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

2. 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

3. 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

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

5. 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.

6. 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

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

8. 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

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

10. 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?

11. 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.

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

18. 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

19. 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

20. RACE AND CRIME Similar dilemma as with social class
SRweak if any relationship
Officialstrong relationship
If relationship is “true,” why?
Relationship to class, neighborhood, culture.

21. The Age-Crime Curve

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

23. Hypothetical Age-Crime Curves at Individual Level
Frequency of Offending
Adolescent
Offending
Group
Chronic Group
Age

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

25. 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.

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

27. 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?