More handpicked essays just for you.
Weaknesses in official crime stats
Source and limitations of crime statistics
Weaknesses in official crime stats
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Weaknesses in official crime stats
Many people are reluctant to report all types of crimes for a multitude of reasons. Non-reported crime is coined as the dark figure of crime. This can be dangerous as well as misinterpretation by statistics because not only does the offender get to walk free and continue but statistics about crime are usually from police departments and agencies that use formal complaints. The dark figure of crime contains so much more data that the general public is unaware of especially with the most underreported crime, rape.
There are many factors that play into reporting a crime for the victim. Being scared that the offender will retaliate because of the report as well as being embarrassed to even admit the crime had occurred can play into the victim’s
A strong example of this would be the recent exploits at the Woodstock 99 music festival.
In contemporary society, there are various methodologies for collecting data (Linden 2012). That being said, there are pros and cons to each that are based on reliability and validity; where reliability is consistency of the statistics, and validity is a measure of how accurate the results are in accordance with the research topic. This ties in with how this paper will explore the Uniform Crime Report system (UCR); a measure of crime that is used the most. UCR statistics reflect the crimes that are reported to the police throughout the country. victimization and self-report surveys, which are statistics that reinforce the findings revealed by the UCR, will also be explored. Lastly, the issue of media coverage of crime news will be examined.
In a study done by The Journal of Clinical Psychology, “the primary reason for not reporting seemed to combine a type of guilt with embarrassment.” With the help of utilizing support groups, clubs, and other programs among college campuses that are designed to make the victim’s experience a little easier, the victims may not feel as embarrassed to come out and may feel safer in their decision to move forward with their case. One of the most notable effects of rape is the psychological impact that it has on the victim immediately as well as long-term. Many victims feel depression, anxiety, and other sudden onset mental illnesses as a result of their attack and can last for years post-attack. The Journal of Interpersonal Violence reported that in their study of 95 victims over a 12 week long period, “by 3 months post-crime 47% still met the full criteria for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.” This prolonged experience of emotional trauma can weaken the person’s overall mental wellbeing and cause the trauma to stick with them for the rest of their lives, especially if there are no support resources around them. As cited in the Journal of Clinical Psychology study previously, the number one reason for not reporting is the feeling of embarrassment which causes the victims to not talk about their experience and to shut out those around
These reports are sponsored by the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigations. Even though the Uniform Crime Reports represent a significant amount of crime in the United States, it is not completely accurate. The reports do not distinguish between attempted crimes and completed crimes and are based on reports made by citizens to the police (Rodrigo R. Soares, 2004, 851). Some victims do not always make reports and even if they do they are not always accurate.
This would be true by way of the fact that people are not reporting these crimes
Crime has always been around in the community. The way crime has been measured and defined has changed over the centuries. The FBI collects data from all the police agencies all over the United States, and puts all the data in the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) which has all the crimes committed for decades; however, a lot of crimes are not always reported, so the Uniform Crime Report may not be as accurate as possible. The Measurement of crime will never be the same as earlier in life because our government, and police agencies has improved over the centuries which will make the measurement of crime not as harsh as it was back in the early 1900’s. The measurement of crime will continue to evolve as our government does.
Crime occurs everywhere around the world, it is something that is inevitable and sadly cannot be stopped from occurring in our everyday life. There are various tools that give us statistics on crime that have occurred, one of those various tools is the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). The NCVS is an essential source of information on victims being victimized by criminals. Most of the time many of these crimes that occurred do get reported and some don't. The NCVS not only obtains information on any type of assault, but it also obtains crimes that have occurred in someone's household (arson, burglary..) NCVS is a self-report survey
Crimes that are not being accounted for are the result of victims not having trust in the system to come forward or
...lly relies mostly on the media for their information regarding crimes in their neighborhoods. The media tends to only broadcast certain information about these occurrences in an attempt to boost the ratings for the news station. The public doesn't get an unbiased opinion of what actually occurred or a chance to know all of the facts. In reality, crimes that are reported are only a fraction of what in fact occurs. Crime statistics do not actually reflect patterns in crime or a risk of victimization and are of little or no use to the public in determining the crime rates for any given neighborhood. Since crime statistics only represent reported crime and not actual crime occurrences they should never be considered exact at any time. Statistical information is available upon request from the government and should only be considered an estimate of the true crime rates.
In chapter 2 this article discusses The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and its issues with accurate reporting. It explains how the NCVS is one of the oldest and largest crime victimization studies to date. Also, the NCVS is used widely throughout the United States as a reference point on statistics on crime and crime victimization. The NCVS methods on these surveys are conducting interviews both in person and over the phone of those who have reported being a victim of a crime. This article explains the errors that come along with
In the 20 elements victims are given several options on how they want to tell their story, and they can control when and how they do it. The second theme was people want the authorities to be neutral. For example, victims do not want to be judged or blamed. A major problem with reporting sexual assaults for victims is they often get or feel blamed for the assault. Research by Elliot, Thomas, and Ogloff (2012) also gave insight that non-blaming attitudes on the part of the police are deemed to be important to
Violent crimes are rare. For every 1,000 people, there is less than one percent of crime. There is also a two percent instance of property crimes in Apex, per 1,000 people.
As I combed through the violent crime data for my area, I realized there is a lot of discrepancies and unreported crimes. I started to think why would there be so much unreported crimes and I realize a few things: 1) law enforcement agencies do not take it seriously to report crimes to the Uniform Crime Reports 2) many victims do not report their crimes and 3) crime reporting needs to be uniformed and mandatory. The violent crime statistics in my area are quite alarming and yet shocking.
When asked about crime, my immediate thought is ‘devastating’. It can be devastating to everyone in the situation; not only to the victim but also to the victimizer. Families and loved ones can also be affected. Crime can be detrimental to the physical exterior and on the mental state. Crime can cause a never ending cycle of trauma, violence, and hostility. It all begins with one person being wronged. There is only so much a person can take before all their hurt turns into anger; an emotion that is hard to contain for most people. Their past experiences negatively fuel their present actions. Thus, crime is established. These actions of violence and abuse can not be undone but they can be learned from.