Week 2

Question 1

Measuring crime - Official data

Answer 1

- Rates -
Arrest 
-> Cleared
-> Reoffends
Reported

- Crime Control -
Referrals
Convictions 
-> Sentencing
-> Reoffends

Question 2

Measuring crime - Unofficial data

Answer 2

• Victim reports
• Self reports
• Other

Question 3

Official data

Answer 3

Official Data - comes from governmental agencies; used to measure crime and crime control.
Arguably the most well known is the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report
In Australia, data is recorded by the police, and compiled and reported by the AIC
Criminologists use data official data in three forms:
- As raw data (least common as it tells us little)
- As data per 100,000 or 1,000 people
- As percentage data

Question 4

Limitations and Biases with offical data

Answer 4

1. Problems in reporting practices
2. Problems in law enforcement practices
3. Methodological problems in the reports themselves

Question 5

Problems with Reporting Practices

Answer 5

Other types of crime data suggest that many types of crimes are underreported to the police. Victim data suggests this may be as high as 20 to 1 (unreported v reported) for some types of offenses. 
May be because:
-Lack of Trust	
-Lack of Belief in Efficacy 	
-Fear
- Culpability 	
- Shame			
- Subcultures

Question 6

Victimisation data

Answer 6

• Victim surveys are widely seen by criminologists as a redress to some of the problems of official data
• While no reporting method is without problems, victim surveys reveal that many more crimes are committed than are ever reported to the police.
• This is called the problem of the “dark figure” of crime, or the long recognised problem in criminology that much more crime exists than is ever know to authorities or to researchers.

Question 7

Types of victim surveys

Answer 7

The most well-known victim survey is the National Crime Victimisation Survey (NCVS) - surveys of households conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics in the US.

• Australia has only more recently started to systematically collect and record victim data
• Queensland also has a victimisation survey
• Australia also participates in the International Crime Victims Survey.

Question 8

Self report data

Answer 8

• Surveys administered to sample populations that measure attitudes, beliefs, behaviours and demographic data.
• Almost always anonymous in so far as their usefulness depends on the assumption that people will be more honest when they cannot be identified.
• Central way that criminologists measure unreported criminal behaviour, substance abuse, domestic violence, etc.

Question 9

‘Other’ types of unofficial data

Answer 9

• Cohort Research: Longitudinal and Retrospective
• Experimental Research
• Observational and Interview Research
• Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review
• Data Mining
• Crime Mapping

Question 10

Crime patterns -> Ecological

Answer 10

Day, Season, and Climate:
- More reported crimes occur during summer months

Crime rates rise with the temperature
Regional Differences:
- Large urban areas have the highest violence rates
- Rural areas have the lowest