Lecture 2 Flashcards
What is victimology?
The study of victims and the psychological effects of crime on them.
What role does media play in shaping public perception of crime?
Media influences public attitudes and perceptions about crime, often leading to skewed views of safety.
What is the importance of measuring crime?
- To understand policy efficiency
- Gauge community health
- Predict crime to prevent it
- Allocate resources effectively
What data sources are used for measuring crime?
- Official Crime Statistics (UCR)
- Victimization Surveys
- Self-report Surveys
- Observational studies
What is the Uniform Crime Report (UCR)?
A standardized system for collecting and publishing police-reported crime statistics in Canada.
What is the crime funnel?
A model illustrating that 2/3 of crime is not reported to police, showing a decrease in data as it moves through the system.
Fill in the blank: Crime is often viewed through the lens of _______.
[Sociology].
True/ False All serious crimes are reported equally.
False
What is the potential impact of smartphones and electronic surveillance on crime?
They may create a ‘cooling effect’ on crime if individuals believe their actions may be recorded.
What are some factors that shape public perception of crime?
- Social media influence
- Overall representations of criminals
- Media propaganda
What are the challenges in defining crime for measuring purposes?
- What to count?
- How to define crime?
- How to count?
What is the significance of understanding crime patterns?
It helps to gauge the health of a community and informs crime prevention strategies.
What is UCR2?
An incident-based model adopted for crime reporting.
What does UCR stand for?
Uniform Crime Reporting.
What is the most serious offence rule in UCR?
Only the most serious offence is counted when multiple offences occur.
How does UCR2 differ from traditional UCR?
UCR2 counts each victim in violent crimes as a separate incident.
What types of information does UCR collect?
- Victims
- Accused
- Circumstances
What does it mean when a crime is ‘cleared’?
At least one individual has been arrested, charged, or turned over to the court.
What is the ‘dark figure of crime’?
Crime that is unknown, either undiscovered or unreported.
True or False: Police discover more than 5% of crimes themselves.
False.
What percentage of crimes are generally not reported to the police according to the General Social Survey?
Two-thirds.
What factors influence whether victims report crimes?
- Belief they’ll be believed
- Desire for justice
- High damages
- Good support system
- Direct impact on them
What are some reasons victims generally do not report crimes?
- Fear of offender
- Perceived minor offense
- Reporting seen as a hassle
- Already dealt with the matter personally
What issues can arise from law enforcement practices in crime reporting?
- Poor recordkeeping
- Adjustment of crime reports
- Discretion in proceeding with charges
What is the Crime Severity Index?
A measure based on the seriousness of offences and sentence lengths.
What are victimization surveys?
Surveys that ask people about their experiences with crime and whether they reported it.
What does the General Social Survey (GSS) target?
Canadians aged 15 years and older.
What are some limitations of the General Social Survey?
- Misses youth under 15
- Excludes homeless and marginalized populations
What do self-report surveys assess?
Individuals’ own criminal behavior.
What are some problems with self-report studies?
- Under-reporting due to shame
- Recall failures
- Exaggeration of involvement
Fill in the blank: The UCR data is considered __________ and incomplete.
erroneous
What can crime data assist in developing?
Crime-prevention policies.
What is a potential bias in victim reporting?
Public perception of crime severity may influence reporting.
What is a methodological issue related to crime severity assessments?
Severity determined by judicial perceptions of seriousness.
What are some factors that may distort findings in self-report studies?
- Focus on minor infractions
- Exclusion of white-collar crime
- Under-representation of minority groups
True/ False: Self-report surveys provide a more complete picture of criminality.
True.
true/false fear of crime is linked to incidence of crime
- false
- not necessarily
- it affects political agendas and rhetoric
true/false we are becoming more susceptible to rational fear
- False
- more irrational fear
- more scared of terrorism and child abduction than obesity and smoking
what is the importance of understanding forensics
- observation and assessment the first responders role
- documentation notes, maps etc
- preserving and collecting info preventing loss
- understanding principles avoiding CSI effect
what is the importance of understanding
beyond forensics and stats
- importance of observation and assessment listening, empathizing etc
- collecting more info prioritizing info
- you can find anything if you look hard enough be selective w info
true/false we live in a post-truth world but not a post-fact world
- false
- we live in both
why do we measure crime and its patterns
- gauage the health of a community or society
- determine if crime is on the increase/ decrease/ stableness over time and compare rates in diff areas
- predict crime to prevent it
- determine the risk of victimization for diff groups
- establish the social and economic impact of crime on society
- allocate resources in the most cost-effective way
- create and evaluate crime prevention programs
- debunk crime myths
how do we measure crime w quantitative data
- numeric form
- shows overall patterns
- methods for collection are highly structured
what are the issues w quantitative data
- what do we count
- how to define crime
- how to count
why do we measure crime w qualitative data
- collected results of interactions w research participants
- puts context to quantitative research
whats the main difference between quantitative and qualitative data
- like reading the reviews on amazon
- its 3.5/5 stars
- buuut the reviews say it runs small
- just adds more context
what is a typical starting point for measurement of crime
the criminal code
describe the crime funnel
how much of crime is not reported
2/3
what are sources of data on crime
- official crime stats- uniform crime reports
- victimization surveys
- self-report surveys
- other (biographies, documentaries etc)
police-recorded crime stats have been done since when
- since 1921
- the uniform crime report started in 1962
what is the goal of the uniform crime report (UCR)
- Intended to standardize the collection and assembly of police-reported crime statistics from across Canada
- Tried to obtain a complete, accurate picture of crime reported to police
what does the UCR do
- collect data by law enforcement agencies then forwarded to Statistics Canada’s Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics
- annually
how does the most serious offence rule work
- if 2 offences occur in the same incident, only the most serious is counted
- for violent crimes (eg homicide), we count each victim as a separate incident
who notes whether a crime has been solved or cleared
canadian police departments
when will a crime be “cleared”
when at least one individual has been arrested, charged, or is turned over to the court
what are the problems with official crime data
- The failure of victims and witnesses to report many crimes.
