1. Criminal Statistics: the nature and extent of crime
JS118: Week 2
Criminal Statistics:
the nature and
extent of crime

2. Lecture Outline Types of Research Types of Crime Data
Survey, cohort, experimental, aggregate record, observational, interview
Types of Crime Data
Official, self-report, victim focused
Advantages & Disadvantages of each

3. Types of Research Survey (+/-) Cohort (+/-) Experimental (+/-)
Aggregate record (+/-)
Observational (+/-)
Interview (+/-)

4. Types of Crime Data Official – UCR, NIBRS Self-Report – NYS
Submitted by official agencies (police, courts, corrections)
Self-Report – NYS
Interviews with prisoners or citizens (non-clinical sample) who admit their own criminality
Victim – NCVS
Interviews with citizens who reveal their own victimization

5. Official Data - UCR Uniform Crime Report (1929)
Initiative of the International Association of the Chiefs of Police (IACP)
Large database (17,000 police dept’s)
Voluntarily collected by police, compiled by FBI
Voluntary
Part I and Part II Offenses (recall from last week)

6. UCR – Hierarchy Rule PART I List: Murder Rape Robbery
Aggravated Assault
Burglary
Larceny
Arson (1979)
MVT
Only the most serious offense (MSO) counts
B&E, rape, murder, MVT = only murder counts
Property: 10 burglaries in one hotel = 1; 10 burglaries in one apt complex = 10
Personal: 1 guy robs a couple = 1 robbery; 1 man assaults 2 people = 2 assaults

7. UCR – Expressing Data Three methods to express crime data:
Raw figures/aggregate numbers
15,567 murders in US in 2000
Change over time
Murder rate declined 9.3% b/w 1993 – 1998
Crime rate
per 100,000 – 6/100,000
Clearance Rates
How much crime is ‘solved’ (arrests/closed)

8. UCR – Pros and Cons Advantages: Aggregate trends across time and space
Data on clearance rates
Info on law enforcement personnel
Easy to collect
Collected since 1930
Relatively inexpensive
Disadvantages:
Dark figure of crime
Unreported
Victimless
Dependent upon recording practices of police
Jurisdictional variation
Subject to direct manipulation
Why???!!!

9. Updating the UCR - NIBRS
National Incident Based Reporting System
Uses 52 data elements
Describes victims, offenders, arrestees, circumstances of the crime
Level 1 (22 off) and Level 2 (11off)
Compare & Contrast UCR with NIBRS

10. Self-Report Data - NYS National Youth Survey (NYS)
Anonymity and Confidentiality encourages accurate disclosure
Focuses on juvenile delinquency
(Why???!!!)

11. NYS – Pros and Cons Disadvantages: Advantages: No standardized measure
Focus on minor status offenses
Sample bias
Inaccurate reporting
Honesty, recall
Fairly expensive
Reliability and validity
Advantages:
Dark figure of crime
Demographic information (horse’s mouth)
Easy method
Etiology of crime (perceptions, attitudes, behaviors)
Theory testing

12. Victim Data - NCVS National Crime Victimization Survey
1960s trial on 10,000 households uncovered more crime than we thought went unreported
Since 1973; DOJ; 49,000 households
Stratified multi-stage cluster sample
Every 6 months for 3 years (7 interviews)
Household respondent must be 18yo
Completion rate: about 90%

13. NCVS – Pros and Cons Disadvantages: Advantages: Inaccurate reporting
Time in sample bias
Response bias
Method of interview
Interviewer effect
Movers and stayers
Series victimization
Missing populations
expensive
Advantages:
Demographics on victims
Dark figure of crime
Cost of crime
Public conceptions of crime and police
Characteristics of victims and offenders
V-O Relationship
Protective measures taken
Distribution of crime in time and space

14. Closing… Practice exam question:
Be able to compare and contrast each method of data collection, each type of research and each source of crime data
Which source of crime data is the best? Why? Be sure to justify your answer with examples.