Chapter 2
The Nature and Extent of Crime
How Criminologists Study Crime
•
Survey Research
 Self-report surveys and interviews
 Victimization surveys
 Sampling (selection process)
 Population (sharing of similar characteristics)
 Cross-sectional research (representative of all society)
How Criminologists Study Crime
•
Cohort Research: Longitudinal and retrospective
 Cohort involves observing a group of people who share similar
characteristics
 Following cohorts is expensive and time consuming
 Examination of school, police, and courts records
How Criminologists Study Crime
•
Official Record Research
 Criminologists use the records of government agencies to study
crime
 The Uniform Crime Report (UCR) data is collected by local law
enforcement agencies and published yearly by the FBI
 Census Bureau data used for information about income
How Criminologists Study Crime
•
Weblink:
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm
How Criminologists Study Crime
•
Experimental Research
 Manipulation and intervention techniques
 Three elements: (1) random selection, (2) control group, and (3)
experimental condition
 Criminological experiments are rare due to expense and ethical
concerns
How Criminologists Study Crime
•
Observational and Interview Research
 Commonly focuses on a few subjects for study
 In-depth interviews to gain insight into a behavior
 Field participation (Whyte’s Street Corner Society)
How Criminologists Study Crime
•
Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review
 Meta-analysis involves gathering data from previous studies
 Grouped data provides powerful indication of relationships
between variables
 Systematic review involves collecting and synthesizing evidence
to address a particular scientific question (street lighting and
crime)
Measuring Crime Trends and Rates
•
Official Data: The Uniform Crime Report (UCR)
 More than 17,000 police agencies contribute records
 Index Crimes (Part I)
• Murder
• Non-negligent manslaughter
• Forcible rape
• Robbery
• Aggravated assault
• Burglary
• Larceny
• Arson
• Motor vehicle theft
 Non-Index Crime (Part II)
• All other crimes
• Does not include traffic offenses
CNN Clip - Sims City or Sin City
Measuring Crime Trends and Rates
•
Compiling the Uniform Crime Report
 Each month law enforcement agencies report index crimes
 Unfounded or false reports are to be eliminated from the actual
count
 Each month law enforcement agencies report the number of
crimes cleared (by arrest or exceptional means)
 Slightly more than 20 percent of all reported index crimes are
cleared by arrest each year
 Victim crimes are more likely to be solved than property
Figure 2.1 Index Crimes Cleared by Arrest, 2003
Measuring Crime Trends and Rates
•
Uniform Crime Reports Validity
 Reporting practices:
• Some victims do not report serious crimes
• Some victims do not trust police
• Some thinks it is useless to report crime
• Victims may fear reprisals
 Less than 40 percent of all crime is reported to police
Measuring Crime Trends and Rates
•
Law enforcement practices:
• Departments may loosely define crimes (trespass and
burglary)
• Arrests may only be counted after formal booking
• Deliberate alterations due to image concerns
• Better record keeping processes can artificially inflate
crime rates
Measuring Crime Trends and Rates
•
Methodological Issues:
• No federal crimes are reported
• Reports are voluntary
• Not all departments submit reports
• The FBI uses estimates in its total projections
• Multiple crime offenders are frequently counted as one
crime
• Each act is listed as a single offense (robbing of six
people in one incident)
• Incomplete acts are lumped together will completed
ones
• Differences in definitions of crime between FBI and
states
Measuring Crime Trends and Rates
•
National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)
 Result of a five-year redesign effort
 Collects data on each reported incident
 Expands the categories of UCR to 46 specific offenses
 Currently, 22 states have implemented NIBRS
Measuring Crime Trends and Rates
•
Victim Surveys: National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)
 Attempts to measure crime unreported to police by surveying
victims
 Utilizes at large nationally representative sample
 People are asked to report their victimization experiences
 In 2002, the NCVS estimates about 247,000 rapes or attempted
rapes occurred compared to about 90,000 per UCR estimates
Measuring Crime Trends and Rates
•
Validity of the NCVS
 Overreporting due to victim’s misinterpretations
 Underreporting due to embarrassment
 Inability to record the criminal activity of those interviewed
 Sampling errors
 Inadequate question formats
Measuring Crime Trends and Rates
•
Self Report Surveys
 Attempts to measure the “dark figures” of crime
 Most focus on youth crime due to school setting
 Self-reports suggest the number of people who break the law is
greater than projected by official statistics
 Self-reports dispute the notion that people specialize in one type
of crime
 Most common offenses are truancy, alcohol abuse, shoplifting,
larceny under $50, fighting, marijuana use, and property damage
Measuring Crime Trends and Rates
•
Validity of Self-Reports
