Unit 2 - Chapter 3 - Sources of Information

Question 0

What are “statistics” and “official statistics”?

Answer 0

• Statistics are numbers that reveal meaningful information

- Official statistics are numbers published by authorities such as governments

Question 1

What is the “Big Picture”?

Answer 1

The overview of crime and victim statistics

Question 2

Define victimization rates

Answer 2

Realistic assessments of threat levels that criminal activities pose to individuals and groups

Question 3

What are patterns of criminal activity?

Answer 3

Patterns that reveal predictable relationships or regular occurrences that show up during the analysis of data

Question 4

What is a statistical trend?

Answer 4

Analysis of data that shows changes over time

Question 5

What is a statistical profile?

Answer 5

Data can be assembled to yield an impression of what is usual or typical about a victim in terms of characteristics such as sex, age, and race/ethnicity

Question 6

What is “spin”?

Answer 6

A way of interpreting data findings to make a point or give a situation a particular slant

Question 7

What are the 2 sources of official information on victims in the U.S.

Answer 7

1. Uniform Crime Report

2. National Crime Victimization Survey

Question 8

What is the FBI’s “crime clock”?

Answer 8

• A clock that dramatizes the fact that with the passing of each second, minute, hour, etc. the toll keeps mounting as more people join the ranks of crime victims.
• One violent crime every 22 seconds, one forcible rape every 6 ninutes, etc.

Question 9

What are some of the problems of using the crime clock?

Answer 9

• It leaves the impression that crimes happen with that level of regularity rather than the truth, which is that crime happens sporadically
• Crimes also happen more at one time of the day/month/year than another
• The crime clock can’t indicate the population against which these numbers are to be compared … yes, a robbery every 2 seconds is alarming, but against a population of X million, it is actually a very small percentage

Question 10

What are some of the problems connected to the 2 crime/victim statistics reports?

Answer 10

• They have different ways of measuring crimes and victims, so the numbers don’t agree
• People use one source over another dependent upon which point they are trying to make
• It used to be that only the most serious of offences committed in an incident were recorded and the others went unrecorded. For example, if someone broke into another person’s home, assaulted them and stole their money, it would not be recorded as 3 crimes (charges), it would be classified under the most serious crime - the criminal assault
• This skews the numbers of actual crimes as it could make criminal assault look as if it is on the rise, while the rates of theft are falling.
• There are a number of crimes, which are under-reported. For example, sexual assault … from groping to rape are still not always reported to authorities … that can make the sexual assault rate seem much lower than it actually is

Question 11

How does the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR) categorize crimes?

Answer 11

• The report is divided into 8 index crimes - 4 crimes against persons and 4 crimes against property
• Crimes against persons include:
  1. Murder
  2. Forcible rape
  3. Robbery
  4. Aggravated assault
• Crimes against property include:
  1. Burglary
  2. Larceny
  3. Theft
  4. Motor vehicle theft

Question 12

What are “raw numbers”?

Answer 12

The actual number of victims - these numbers are expressed as percentages or ratios, and with standard bases, such as per 1,000 or per 1,000,000