Methods of Measuring Crime Uniform Crime Reports Self- Report Surveys Victim Surveys

Uniform Crime Reports Based on Crimes Reported to the Police Based on a population unit of 100,000 people Divided into two representative categories: Indexed and non-Indexed Reported for U.S., Cities, and SMSA’s Crimes known / Arrest = Clearance Rate

Uniform Crime Reports Violent Crime Non-violent Crime Part I “Index” Crimes Criminal Homicide Forcible Rape Robbery Aggravated assault Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Arson Part II Crimes All others except traffic Non-violent Crime

Criticisms and Limitations of the UCR Cannot capture the “dark figure” of crime Methodological Hiccups Counting Rule Reporting Practices Attempted vs. Completed Crimes

The Future of the Uniform Crime Reports National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) Maintained by the F.B.I. Twenty-two crime categories More information on each crime in each category Data compiled based on incidents, not arrests.

Self-Report Surveys Participants (usually juveniles) reveal information about their violations of the law Advantages Helps to get at “Dark Figure of Crime” Tap into “victimless crimes” Make comparisons with “official data” Only way to measure theoretical concepts and connect with criminal behavior

Self-Report Surveys Self-Report Surveys Disadvantages May underestimate “chronic offenders” People Can Lie Survey Methodology Problems Seriousness of Offense

National Crime Victimization Survey 1. Asks victims about their encounters with criminals 2. Nationally representative sample 3. May also describe people most at risk 4. Limitations: Little information about offenders Cannot assess some crimes Limitations of Survey Research

REVIEW UCR Self-report NCVS Aggregate Data, Crimes known to police Individual level data, links offender characteristics to criminal offending NCVS Aggregate Data, victimizations

Crime Trends and Correlates of Crime Is crime increasing, decreasing or stable? Why? Correlates of Crime What factors are related to crime? Geographic location, Age, Race, Gender, Social Class?

Crime Trends UCR and NCVS data reveal a recent steady decrease in crime. The decrease is being driven by a sharp decline in violent crime among juveniles.

Explaining Crime Trends Age Composition The Economy Social malaise Guns—Availability Justice Policy—Police or Prisons?

Social Class and Crime SELF REPORT STUDIES Official statistics reveal a strong class-crime relationship. Social class causes crime? No true relationship, but system bias against the lower class? SELF REPORT STUDIES

GENDER AND CRIME UCR, NCVS, and SR data all indicate that females are more likely than males to commit criminal acts Chivalry hypothesis? Socialization? Biological differences? Feminist explanations

RACE AND CRIME Similar dilemma as with social class SRweak if any relationship Officialstrong relationship Is relationship due to bias? How police patrol and interact with minorities Disparity in how CJS processes minorities? If relationship is “true,” why? Relationship to class, neighborhood, culture.

The Age-Crime Curve

AGE AND CRIME Problems with the age crime curve: Arrests only Aggregate data

Longitudinal Birth Cohort Research Research that tracks an identifiable group of individuals over a long period of time.

The “Chronic 6%” After following a birth cohort of 9,945 boys born in Philadelphia in 1945, Wolfgang and his associates found that 6% of the total sample were responsible for 51.9% of all offenses. These were referred to as chronic offenders or career criminals. Similar research has resulted in similar findings.

Continuity of Crime The cohort follow-ups clearly show that most chronic juvenile offenders continue their law-violating careers as adults. Then and ………….. NOW

Implications of Continuity If the “Onset” of offending occurs in childhood for some kids, you must start your explanation at that point. Why do some kids begin their offending in adolescence?