- Law enforcement practices and record-keeping may vary.
- Methodological issues (E.g. How crime counted?)
what is the “dark figure of crime”
crime that is unknown, either because it is undiscovered or unreported
true/false police discover most of crime themselves
- false
- less than 5%
true/false UCR data is incomplete
- true
- if 2/3 is unreported, then their stats miss most info
true/false Rising intolerance of certain acts in society can create a misleading impression that its incidence is increasing
- true
- is DV on the rise, or are people in these situations just feeling more comfortable coming forward
- is there more child porn, or are we better at tracking it
when do victims generally report
- completed vs attempted
- produces injuries
- invovles weapons
- direct confrontation
- susbtantial financial loss
- committed by stranger
- insured property
when do victims generally not report
- view offence as minor
- reporting perceived as a hassle/ avoid publicity
- police wouldn’t do much
- dealt with matter already (dealt in house or
within community) - matter is personal
- fear of offender
- fear of humiliation
- fear of exposed vulnerability
- not insured
true/false Since it is the public that is the major player in reporting crime, the types of crime it reports reflect those issues most concerning it
- false
- people don;t report for so many reasons
what are the problems with official crime data regarding law enforcement practices
- Poor recordkeeping
- The perception that police departments, under pressure, may adjust crime reports - to appear as fewer (more unfounded cases), or as more (to increase budgets)
- Discretion on whether to proceed with charges
- Increasing police person-power may produce higher, rather than lower, rates of recorded crime
- A police department viewed more favourably by its community may receive more reports of crime
- Law enforcement practices may influence crime rates in other ways (i.e. crackdowns)
when are police less likely to write an official report
- Situation can be dealt with through a warning, confiscation of illicit goods
- There is a close relationship between victim and perpetrator (e.g., siblings, friends)
when are police more likely to write an official report
Police are engaged in anti-crime campaign, or order maintenance crackdown
what are the problems with official crime data regarding methodological issues
- Up until 2009, did not generally take into account the varying degrees of seriousness of offences that fall in the same category
- so now they have the crime severity index, which decides severity based on sentence length
- but sentences are affected by SO MANY things that aren’t just severity (repeat offenders, planning etc)
what are other surprising things that affect crime rates
- crime drop or crime swap people just doing diff crimes
- police-reported break and enters and motor vehicle thefts finsured items more
- opportunity internet-related crimes
- rising awareness and detection capability do they know they’ve been victimized
what do victimization surveys do
- second source of data on the extent of crime
- Ask people about the nature and frequency of victimizations they have experienced, over a specified period of time
- ask respondents if they reported crimes they experienced to the police & reasons for not reporting
- done through random telephone surveys
how do victimization surveys overcome some fo the shortcomings of police based offical crime states
- Captures both unreported and reported crime = higher estimates of crime
- The influence of police activity on crime detection are circumvented by approaching potential victims directly
what is the general social survey (GSS)
- phone survey conducted by stats canada
- done every 5 years
- targets Canadians 15 or up
how many types of victimization are recorded for the GSS
8
what info is collected for the GSS
- type of victimization
- details of victimization
- demographic info also collected
what are the distortions in GSS measurements
- Household survey, conducted by random digit dialing
o Only surveyed those who have a phone, who are over the age of 15, and who agree to talk
o Misses youth under 15, the homeless, hospital patients, prisoners — some of the most “vulnerable” or “marginalized” populations
what do self-report surveys do
- Ask people about their own criminal behaviour via questionnaires or interviews
- most people violate the law. so criminality is a matter of degree not just a thing people have or don’t
- can be less biased estimates of crim involvement of diff group
what are problems with self-report studies
- Under-reporting of crimes due to shame, denial, or fear that
offending may be revealed to the authorities. - Under-reporting due to a failure to recall an incident.
- Uneven distribution of under-reporting. Some evidence that those committing more offences tend to admit to fewer crimes.
- Exaggeration by some about their involvement in crime to appear “cool.”
- The focus is on relatively minor infractions by youth.
- The exclusion of questions about white-collar crime.
- Under-representation of minority groups.
- Lack of comparability of findings (i.e. questions asked & time frames vary considerably across self-report surveys).
what are the problems with victimization surveys
- over-reporting incidents as crimes due to the mistaken belied that an offence has occurred
- over- report the extent or gravity of crimes for attention
- under-reporting, due to embarrassment, fear
- may not even know it happened (minor thefts)
- respondants may not remember certain incidents (memory fades)
- telescoping, unintentionally remembering prior victimization incidents outside of the survey time framework (they ask what happened in the last year, you tell a story from 3 years ago)
- cannot tap homicides (they’re dead)
- concentional crimes against business often excluded
- those most susceptible to victimization (homeless, transient) likely to be excluded
- sampling errors may produce a group of respondents that does not represent the population as a whole
