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Three sources of crime data
lecture notes on crime data
Course
Introduction to Criminology (CRM1300)
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Students shared 429 documents in this course
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University of Ottawa
Academic year: 2023/2024
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three sources of crime data
- official statistics
- victimization surveys
- self-report surveys Official Statistics
- Data collected by LEAs Typically collected by local police departments, complied and aggregated at the federal level, and made available to the public
- In Canada, the Canadian Centre for justice statistics has the mandate to collect national data
- Police-recorded crime statistics in Canada, 2021
- over 2 million police-reported criminal code incidents in 2021, representing a 1% increase in 2020
- nationally, there were 788 homicides, 29 more than the previous year, representing a 3% increase
- Violent crime rate increased by 5% compared to 2020
- Hate crimes increased 27% over 2020 or 72% over 2019
- property crime rate decreased by 1% compared to 2020 LIMITATIONS
- only captures a fraction of the so-called 'dark figure' of crime: crime that remains unreported, unrecorded
- Are generally offence - rather than offender - or victim-focused
- Only covers a limited range of crimes
- Not all LEAs participate: it's voluntary
- Variations between police departments in recording and enforcement practices
- Police departments manipulating and falsifying data. _ Sexual assault: the most underreported crime Johnson (2012): 8% of victims of sexual assault in Canada report the crime to the police Common reasons cited by victims of sexual violence: >out in the open for friends and family >feelings of shame and embarrassment > skepticism, doubt, and blame for provoking the attack > lack of evidence; he said/ she said case, perpetrator unknown >police won't take her complaint seriously >feeling of life on hold until trial >perpetrator is powerful; and high status > pay legal fees if lose > re-victimization in court Police decide to respond
- Even if the police are called, they must decide to respond > may not consider the event a police matter
>may not have the available resources >may consider the incidents too trivial Decision to write report
- Even if the police respond when called, they have to decide to write a report > may use their discretion and simply issue a warning, confiscate illicit goods, or interrupt some escalating activity > may find insufficient evidence to confirm that an incident took place may >judge that the matter has already been resolved >victim may refuse to press charges The Crime Funnel
- A model indicating that the actual total quantity of crime is much higher than the decreasing proportion that is detected, reported, prosecuted and punished. The CJS operates as a funnel
- only a portion of incidents result in a police record of a criminal incident
- only a portion of recorded incidents result in suspects identified
- only a portion of suspects are arrested or charged
- only a portion of charges result in a conviction
- only a portion of convictions result in incarceration Victimization Surveys
- Interview a sample of a population and ask them questions about their experience of criminal victimization
- Typical survey will ask whether participants have been victims of a crime and if so to:
- Describe the nature and consequences of the experience
- indicate whether they or others brought the incident to official attention
- describe the criminal justice response
- describe how they were affected by the experience STRENGTHS
- Largely overcomes the non-reporting and non-recording problems associated with official statistics
- Helps estimate the gap between reported and unreported crime] > generally captures 3-5 times more crimes than captured by official means Limitations Not all types of crimes are captured
- murder victims cannot participate
- victimless crimes can't be included
- does not cover businesses
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Three sources of crime data
Course: Introduction to Criminology (CRM1300)
429 Documents
Students shared 429 documents in this course
University: University of Ottawa
Was this document helpful?
three sources of crime data
- official statistics
- victimization surveys
- self-report surveys
Official Statistics
- Data collected by LEAs
Typically collected by local police departments, complied and aggregated at the federal level, and made
available to the public
- In Canada, the Canadian Centre for justice statistics has the mandate to
collect national data
- Police-recorded crime statistics in Canada, 2021
- over 2 million police-reported criminal code incidents in 2021, representing a 1% increase in 2020
- nationally, there were 788 homicides, 29 more than the previous year, representing a 3% increase
- Violent crime rate increased by 5% compared to 2020
- Hate crimes increased 27% over 2020 or 72% over 2019
- property crime rate decreased by 1% compared to 2020
LIMITATIONS
- only captures a fraction of the so-called 'dark figure' of crime: crime that remains unreported,
unrecorded
- Are generally offence - rather than offender - or victim-focused
- Only covers a limited range of crimes
- Not all LEAs participate: it's voluntary
- Variations between police departments in recording and enforcement practices
- Police departments manipulating and falsifying data.
_ Sexual assault: the most underreported crime
Johnson (2012): 8% of victims of sexual assault in Canada report the crime to the police
Common reasons cited by victims of sexual violence:
>out in the open for friends and family
>feelings of shame and embarrassment
> skepticism, doubt, and blame for provoking the attack
> lack of evidence; he said/ she said case, perpetrator unknown
>police won't take her complaint seriously
>feeling of life on hold until trial
>perpetrator is powerful; and high status
> pay legal fees if lose
> re-victimization in court
Police decide to respond
- Even if the police are called, they must decide to respond
> may not consider the event a police matter
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