L4 counting crime

Question 1

canadian crime stats

Answer 1

• important way to learn of the preponderance of crime.
• strengths and weaknesses of canadian crime statistics
• cautious about crime stats from other countries too

Question 2

4 controversies over counting crime

Answer 2

coverage: how can we obtain reliable and valid data on the scope and nature of crime?
validity: does the tool actually measure crime?
reliability: how consistent are the results
methodology: do the methods used to count crime hold up under critical analysis

Question 3

three dominant ways to count crime or describe crime patterns + trends.

Answer 3

1. official (police-reported) stats
2. victimization survey
3. self-report studies

Question 4

sources of official crime data

Answer 4

cjs produces enormous amount of raw data
- CCJS: collected info on crime that has been reported by police since 1960’s. division of Stats Can.
report crime using UCR

Question 5

what is UCR?

Answer 5

uniform crime reports: measure of incidence of crime.

• only stuff that’s reported to police
• uniform , nation-wide used to collect and count data

Question 6

what is the seriousness rule re: UCR?

Answer 6

if there are several crimes, reported in one incident, only the most serious crime is counted.

• deflated total crime rate
• increases violent crime as a proportion of the total
• problems with scoring seriousness (not all crimes in same category created equal)

Question 7

police-reported crime rates

• total
• property
• other crimes
• violent crimes

*internet

Answer 7

peak in total crimes around 1992.

lowest = violence crimes, property crimes are second to total crimes.

internet is used by pretty much everyone. gives rise to serious crimes that often go undocumented, undetected + victims don’t report.

Question 8

gross counts of crime

Answer 8

a count of the total amount of crime in a given community making no distinction between crime categories

Question 9

Ouimet report - increase in total convictions..

Answer 9

total convictions for all criminal offences in canada increased by 2500% betwen 1901-1965.
– most due to summer offences, like traffic that were increasing in popularity

Question 10

CSI

Answer 10

crims severity index
- shows severity of crimes within country

• addresses high volumes of crime due to less serious offences.
• give each offence a weight derived from sentences given by criminal court
• more serious the sentence, the greater the weight
• the more serious offences have a greater impact on the severity index

Question 11

police-reported crime severity indexes

Answer 11

violent crimes decline similarly to total crimes. overall crime severity decreases over time.

Question 12

steps to get statistic after crime happens (2 ways)

Answer 12

1. noticed by public; perceived as crime; someone notifies police; police designate as crime; police write report
2. witnessed by police; event designated to be a crime; decision to write report

Question 13

calculating the crime rate

Answer 13

number of crimes/ population X 100,000 = crime rate

Question 14

the crime funnel

Answer 14

• more offenses than are reported
• more reported than convicted
• more convicted than charged.
  1% of the crimes are sentenced to custody

Question 15

5 disparities in knowledge of crime incidents

Answer 15

1. report sensitive
2. police sensitive
3. definition sensitive
4. media sensitive
5. actual crime trends

Question 16

what is report sensitive:

Answer 16

whether we know about them or not if due to victim’s willingness to report

Question 17

what is police sensitive

Answer 17

whether we know about them or not depends on police enforcement

Question 18

definition sensitive

Answer 18

legislative changes

• legal/illegal
• decriminalized gambling

Question 19

media sensitive

Answer 19

hear about through media

- influence

Question 20

actual crime trends

Answer 20

why criminologist idea of crime is differnt than other ppl’s view

Question 21

what is the dark figure of crime?

Answer 21

most dangerous part is unseen.

- crime funnel

Question 22

1993 victimization survey

Answer 22

90% of sexual assaults

53% of robberies and 70% of perceived violent criminal incidents were not reported to police

Question 23

correctional stats

Answer 23

number of ppl incarcerated

• highly reliable
• assists with planning for future (cost, new infrastructure)
• can give info on who commits crime

Question 24

victimization surveys

Answer 24

• understanding of nature of crime + victimization compared to UCR data (who is being victimized + how much)
• useful in ID-ing categories of people most at risk (young)
• dispel misperceptions

Question 25

who is most victimized?

Answer 25

ages 20-24 who are single, young, no full-time job, living active social life.

Question 26

limitations of victimization surveys

Answer 26

• not all crimes captured (homicide victims)
• consensual crimes are generally not captured (buying illegal drugs, escort/prostitution)
• not captured when victim is unaware of victimization (didn’t know they were victims - lost wallet when it was stollen)
• depend on ppl’s memory, truthfulness
• survey data may be skewed

Question 27

self-report studies

Answer 27

people who know most about crime are those who break th elaw

• self-report, ask populations of their own background in crime.
• capture incidence when not police-reported
• contributes to demogrpahic info of crime

Question 28

limitations of self-report surveys

Answer 28

• some groups underreport (may not be forthcoming. law-abiding more likely to talk; if more stigmatized - less likely to admit
• respondents report minor infractions and downplay more serious infractions
• memory fade; telescoping

difficulty to survey serious, chronic offenders

Question 29

what is memory fade?

Answer 29

forget that things happen

Question 30

what is telescoping

Answer 30

recall event as happening much more recently than it did

Question 31

research ethics in self-report surveys

Answer 31

have to keep things confidential.

- laws + personal ethics may counteract.