Chapter 8

Question 1

Has the amount of crime in America increased, decreased, or stayed the same over the last 50 years?

Answer 1

We really don’t know if the amount of crime in America has increased, decreased, or stayed the same over the last 50 years, because data may not accurately represent crime

Question 2

__________ of ________ ________- (i.e., combine the results of UCR, Self-Report, and Victimization Surveys to uncover crime patterns across all 3 sources)

Answer 2

Triangulation

research findings

Question 3

One of the conclusions of triangulations of research findings: _____ is a commonplace event in contemporary American society.

Answer 3

Crime

Question 4

One of the conclusions of triangulations of research findings: Crime is a commonplace event in contemporary ________ society.

Answer 4

American

Question 5

One of the conclusions of triangulations of research findings: Crime is committed by all social classes, but the type of criminal _________ often varies by social class

Answer 5

behavior

Question 6

One of the conclusions of triangulations of research findings: _____ engage in crime more than _______ but this gender gap is narrowing for non-violent crimes (e.g., property crimes, victimless crimes

Answer 6

Males

females

Question 7

One of the conclusions of triangulations of research findings: Males engage in crime more than females but this gender gap is narrowing for ____-_______ crimes (e.g., property crimes, victimless crimes

Answer 7

non-violent

Question 8

One of the conclusions of triangulations of research findings: The U.S. crime rate over the last two decades has probably been more stable than is shown by _____ data and claimed by various ______ outlets

Answer 8

UCR

media

Question 9

One of the conclusions of triangulations of research findings: Young people are the most likely victims and offenders of __________ crimes

Answer 9

predatory

Question 10

One of the conclusions of triangulations of research findings: Police apprehend and clear by an arrest only a _____ proportion of offenders

Answer 10

small

Question 11

What are the most dangerous states, in 2007?

Answer 11

1. North Carolina
2. Arkansas
3. Louisiana
4. South Carolina
5. Tennessee

Question 12

What are the most dangerous states, in 2009?

Answer 12

1. Nevada
2. Louisiana
3. South Carolina
4. New Mexico
5. Florida

Question 13

How is Triangulation data computed?

Answer 13

-Rank by UCR Violent -Crime Rate (total index)
Composite Rank of 6 Index Crimes (equal weight)
i.e.- murder, rape, rob, aggravated assault, burglary, my theft

Question 14

What are some problems that data (about the most dangerous states) points out?

Answer 14

• the drastic differences in states, depending on the year the surveys were conducted, suggests that the data may be unreliable
• validity, are you actually measuring dangerousness of each state by using official data, which may or may not be accurate and consistent

Question 15

Identify and describe 3 different ways in which police departments may have changed their coding/recording/classifying of aggravated assaults that have led to decrease in the number/rate of these offenses in the last 25 years.

Answer 15

(1) count AAs as offenses like “domestic violence”, “battery”, “simple assault”, and/or “threats” which would fall under the UCR category of Part II offenses
(2) use the hierarchical rule extensively so that aggravated assaults aren’t counted in multiple offense incidents (because they are counted as robberies, sexual assaults, or murders)
(3) a greater tendency over time for police to fail to report particular incidents of aggravated assault (e.g., counting them as robberies or simple assaults) due to police discretion in recording criminal incidents.