Chapter 2

1. Chapter 2 The Nature and Extent of Crime

2. 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)

3. 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

4. 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

5. How Criminologists Study Crime • Weblink: http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm

6. 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

7. 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)

8. 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)

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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 Slide-30

25. 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”

26. 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

27. 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

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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

31. 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

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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

35. 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

36. 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

37. 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

38. 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

39. 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

40. 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

41. 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)