Chapter 4 Flashcards
1
Q
4 controversies over counting crime
A
- coverage: how can we obtain reliable and valid data on the scope and nature of crime?
- reliability: how consistent are the results?
- validity: does the tool actually measure crime?
- methodology: need to critically examine methods used to count crime.
2
Q
Crime rate (4)
A
- Measures level of crime in society based on police-reported data
- Calculated by dividing the amount of crime by the population size and multiplying by 100,000
- There are doubts about the reliability and validity of the statistics derived from police records
- In general, police-recorded crime rate statistics underestimate the actual level of crime
3
Q
Crime funnel example
A
for about every 122 offences 1 person is sentenced to custody
4
Q
Records vs. statistics
A
- Records are concerned with individual cases (e.g., an offender)
- Statistics are aggregated; they are concerned with what is common among many individual cases
5
Q
Methodological issues to consider when changing records into usable statistics (5)
A
- What id being counted?
- How to combine the data
- How to define what is being counted
- What info is being collected
- How to count units and elements
6
Q
Dark figure of crime
A
unreported, unknown
7
Q
Three dominant ways to count crime or describe crime patterns and trends
A
- Official (police-reported) statistics
- Victimization surveys
- Self-report studies
8
Q
UCR goal
A
to provide uniform and comparable national statistics
9
Q
Two versions of UCR
A
- UCR Aggregate (UCR1.0) Survey: collects summary data for 100 separate criminal offences
- UCR Incident-Based (UCR 2.0) Survey: collects more detailed information on each incident, victims, and accused
10
Q
Seriousness rule in UCR, implications (3)
A
- Deflates total crime count
- Inflates serious crimes as percentage of total
- Not enough qualitative data about crimes are recorded to use a sophisticated scale of seriousness
11
Q
Other issues with UCR (4)
A
- Crime categories are too general
- Not always clear what is being counted
- Crime rate does not differentiate between serious (indictable) and less serious (summary) offences
Thus, gross counts of crime are misleading
-Is a particular crime increasing or is it a reflection of changing (i) social norms and/or (ii) police charging policies?
12
Q
More UCR concerns (4) (police)
A
- UCR data may tell us more about police activities
- “Official violations” statistics are often a product of police policy decisions
- Crime statistics are influenced by police discretion regarding what crimes are serious enough to attend to, record, and pursue
- The ways police apply crime recording and scoring procedures reflect the policing style and policy of the particular police department
13
Q
Limitations of Victimization Surveys
A
- not all crimes are captured (murders, victimless)
- may lack reliability
- data may be skewed (well educated individuals more likely to give more detail)
14
Q
Criminal victimization highlights (7 statistics)
A
- 25% of respondents reported being a victim of crime in past 12 months
- 70% of offences were nonviolent
- 31% who had been victimized reported it to police
- Victimization rates were stable between 2004 and 2009
- Violent crime rates and household victimization are higher in Western Canada
- Younger people reported higher rates of violent victimization
- 93% felt somewhat or very satisfied with their personal safety
15
Q
2009 survey of victimization showed (4):
A
- Typical victim is young, single, male, not employed full-time, and living an active social life
- The number of evenings spent outside the home is one of the best predictors of whether a person has been victimized or not
- Women and men experience similar levels of violent victimization
16
Q
Lessons learned from victimization survey (6)
A
- shows part of dark figure
- people of sexual or domestic violence often are not reported
- reporting is more likely when an incident produces financial loss
- some times are more likely to come to police attention
- certain victims are more likely to report assault
- some categories of offenders are less likely to be reported (ex. family members)
17
Q
Self-report surveys limitations (4)
A
- Some demographic groups are more apt to underreport criminal behaviour
- Those who are typically law abiding are more likely to report their occasional infractions compared to more serious and chronic offenders
- Respondents tend to report minor infractions and downplay more serious infractions
- Often difficult to survey serious, chronic offenders