 People may exaggerate or forget their criminal acts
 Some surveys may contain an overabundance of trivial offenses
 Missing cases is also a concern when students refuse to
participate in the survey
 Institutionalized youth are generally not included in self-report
surveys
 Reporting differences may exist between racial, ethnic, and
gender groups
Figure 2.2 Self-Report Survey Questions
Measuring Crime Trends and Rates
•
Evaluating Crime Data Sources
 Each source has its strengths and weaknesses
 The FBI survey contains number and characteristics of people
arrested
 The NCVS includes unreported crimes and personal
characteristics of victims
 Self-report surveys provide information about offenders
 The crime patterns of each are often quite similar in their tallies of
crime
Crime Trends
•
Overall crime rates have been declining since 1991
 In 2003 about 11.8 million crimes were reported to police
 Teenage criminality has also been in decline during this period
Figure 2.3 Crime Trends
Crime Trends
•
Trends in Violent Crime
 Violent crime rates have decreased about 11 percent between
1997 and 2002
 Preliminary data indicates another 3 percent decline between
2002 and 2003
 Homicide rates peaked around 1930, then held steady at about 5
per 100,000 population from 1950 through the mid-1960s, then
rose to 10.2 per 100,000 population in 1991
 Between 1991 and 2000 homicide rates dropped to about 5.5 per
100,000 population
 New York reported a decline of more than 50 percent in their
murder rates
Figure 2.4 Homocide Rate Trends, 1900-2003
Crime Trends
•
Trends in Property Crime
 In 2002, about 10.4 million property crimes were reported at a
rate of 3,650 per 100,000 population
 Property crime rates have decreased, though not as dramatic as
violent crime rates
 Between 1992 and 2002 the property crime rate declined about
26 percent
Crime Trends
•
Trends in Victimization Data (NCVS Findings)
 According to the NCVS, in 2002 about 23 million U.S. residents
experienced violent and property victimizations
 The downward trend represents the lowest number of criminal
victimizations since 1973
 Between 1993 and 2002 the violent crime rate has decreased 54
percent and the property crime rate decreased 50 percent
Crime Trends
•
Self-Report Findings
 The use drugs and alcohol increased markedly in the 1970s,
leveled off in the 1980s, began to increase in the mid-1990s and
began to decline after 1997
 Self report surveys suggest the crime problem with teenagers
could be greater than the FBI data reveals
 Crimes of theft and violence may be more stable than the trends
reported in the UCR arrest data
Figure 2.5 Violent Crime Trends, 1973-2006
Figure 2.6 Property Crime Trends, 1973-2006
Crime Trends
•
What the Future Holds
 James A. Fox predicts a significant increase in teen violence due
to the age makeup of the population
 Steven Levitt argues that keeping large numbers of people in
prison and adding more police will reduce crime rates
 Darrell Steffensmeier and Miles Harper suggest a more moderate
increase in crime due to “baby boomers”
Crime Patterns
•
The Ecology of Crime
 Day, season, and climate:
• Most crime occurs during warm months since people spend
more time outdoors and teenagers are out of school
• Murder and robbery tend to occur more during December and
January
• Crime rates are higher on the first day of the month due to
arrival of subsidy and retirement checks
 Temperature:
• Rising temperatures increase crime rates to a point (about 85
degrees)
 Regional differences:
• Large urban areas experience more violence than rural areas
• The West and South consistently have higher crime rates than
the Midwest or Northeast
Figure 2.7 The Relationship Between Temperature and Crime
Figure 2.8 Regional Crime Rates, 2002
Crime Patterns
•
Use of Firearms
 Involved in about 20 percent of robberies. 10 percent of assaults,
and 5 percent of rapes, according to the NCVS
 In 2002, UCRs report about two-thirds of all murder involved
firearms
 Franklin Zimring and Gordon Hawkins contend the use of
handguns is the single most factor that separates the crime
problem from the rest of the developed world
 By contrast, Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz suggest handguns may
be a deterrent to crime
Crime Patterns
•
Social Class and Crime
 Crime is thought to be a lower-class phenomenon
 Instrumental crimes refer to those designed to improve the
financial or social position of the criminal
 Expressive crimes refer to criminal acts committed due to anger,
frustration, or rage
 Victimization rates are higher for those in inner-city, high-poverty
areas than those in suburban and wealthier areas
Crime Patterns
•
Class and Self-Reports
 Early self-report studies did not find a direct relationship between
social class and crime
 Official processing was determined by socioeconomic class
 Some criminologists challenge the contention that crime in
primarily a lower-class phenomenon
Crime Patterns
•
The Crime-Class Controversy
 The associate between class and crime is complex
 Class may affect some groups more than others (women and
African Americans)
 The true crime-class relationship may be obscured because its
impact varies within and between groups
Crime Patterns
•
Does Class Matter?
