Chapter 2- The Nature and Extent of Crime

Question 1

What are the three primary Sources of Crime Stats?

Answer 1

1. Uniform Crime Reporting surveys and Crime Severity Index
2. Victim surveys
3. Self-report surveys

Question 2

Characteristics of UCR and the revised UCR2

Answer 2

It's the listing of the number of criminal offences occurring in each police service's jurisdiction
For UCR2: contains more details such as:
- characteristis of victim and accused
- location, date time of incident
-use and type of weapons used
-type of property stolen

Question 3

How is crime rate data reported?

Answer 3

Crime rate data is report through 3 methods

1. Number of crimes reported to police
2. Crime rates per 100 00 people
3. Changes in the number of crimes and crime rate over time

Question 4

Crime Severity Index (CSI)

Answer 4

Annual crime report that measures both volume and severity of crimes
Assigns a ‘seriousness’ weight to each type of offence

Question 5

Victim Surveys

Answer 5

Asks crime victims about encounters with criminals

helps to pull out previously unknown data on crime

Question 6

General Social Survey - Victimization Survey

Answer 6

30 min. telephone interview with 20 000 Canadians every 5 years
Potential problems include:
-overreporting
-underreporting
-unable to record criminal activity of person interviewed
- doesn’t record crimes committed in workplace
-sampling errors

Question 7

Self report Surveys

Answer 7

ask people to reveal their criminal behaviour with promise of anonymity and confidentiality
Findings:
actual number of crimes is higher than what is documented
-40% of youth report engaging in 1 or more delinquent behaviors
-commonly are truancy, alcohol abuse, trespassing, shoplifting, fighting, cannabis use and property damage
Issues include:
-are poeple being truthful?
exaggeration, forgetfulness and confusion over questions
-Missing cases

Question 8

Crime Trends: Property Crime

Answer 8

Most common crime: thefts under $5000 (42%)

Question 9

Trends in Victimization- who’s likely to be a victim?

Answer 9

1 in 5 victim of crime
single people more likely to be victims
sexual assault rates higher among females
physical assault associated with alcohol and drug use

Question 10

Ecology of Crime- when it likely to occur?

Answer 10

Peak crime period: July and August
Repeat B&E attempts occur at the same time of day as last successful occurrence
-crime higher on certain days of month
-higher temperatures may affect violent crime rates

Question 11

What is the connection between Social Class and Crime

Answer 11

No agreement on if direct link exists
street criminals: poor, little education with menial jobs
victimization rates are higher in high poverty areas

Question 12

Age and Crime

Answer 12

Age inversely related to criminality (nubmer of crime slows down as you get older because you can't move for shit)
Older Canadians account for 4% of charged criminals 
Younger Canadians (12-17) account for 20% of criminal charges

Question 13

Gender and Crime

Answer 13

Crime as a male activity (males account for 75% of accused in criminal occurrences)

Question 14

What is the connection between Race and Crime

Answer 14

Black and Indigenous peoples are overrepresented in the system
Suspects who are porr, minority and male more likely to be arrested
racial profiling targets visible minority populations