A Discussion of the Usefulness of Official Crime Statistics and Other Types of Crime Information.

The two primary data sources discuss in this abstract will be the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS). These data sources are reporting mechanism that tracks criminal activities in the United States and foreign countries. To articulate why crime exists and the extent of a crime, criminologists use records that are collected, compiled, and analyzed by government agencies such as the federal government’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (Siegel, Larry J., 2006, p 31). The official data is used to focus on the social forces that affect crime in regards to the relationship between crime and poverty, criminologist uses the data which provides

Throughout crime in Australia, a noticeable increase in crime occurred between the 1970’s to the 1990’s but has declined to a stable rate of crime which is similar trend in America. However, crime itself is often complex to define due to the variety of crime. Therefore, it is difficult to accurately measure crime and if crime cannot be measured efficiently and it proposes concerns of whether crime in Australia is stable or not. Although Australia’s system of collecting crime data is striving to be as accurate as possible, the media will often manipulate the data which misleads the Australian public of crime stability. Inclusively, through gaining an understanding of defining crime, accurately measuring data and comparing Australia’s crime data

Although crime has been around for ages, we only started collecting crime data around the 1930’s. Crime statistics show a lot about a country, state, county, etc. Crime can be linked to the environment, behavior of others, and personal experiences, it all depends on how the person deals with the hand they are dealt. Crime data is collected from three sources, which are uniform crime reports (UCR), national incident based reporting system (NIBRS), and national crime victimization survey (NCVS).

The Extent to Which Sociologists Agree that Official Criminal Statistics Do Not Give an Accurate Picture of the Extent in Terms of Crime

For example, when discussing the dependency on prisons, they give statistics proving how much more they were used, “By 2000, more than two million people were in prison, roughly four times the number as of 1972” (Levitt and Dubner 111). This data clearly elaborates on how much impact prisons had which helps the general reader process the information smoothly. Similarly, the authors discuss the impact of police strategies and the increased number of police with statistics. They include data which explains that “Homicide rates fell from 30.7 per 100,000 people in 1990 to 8.4 per 100,000 people in 2000, a change of 73.6 percent” (116). This supports the authors’ findings and convinces the reader about the accurate effects that the police force had. Levitt and Dubner successfully include credible evidence which supports their claim and ensures a valid position throughout this

(Australian Institute of Criminology, 2009, p. 6) The media’s representation of a rapidly increasing violent crime rate is not supported by statistics which reflect that while the crime rate is rising, the rate is steady and it is believed that this number could even be fluctuated by the increase of victims reporting these types of crime to the police. According to the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes 2007, 74% of the respondents had quite a lot/a great deal of confidence in the police to solve crime. (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2007 p. 16-17) Although the statistics show the general trend of violent criminal offences is static, a significant proportion of our population still has the perception that our crime rates are increasing (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2010) due to media influence. Another way the media misrepresents Australia’s crime rate is by selectively reporting violent crimes whilst under reporting other offences, which are more prevalent in society.

Looking back to 1960 we can notice that violent crime rates always vary. In 1960 murder was at 824, but the 1961 it dropped to 788, then goes back up to 983 in 1966. There is no real pattern to how it varies. Many might think that with increased population we will have increased crimes, but that isn’t the case. In 1975 the population was an approximate 12,237,000 and violent crime was at 1,639. In 1976 the population grew to 12,487,000 but the violent crime dropped to 1,519. (4)

Evidence suggests that the meaning attached to criminal acts influence the reporting, recording and legal consequences. For example, quantitative evidence or data demonstrates a substantial increase in crime until 1995 and an apparent slight decrease since then (Maquire, 1997, p.158). Qualitative evidence questions this by suggesting that crime is greatly under-reported for reasons such as the feeling that the crime was not serious enough. In contradiction, Maguire (1997) suggests that there is an increased reporting of crimes, for example, through having greater access to a telephone. In relation to conviction, Eitzen (1986, p.427) demonstrates that white-collar crime and street crime carry different legal penalties, thus illustrating the different meanings they hold.

The article I will be critiquing for SOCI 247, is one published by Sky news back in April 2014. As the title explains, the published title expresses crime has fallen to its lowest in 33 years within England and Wales. I will be looking in great depth to identify what Sky news mean by crime and whether they are measuring this as overall crime or whether it is certain aspects of crimes which have been affected by this decrease. I will also refer to different media articles which may have similar aspects and compare statistics to what is relevant within the public at the time of when there are popular crimes.

Canada has two prominent statistics used to measure crime. Firstly, there is the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR), which is made of crimes recorded by the police. As Jason Ditton (1979), a Constructionist, once pointed out that crime reports “have little to do with the amount of crime” but rather it is simply just a constructed report by the police. On the other hand, we have the General Social Survey (GSS), a victimization survey, which is conducted over a six to twelve month period (Statistics Canada, 2016). The goal of this survey is to “shed light on which people failed to contact the police and why” by asking them questions regarding their living conditions, experiences of victimization and their thought on safety (Morden and Palys, 2015, pg 80). This paper will talk about how both statistics are measured, how they are different, how they are able to complement each other and lastly how accurate they are.

The new predicament deals with adjusting to change, however it causes some to go against their own beliefs. While the criminology predicament is a problematic set of structural constraints that formed the policy of horizons within which all decisions be made (105). There are two major social factors the normality of high crime rates and the acknowledgement limitation of the criminal justice state. Our history shows that overtime the criminal justice system has become more advanced, categorizing the various crimes along while mapping the trends.

Crime rates are shared on each major offense; however, “crime rates are often skewed because reports of crimes are based on volume of a particular crime” (Schmallager, 2011). For instance, if more crimes are committed in larceny theft, these rates overshadow more serious crimes such as murder, due to the low amount of murders committed. Moreover, crimes those are unreported, though in recent years the number of unreported crimes is lower than in past years, along with crimes unreported by local officials give a false sense of overall crimes

They may be used to create estimates and probability models, to promote risk assessment, to create knowledge about long-term crime trends, to establish recommendations for public policy, and to establish crime prevention strategies. Thus, governmental reports and statistics of crime constitute an invaluable tool in the study of criminology and they should be used by criminologists to assist them in their academic endeavors and the generation of criminological theory. However, it is essential for criminologists to be aware of the shortcomings of governmental reports. For example, the Uniform Crime reports only records the most serious crime even if “multiple crimes are committed during the same criminal incident” (Pazzani & Tita, 2009, p. 377). The dark numbers of crime is yet another weakness of governmental reports, as those crimes that are not reported to the police and the FBI are not represented in the statistics and reports, and may thus not represent

As Nils Christie argued, crime is a property of the state (2004). As such, it can be defined by the same systems of ideals which influence the state. Crime statistics, which refer to a category of human acts that society view as deviant, can consequently be argued to be without objectivity (Dorling and Simpson, 1999). The statistics they provide are thus arguably not exact. To a certain extent one could infer they are reflections of society, of those who present the data and most importantly of those who accumulate it. The facts themselves become a socially constructed foundation for social knowledge, which inevitably become subjective. This essay aims to discuss how ideological biases within the Police and to a certain extent the

Firstly, recorded crime statistics are collated through the collection of data by law enforcement agencies, such as the police in England and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in America. It focuses on the crime that is reported by the public and then what is chosen to be recorded by the police. During the mid-late 19th century, these statistics formed the basis of information about crime, however, although they still provide raw data for publications such as the Offenders Index, they are now viewed critically. This is because, according to Mayhew and Hough (1988), the recorded crime statistics are “adequate as a measure of police workload, but because of unreported and unrecorded crime – deficient as an index of crime”.