copyright © 2006 pearson education canada inc. 3 - 1 chapter 3 gathering and interpreting crime...

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.3 - 1

Chapter 3 Gathering and Interpreting

Crime Data

“It’s elementary my dear Watson.” Sherlock Holmes

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc. 3 - 2

Learning Objectives Understand the aims of research Understand and appreciate the purposes of

crime data. Identify the main methods of counting crime. Recognize and have knowledge of the official

and unofficial crime collection methods and their limitations.

Realize the importance of an interdisciplinary, multi-method approach when collecting crime and criminal justice information.


Is crime everywhere? 1991 Maclean’s found 62% said taking more

precautions to ensure than used to Media distorts, exaggerates, biased Financial expenditures indicative? Need for objective and empirical

reconstruction of crime


4 methods of counting crime Official sources Victimisation surveys Self-report studies Observational methods


Aims of research through crime data

Discovery and Demonstration Refutation and Replication To generate reliable (consistent) & valid

(accurate) measures of behaviour, trends & patterns

Cause vs. Probability


Purpose of Crime Data

Description Explanation Program evaluation Risk assessment Prediction


Different types of crime data Official sources of crime data

• 3Ps – Police, Prosecution (court) and Prison (corrections)

Unofficial sources of crime data• Victimisation surveys

• Self-report data

• Observational methods


Some terms Actual crime – all crimes that occur but are not

necessarily detected, reported or processed by official CJS agencies

Official crime – criminal events that have been detected, reported and recorded in some official fashion (police data, self-report data)

Dark figure – criminal events that go undetected and/or underreported by official CJS agencies


Official sources of crime data Language of stats is employed to

sensationalise, inflate & oversimplify Most readily available & widely used Subjected to greatest criticism Most common measures of crime 3 types of official data (the 3Ps):


Police data Most frequently used form of official crime

data Based on criminal events known to police Dark figure exists Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) Box 3.6

• standardised survey used by all police departments across Canada


Prosecution (judicial, court) Historically, first type to be recorded Stopped in 1973 Collected again in 1991 To describe trends and patterns

• Conviction rates

• Median length of sentences

• Differences in gender, time, place, resources


Prison (correctional) data Incarceration rates – gender, age, typology Supervision (parole, probation) information Expenditures and programshttp://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/publicsubject_e.shtml#corrections

Canadian incarceration rates increasing - moving toward a more punitive and more expensive correctional system? http://www.prisonstudies.org/


Unofficial sources of crime data Victimisation data Self-report surveys Observational methods


Victimisation Surveys

3 elements to describing a criminal event

• precursor; interactions among actors; aftermath 4 major objectives

• measure the extent & distribution of selected crimes

• measure impact

• assess risk of victimisation

• provide indicators of CJ functioning Methodological concerns Varying rates around the world www.unicri.it/icvs

/statistics/index_stats.htm


Self-report data Inquiry to offender’s behaviour &

motivation Shows gap in official statistics What about those not caught? Limitations and methodological concerns


Observational Methods

Field research • understand event by placing oneself in the

situation and trying to see it through their eyes

• immersion, social processes

Symbolic interactionism & ethnomethodology

Advantages and disadvantages


Summary

Describe & evaluate the 4 methods of gathering and interpreting data

Each has strengths and weaknesses Depends on resources and objectives Criminologists take ‘sides’… Need for integration & interdisciplinary

copyright © 2006 pearson education canada inc. 3 - 1 chapter 3 gathering and interpreting crime...

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