self report studies, social class, gender , age Flashcards
what are self report studies
alternate way of measuring crime. reveals social characteristics and profiles of criminal offenders
is self reports positivist or interpritivist
positivist- quantitative questionnaire
what types of crime does self report pick up
petty acts such as street crime and assault
who does self report studies
asks respondents to tick crimes they have successfully committed without being caught
self reports consist of qualitative research method such as an
unstructured interview
shaw (self report studies)
did unstructured interviews and wanted to investigate life history of criminals
ethics of self report
confidentiality and anonymity
polygraph test used in self report studies
assesses autonomic arousal but cant be trusted 100%
graham and bowling (self report)
social class had no effect when self reporting crimes were committed
3 disadvantages of self report
-relies on memory of individual which isnt always accurate
-respondents fearful of police so arent truthful
-rape and white collar crime excluded
2 advantages of self report
-80% tell truth
-positivist
farrington and west LONGITUDINAL RESEARCH CAMBRIDGE STUDY IN DELINQUENT DEVELOPMENT (self report)
used self reports to plot amount and type of offending over time
40 males investigated
90% admitted to doing at least one criminal offence in self reports
more offending as they got older
started at 14 and decreased by 23
self report studies helpful for predicting offending rates (low family income, poorer housing)
2 disadvantages of farrington and west LONGITUDINAL RESEARCH CAMBRIDGE STUDY IN DELINQUENT DEVELOPMENT (self report)
-relies on offender telling truth
-older males excluded from study
ignores females
2 advantages of farrington and west LONGITUDINAL RESEARCH CAMBRIDGE STUDY IN DELINQUENT DEVELOPMENT (self report)
-longitudinal study
-insightful and therefore change social policies
