Are official statistics a reliable source of information about crime in Britain? Official criminal statistics are defined as “Statistical data compiled by the police and the courts and routinely published by governments as indices of the extent of crime” (Munchie, 2001, p194). “The working class, the young males, and members of some ethnic minorities are all more likely to commit crimes than the middle class, the elderly, females and whites – according to official statistics”. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004, p338). In assessing the question “Are official statistics a reliable source of information about crime in Britain?” several factors will be considered: including how the statistics are collected, the divide between males and females in crime statistics, the over representation of ethnic minorities and any problems in looking at the true extent of crime using statistics as an indicator for this.
Along with those programs came the NCVS or National Crime Victimization Survey, this survey is a self-reporting survey which victims report their own incidents. Although each are used to record crime for the nation, they each have their own uses and are used differently. The UCR crime reports are used in many ways, they provide law enforcement with date for use in police operations and planning for the future. The news and media also utilize the reports as well to inform the public about crime. Data is recorded by cities, counties, colleges, and states and submitted to the UCR.
Crime Reporting and Reporting Crime: Uniform Crime Reports vs. National Crime Victimization Survey Vanicia Carr Roosevelt University Abstract The Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) are two reports in which the Federal Bureau of Investigation uses to measure crime across the United States. Through traditional methods of collecting crime data to new and improve ways of collecting data the UCR/NIBRS program has been an important part of the FBI crime reporting, however, the program falls short on crimes not reported. With the development of the National Crime Victimization Survey data is collected on unreported crime. Weakness and strengths are presented on each program, with particular emphasis on domestic violence. The strengths of the NCVS outweighed the UCR/NIBRS program in measuring domestic violence.
National Incident-Based Reporting System vs. Uniform Crime Reporting Candetta Dilley American Public University NIBRS vs. UCR 1 Abstract This paper is to show the differences, similarities and the pros and cons of both the crime reporting systems used in law enforcement. These systems give detailed information about how many crimes have been committed, how many were done by men or women and to what age group the subject belonged in on
The purpose of this case study is to evaluate available data and attempt to determine the variables that contribute the most and address several conceptions and misconceptions about the leading causes of property crimes in the U.S. The questions that this study will answer include: 1. Are crime rates higher in urban than rural areas? 2. Does unemployment or education level contribute to property crime rates?
Assess the usefulness of official statistics to our understanding of social problems. Illustrate your response with sociological arguments and evidence. To assess the usefulness of official statistics to our understanding of social problems, I will first look at what official statistics are, I will then look at crime and suicide as two examples of social problems. I will look at how both Positivists and Interpretativists use these statistics and how useful each of these sociological approaches find them. Official statistics is the name given to the numbers of crimes reported to or unveiled by the police themselves, which lead to a conviction, caution or are dealt with in some formal way by the law.
Identify any assumptions on which your personal perception is based and answer the following questions: How would you describe or define organized crime? How does your perception compare to the definitions presented in the readings? What are the various characteristics you would consider to be associated with organized criminal behavior? Properly cite your references or resources according to APA guidelines. Discussion Questions Describe what you think the type of person comes to mind when you read each of the subjects.
Statistics are usually collected on based on three categories: Offenses, the breach of law; Offenders, those who commit the offenses; and the victims, the ones who are offended against. The United States has programs in which they collect this data; the first is the Uniform Crime Reports, which is compiled by the FBI and the Crime Victimization Survey, handled by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Crime statistics for the same crime can vary based on not just between countries and jurisdictions, but also between individual law enforcement officers that have come across the same exact case. There are some crimes that are reported to law enforcement but are not reported because the law enforcement officer that takes the report has the power of discretion. They have the ability to affect how much crime is recorded, based on how they record their activities.
DISCUSS THE PROBLEMS IN MEASURING AND DEFINING CRIME AND DEVIANCE. INTRODUCTION This paper will discuss the problems faced whilst trying to define and measure crime and deviance whilst also explaining the differences and relationship between crime and deviance. Criminologists have created means of measuring crime which this paper will explore and identify problems which will occur during the recording of crime and will explore influences on crime and crime statistics. DEFINING CRIME AND DEVIANCE Defining crime or deviance is diverse amongst the many different cultures, history and from one social context to another (new texts pg 138) which causes a big problem whilst defining and measuring crime or deviance as what is believed to be criminal or deviant behaviour in one society may be seen as legal or normal behaviour by another society. There are many theories relating to deviance and crime with each theory illustrating a different aspect of the procedure by which people break rules and are classed as deviants or criminals.
Victimology: A Study of Crime Victims 1 Victimology is an important element in the process of learning about crime victims, the needs of the victims, and even about the perpetrator of the crime. It identifies the victims, reveals their physical and mental state before and after the crime, their social interactions, and ideas as to why they were a victim. Victimology does not give the reasons why a particular person is chosen by an offender, however it will give general overview of victim selection (Petherick, “Victimology” 2010) The definitions of victimology vary in the use of words within the definition, such as victim, crime victim or behavior of crime victim. Victimology as an academic term containing two elements; the Latin word “victima” which translate into victim and the Greek word “logos” which means a system of knowledge (Dussich “Victimology ‘Past, Present and Future’”2000). In it’s simplest definition, victimology is the study of the victim or victims of a particular offender (Wallace & Roberson 2011: 3).