Criminal Statistics

The purpose of this abstract is to critically review the primary data sources used in the criminological research. The two key factors that measures crime are distinguished: official crime statistics, which are based on the compile data records of offenders and offenses processed by the police, courts, and corrections agencies; and unofficial crime statistics, which are produced by people and agencies outside the criminal justice system whom can add value to the data source (Regoli, Robert M., and Hewitt, John D., 2008, p 62). This abstract will discuss the strengths, weaknesses and differences of both data sources using arrests and self-reports to calculate the prevalence of crime in the United States.

Law enforcement agencies use three different sources to collect crime statistics. They use official statistics, victimizations surveys, and self-report surveys as their main sources of collecting data. The University of Texas at Arlington and the University of Texas at Austin both have pretty similar crime statistics.

To begin with, statistics can be defined as the practice or science of collecting and analyzing numerical data in large quantities, especially for the purpose of inferring proportions in a whole from those in a representative sample. Criminal justice on the other hand is defined as the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts. The use of statistics has been around for decades in a number of scholarly disciplines. More specifically, it has been an important vehicle in obtaining better knowledge in the field of criminal justice. This paper will discuss the role of statistics in criminal justice.

Motor Vehicle thefts can be easily done by a professional who knows how to hi-jack cars. The most common mistake why some cars are easily stolen is that people leave their doors unlocked. For example most people go into convince stores and leave their car running which is an easy way for a car to be stolen. There are certain vehicles that cannot be considered as automobile theft as in farm equipment because it isn’t registered with the DMV. According to the FBI (UCR) they consider that a vehicle is only to run on land not rails .In 2010 there was an estimated amount that there were 737,142 thefts of automobiles which is an outstanding number of vehicles stolen. There is also an estimated rate of 238.8 thefts out, out of 100,000 inhabitant that deal with vehicle theft. About 4.5 billion dollars is lost nationwide, because of these auto thefts

Measuring crime is based on three main measurements; criminal justice system data, crime experience surveys and other sources called administrative data (Hayes & Makkai, 2015). Firstly, crime first needs to be categorised into types of crime that is classified under the Australian and New Zealand Standard Offence Classification (Hayes & Makkai, 2015). Only the main and select few offences are reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in collecting annual reported crimes (Hayes & Makkai, 2015). Through ABS, it collects crime data in different ways such as crime reports, victimisations surveys, administrative data (higher courts, magistrates and policing agendas etc.,) and self-reports (Hayes & Makkai, 2015). Crime reports measure crimes such as homicide, robbery, rape, assault and more but is collected through police jurisdictions (Reid, 2012). The strength of crime reports provides additional information such as arrests, charges, officers assaults and characteristics of homicide victims (Reid, 2012). This helps to measure crime more effectively through gaining descriptions and knowledge of identifying crime and criminal behaviour more accurately (Reid, 2012). Administrative data is often helpful in collating data of sentences and jail sentences but fails to collect the ‘dark figure’ of crime (Hayes & Makkai, 2015). National Crime Victimisation Surveys (NCVS)

Weatherburn, Matka and Land (1996) reported that there is a extensive difference between the actual levels of violent crime within society and societies observations about the nature of this crime. In Australia, within the period of 1990 to 2007, the rate (per 100,000 population) of homicide incidents decreased from 1.9 in 1990-91 to 1.3, in 2006-07 (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2012) despite the public’s perception of a crime increase. This study found there were several inconsistencies between the crime television reported and the crime that actually occurred within society. Very serious crimes such as homicides, abductions, armed robbery and sieges were over-represented in the news reports. Children and the elderly were over-represented

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

In the criminal justice profession, there is a huge number of different populations. Each will have needs that will vary from population to population. Different populations can vary in size, gender, ethnic background, etc. Today we will focus on three populations which include victims of sexual violence, communities below the poverty line, and communities that are primarily comprised of people who speak little to no English. As a criminal justice professional, you will have to have the ability to identify specific needs of each population and handle these needs in the appropriate manner.

In the UK females hold over half the population but yet have always played a lesser role in crime statistics. This has been a pattern seen throughout the last century with statistics, the criminal justice system and crime remaining male dominated. This

reported that in 2006 the number of inmates in state and federal prisons increased to over

These offences are categorized into 3 different crime categories which are crimes towards a person, towards property, or towards society, which in year 2012 there were 64.8% property crimes (causing harm to property/a location), 23.2% crimes against a person (causing harm to a person), and 12% crimes against society( not necessarily hurting the society but putting in danger people’s lives and the surroundings of the community). Group A handles all the major crimes and keeps closer track of the statistics depending on each offense. The report takes note of every single data provided for them, if no data was available for the situation being reported the system puts in a probable answer, for better results. (Investigation F. B., National Based Reporting System,

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.

During this essay, I will be discussing recorded crime statistics and victimisation surveys as they are our primary techniques of measuring levels and trends of crime. After briefly explaining what is meant by these terms, I will seek to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses in order to question the extent to which they are reliable resources that provide us with accurate information.

Data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) from 2013/2014 have been used. The CSEW is a face-to-face survey asking households about their perception and experience of crime in the 12 months preceding the interview. The information at my disposal are part of a special unrestricted access teaching dataset produced by the UK Data Archive. Out of a sample of 35,371 households chosen in England and Wales for the actual survey, I had access to a 25% sample of 8,843 households. Representative of households were chosen through the Postcode Address File which excludes aggregative accommodation such as residential halls and prisons.