Module 3

Question 0

What types of crimes/categories are collected?

Answer 0

Non index offenses such as violent crimes, embezzlement, fraud,

Question 1

1a. What is the UCR and how is it collected?

Answer 1

Uniform Crime Report

-Its collected by police reports and or arrests

Question 2

1b. What are the biggest strengths and weakness of the UCR?

Answer 2

Biggest strengths : its the oldest measure, if someone wanted to do a study on certain crimes they could use UCR

Biggest Weakness : The crimes that are not reported (Dark Figures)
-It is not likely that people will be arrested for some of the crimes so the non index offenses are innscurate

Question 3

For which offenses is the UCR most accurate in measuring?

Answer 3

Homicide and Motor Vehicle Theft

Question 4

1d. What is the NCVS and how is it collected?

Answer 4

National Crime Victimization Survey

-interviews a large, random sample of US households on how much crime they have experienced in half-year intervals.

Question 5

Which agencies collect it?

Answer 5

-The NCVS is collected by the research branch of the DOJ called the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), in conjunction with the US Bureau of Census

Question 6

1e. What are the biggest strengths and weaknesses of the NCVS? Use examples to support your conclusions, and emphasize juveniles in your answer.

Answer 6

Biggest Weakness : two of the most victimized groups ( homeless and young children ) are not included
-don’t collect data on homicide

Biggest Strengths : it directly addresses the worst problems with the UCR which is the dark figures

Question 7

1f. What are self-report measures and how are they collected?

Answer 7

Self report measures are when individuals report their own past offending or victimization ( consists of individuals reporting how much crime they have engaged in or been victimized by, which they report in surveys or interviews )

• is primarily collected by independent academic scientists or “think tank” agencies such as Rand Corporation.
• deal with in-depth information on the offenders or victims, such as personality, family life, economic information, etc.

Question 8

What are the biggest strengths and weaknesses of this measure, particularly in terms of juvenile offending?

Answer 8

Strengths - The only available source of data for determining the social psychological reasons for why people commit crimes

Weakness : doesn’t have any long term studies
-participants lie

Question 9

Telescoping

Answer 9

the human tendency in which events are perceived to occur more recently than it did