 Recent evidence suggest crime is more prevalent among the
lower classes
 Income inequality, poverty, and resource deprivation are all
associated with the most serious violent crimes
 Deprived residents may turn to criminal behavior to relieve their
frustrations
Crime Patterns
•
Age and Crime
 Age is inversely related to crime
 Younger people commit more crime than older people
 Youth ages 13 to 17 account for about 25 percent of all index
crime arrests and about 17 percent of arrests for all crimes
 Generally, 16 is the peak age for property crimes and 18 is the
peak age for violent crimes
Figure 2.9 Relationships Between Age and Serious Crime Arrests
Crime Patterns
•
Aging Out of Crime
 People commit less crime as they age
• Peak in adolescent criminal activity can be linked to:
• Reduction in supervision
• An increase in social and academic demands
• Participation in a larger, more diverse social world
• An increased desire for adult privileges
• A reduced ability of cope in a legitimate manner and increased
incentives to solve problems in a criminal manner
 Younger people tend to discount the future
 Marriage may be a desisting factor in criminality
Crime Patterns
•
Gender and Crime
 Males commit more crime than females
 Overall, 3.5 males to 1 female
 For serious offenses; 5 males to 1 female
 For murder; 8 males to 1 female
Table 2.2 High School Seniors Admitting to at Least One Offense
Crime Patterns
•
Traits and Temperament
 Lombroso explained gender differences through the masculinity
hypothesis suggesting a few females commit the majority of
crimes by women
 Chivalry hypothesis suggests the culture is protective of women
and masks the true criminality of women
 Some criminologists have linked differences in crime rates to
hormonal changes between men and women
Crime Patterns
•
Socialization and Development
 Some suggest females are socialized into criminality through
alienation at home
 Females are more closely guarded than boys
 Some contend girls have cognitive traits that shield them from
criminal behaviors
Crime Patterns
•
Feminist View
 Feminist argue that women experience lower crime rates
reflected in a “second class” position controlled largely by males
 Some suggested crime rates of males and females would
converge
 Is convergence likely?
• Some argue the emancipation of women has little effect on
female crime rates
• Many females come from a socioeconomic class least
affected by the women’s movement
• Offense patterns of women are still quite different than those
of men
Crime Patterns
•
Race and Crime
 Minority group members are involved in a disproportionate
amount of crime
 African Americans account for about 38 percent of violent crime
arrests and 30 percent of property crime arrests, while making up
about 12 percent of the population
 Self-reports contend minorities are more likely to be arrested and
not necessarily more prone to crime than Whites
Crime Patterns
•
Racism and Discrimination
 Criminologists suggest Black crime is a function of socialization
 Institutional racism results in African American males being
treated more harshly by the criminal justice system (social
dynamite)
 African Americans experience higher unemployment rates and
lower incomes than Whites
 Blacks are exposed to more violence than Whites
 Family dissolution his higher among African Americans than
Whites
Crime Patterns
•
Criminal Careers
 A small group of criminal offenders account for a majority of all
criminal offenses
 Delinquency in a Birth Cohort by Wolfgang, Figlio, and Sellin,
1972
 The cohort data indicated that 54 percent were repeat offenders
 6 percent of the repeat offenders were chronic and responsible
for over 51 percent of all the crime committed by the cohort group
 Children exposed to a variety of personal and social problems at
an early age are the most at risk to repeat offending
Crime Patterns
•
Persistence: The Continuity of Crime
 Those who start a delinquent career early are more likely to
persist as adults
 Youthful offenders are more likely to abuse alcohol, have lower
aspirations, get divorced, and have a weak employment record
 Apprehension and punishment have little effect on chronic youth
offenders
 Implications of chronic offending suggest individuals may possess
a trait which is responsible for their behavior
 Chronic offenders have become a central focus of crime policy
(three-strikes and mandatory sentences)