people offend more also 12 1 14 tested on spss on things after exam 2 recode command o purpose o format compute chisquare RP7