Crime Data Sources

1
Crime Data Sources

• Police reports, victimization, and self-report
  data

2
Sellins Dictum

• The value of a crime for index purposes
  decreases as the distance from the crime itself
  in terms of procedure increasesThorsten
  Sellin, 1931

3
Sources of Crime Statistics

• Uniform Crime Reports (UCR)
• National Crime Victimization Surveys (NCVS)
• Self-Report Data (SRD)

4
Uniform Crime ReportsPart 1 Offenses

• Serious illegal acts that occur with sufficient
  frequency to provide an adequate basis for
  comparison

5
Crimes Not Included in the UCR Part 1 Crime Index

• Reason they do not come to the attention of
  police often enough.

6
Becoming a UCR Crime Statistic

• Step 1
• Step 2
• Police must decide
• Step 3
• Step 4

7
Reporting Crimes to the Police

• People are MORE likely to report if
• People are LESS likely to report if

8
Officer Discretion

• Officer discretion influenced by offense and
  offender characteristics

9
Recording of Crimes by Police

• Characteristics of the offense
• Characteristics of offender
• Characteristics of the victim

10
Strengths of the UCR

• National
• Permits comparisons
• Links to other sources

11
Weaknesses of the UCR

• Street crimes
• Reactive crime reporting by citizens
• Officer discretion
• Susceptible to political pressure to over or
  under-report

12
The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)

• Conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Census every 6
  months, households remain up to 3 years

13
Self-Report Data

• Unofficial statistics
• Gets at the dark figure of crime
• Provides information on causes of crime from
  offenders perspective

14
Ethical Issues in Self-Report Studies of Violent
Crime

• Exchange confidentiality for honesty
• Ask subjects not to talk about planned violence