Department of Criminal Justice California State University - Bakersfield CRJU 100 Introduction to Criminal Justice Dr. Abu-Lughod, Reem Ali

The Nature & Measurement of Crime

Conceptualizing crime:  Different categories of crime: 1. Crimes against person (1. interpersonal disputes, “victim precipitation”, 2. instrumental violence, 3. group violence…gangs, 4. chronic violent offenders, Ted Bundy, 5. Political violence, 6. rape & sexual assault, 7. Robbery) 2. Crimes against property (burglary, theft, larceny)

3. Crimes against public order (offending others)  Intensity of crime committed, and the escalation of an offense from a minor to a more serious offense    1.

2.

3.

HOW DO WE MEASURE CRIME? Reported versus unreported crimes, and the “dark figure of crime” Why some do not report crime: Trivial A “criminal” victim reciprocal Sports (heat of competition)

UNIFORM CRIME REPORTS (UCR)

   

Seriousness of the offense Errors: intentional and non-intentional Part I & Part II crimes The Hierarchy Rule NIBRS

  

Info on all crimes, serious and non-serious Group A and group B offenses Place/time of crime , BUT: requires more resources to be invested in data collection, skills, personnel, very detailed

VICTIMIZATION SURVEY  Asking victims about their experiences  Self report data  Random samples  Except in homicide and corporate FOUR GENERATIONS OF VS 1960s-present, focuses not only on the victim but what can be done to aid these victims, used CATI to decrease personnel costs, coding info for consistency

SELF REPORT DATA/STUDIES         People asked to report crime Exaggerate Focuses on delinquency Anonymous Over-reported/underreported Generalizations to large populations, probability theory to draw a representative sample 2 techniques used: 1) questionnaire 2) getting at the dark figure of crime BUT: clarity of questions

PROBLEM WITH DIFFERENCE MEASURE OF CRIME: 1) 2) 3) 4) Corporate Organized Drug sales Prostitution and gambling Q: should we still strive for data collection

FEAR OF CRIME:      Allocation of resources Victims of street crimes Quality of life How has society responded to “fear” Knowing our neighbors???

   1.

2.

3.

Joel Best in his

Random Violence

Perception of crime and quality of life 3 problems of random violence Patternlessness Pointlessness Deterioration of social order