Crime Statistics

2 It’s difficult to quantify deviance. Sources of Response Bias: –Mistrust of official representatives –Social desirability bias –Financial motivation Difficulty in finding respondents (Rs) –Lack of contact info –Decentralization of deviants Wariness of funding sources Rs’ misunderstanding of survey instruments

3 How does an average person know about crime trends? Gossip Media Imagery Folklore or “Urban Legends” –“Friend of a friend” stories –Express fears about modern life, including New technology Minorities, new immigrants, other “outgroups” Powerful but unknowable personalities Crime and crime trends

What We “Know” The “real” rates of crime are extremely problematic, but there are some trends in crime statistics that appear to be well-founded. Crime trends in Canada The East-to-West trend The Urban/Non-urban distinction The overall decrease in reports of crimes Important differences between US and Canada Urban/Non-urban distinctions Violent crime in US vs Canadian cities

The Utility of Crime Rates Crime rates are more than just numbers. Political Uses Campaign fodder Indications of social inequities Economic Impacts Symbolic Uses

Sources of Crime Statistics Uniform Criminal Reports (UCR) AKA “official statistics” Police-gathered National in scope Critiques of UCR Low rates of reporting Flaws in police recording Usefulness of UCR Consistency Gauge of police activity

More Sources of Crime Stats Victimization Surveys Uncover unreported crimes and reporting rates Very high completion rates (in US) Flaws- - Not national in scope in Canada BRely on victim’s memory and interpretation Self-Report Surveys In principle, perhaps the most effective way of tabulating crime- including victimless and white-collar crimes But lots of practical problems...