Constructing Images of Crime

Crime… “it is everywhere”- in 1992 62% took precautionary measures

Crime DataHow much crime is there?What are the patterns and trends in crime?Who commits crime?What is the nature of criminality?… make up the study of criminology--- try to be objective in answering

Purpose of Crime DataAnother sub-area of the criminological enterprisewe try to generate reliable and valid dataFIVE key purposes:1. Descriptive; 2. Explanation;3. Program evaluation;4. Risk assessment, and 5. Prediction.

www.ecriccanada.com/geoprof.htm

Kim Rossmo and “geoprofiling” (Box 3.3)… descriptive to prediction… hi-tech crime fighting strategy… integrates theory and practice… reduce false positivesEthic concerns?!Future implications (DNA, forensics, satellite tracking, etc.)

The “looking glasses of crime”

Defining:Actual crimeOfficial crimeDark figure

Official Sources.. . Huff ’54: secret language of statistics“reality is merely an appearance of something more real”

Police DataAlthough NOT the first, today the most frequently used form of official dataAddress the ‘dark figure’UCR

History1962 and standardizationSummary vs. indictable offences

Judicial DataFrance and Compte General in 1825The work of Guerry and QueteletCanada began collection 1876Role of the CCJS

Growth of Legal Aid vs. court costsExamine sentencing lengths

Correctional DataEnglish prison data as early as 1836Demographic and socio-economic informationFrom Prison Statistics to CCJSFederal vs. Provincial dataInfo re incarceration rates, expenditures, inmate profiles, etc.

The limits of Official Data

Data reflect official responses to social behaviours as defined by the Criminal CodeCrime Funnel (Table 3-4)Suggestive rather than declarative“artificial fluctuation”…Public interest, police enforcement practices, recording procedures…

Crime rates drop 6th year - ‘98

WHY?Linden ‘96: “just getting too old”Foot ‘96: shift in demographicsRAT: shift in opportunityif demographic can predict… how use in policy???

To calculate crime rates:

# of reported crimes

R/100 000= ----------------X 100 000 total population!! Census ever 10 years, mini 5 yrs.reported vs. charges

Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics

History: 1974-1981… a need for a central information collection and dissemination centre1981 – Juristat BulletinsYet limitations… no uniform court data, limited insight in crime and criminal behaviour, nothing on white collar crime, organized crime, & victimless crimes

See Box 3.6CCJS continues to evolveCCJS a primary source of official dataQuality of data improving but theoretical foundation still lackingRelevance of unofficial sources

Victimization Data

Pioneers Ezzat Fattah, Hans Hentig, and Stephen Schafer… all European heritageoverlooked in N.A. until recentlyOBJECTIVES:measure extent and distribution of selected crimesimpact; risk of victimization; indicators of CJ functioning

GSS ‘88, ‘93, ’98 (Box 3.7)CUVS ‘81-’88 (Box 3.8A)VAWS ’96 (Box 3.8B)

Left Realism and Feminist T

ICVS… Jan van Dijk (NL) 17 to 54 countries participateCaution: !sampling, questions, memory, urban, types of crime…

Self-Report DataThorsten Sellin ‘31… 1st to suggest importancepragmatic approach to enumerationfocus groups diverse BUT young offenders

males, urban, property crimes, illuminate the ‘dark figure’

Methodological issues…comparabilitystandardizationdifferent interestshonestytrust interviewerdeep sense of guiltexaggerate

BUT, many improvementsDeKeseredy and abuse; Farrington & youth; corporate crime

Observational Proceduresfield research

data directlyimpression and first handface validityHumphrey and “tearoom” (Verstehen, symbolic interactionism )

Types: non-participant & participanttriangulation…

convergence-discriminant validitydark figureResearch methodology and epistemology

Objectives and PurposeCorrelates of crime

Cause vs. probability

DiscoveryDemonstrationRefutationPredictionRESEARCH METHODOLOGY - theory

SummaryDescribe and evaluate the four main methods of gathering and interpreting dataeach has strengths and weaknesseschoice depends on resources and objectivescriminologists take ‘sides’…Need for integration and interdisciplinary

See you next class...