Chapter 3

The Nature and Extent of Crime

Criminology: Theories, Practices and

Typologies 8/e
By
Larry J. Siegel

Slides prepared by:

Larry Bassi, SUNY Brockport

© 2004 Wadsworth Publishing Co.

Methods of Measuring Crime

Official Data

Victim Data

Self-report Data
 Uniform Crime Reports

Based on Crimes Reported to the Police

Based on a population unit of 100,000 people

Number of Report Crimes x 100,000 = Rate per 100,000
Total U.S. Population

Divided into two representative

categories: Indexed and non-Indexed
Categories counted differently

Many problems with accuracy

 Uniform Crime Reports

• Indexed Crimes
Violent – Criminal Homicide
Crime – Forcible Rape
– Robbery
– Aggravated assault
– Burglary
– Larceny/theft Non-violent
– Motor vehicle theft Crime
– Arson
• Non-Indexed Crimes
– All others
Problems With The Uniform Crime
Reports

• Experts agree that

there are many
problems with the
accuracy of the Uniform
Crime Reports due to:
– Reporting practices
– Methodological
problems
 The Future of the Uniform Crime
Reports

• National Incident-Based Reporting System

(NIBRS)
• Maintained by the F.B.I.
• Twenty-two crime categories
• More information on each crime in each
category
• Data compiled based on incidents, not
arrests.
 Crime Victim Surveys

1. Asks victims about their encounters with

criminals
2. Uses sampling techniques
3. May also describe people most at risk
4. Potential measurement problems include:
Over and Under reporting
Sampling errors
Inadequate question format
Inability to record activity
 Self Reported Crime

• Participants reveal information about their violations

of the law
• Helps to get at “Dark Figure of Crime”
• Supplement and expand official data
• Validity and reliability better than expected by many
• Accuracy for chronic offenders and drug abusers
may be limited
 Self-Report Surveys

• Most often a survey

is administered to a
group
• Most are
anonymous
• Numerous questions
exist about survey
reliability and validity
Figure 3.2 Self-Report Survey
Questions
Dark Figure of Crime

A ship’s captain can

only see that part of an
iceberg that is above the
water. Likewise, the
public only sees visible,
or reported crime. The
dark figure of crime is
that which the public does
not see.
 Unreported Crime

National Crime Victim Surveys finds that many crimes go

unreported to the police

Less than half of all violent crime

1/3 of personal thefts reported

Half of household thefts are reported

 Explaining Crime Trends

Some of the important

critical factors that have
been used to explain the
puzzle of crime rate trends.

• Age • Gangs
• The economy • Drugs
• Social malaise
• Media
• Abortion
• Justice Policy
• Guns
Figure 3.3 Crime Rate Trends
 Current Crime Trends

• Final data released by the FBI's Uniform Crime

Reporting (UCR) Program in the annual publication
Crime in the United States, 2001 indicate that:
– The estimated 11.8 million Crime Index offenses (murder,
rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft,
and motor vehicle theft) in the Nation in 2001 represented
a 2.1-percent increase over the 2000 estimate, the first
year-to-year increase since 1991.
 Trends in Violent Crime

• Estimated violent crime in 2001 rose 0.8

percent over 2000 estimates.
– Estimated aggravated assault volumes
decreased 0.5-percent from 2000 data
– Robberies increased 3.7 percent, murders rose
2.5 percent
– Forcible rapes increased 0.3 percent in volume
 Trends in Property Crime

Estimated property crimes were up 2.3

percent over 2000 estimates. Motor vehicle
thefts increased 5.7 percent, burglaries rose
2.9 percent, and larceny-thefts increased 1.5
percent.
 Self Reported Criminal Activity Trends and
Victimizations

• Data indicates that the number of people who

break the law is far greater than official statistics
• Offenders seem to engage in a “mixed bag” of
crime and deviance
• The decline in victimizations parallels changes in
the official crime rates.
Figure 3.5 Victimization Rate Trends,
1973-2000
 Crime Patterns

Are there any main traits and patterns in crime

statistics that can help us understand the causes?

Social class
Ecology
Gender
Age
Race
 Guns and Crime

• What relationship exists between the

availability of guns and the number of guns
used in crimes?
• What would it take to “control guns” as a
crime control measure, yet “maintain our right
to bear arms” as guaranteed in the
constitution?
 Social Class and Crime

• Expressive Crime • Instrumental Crime

These crimes provide a
means of expressing one’s
rage, frustration and anger
against society. Rape and
assault are thought to be
such crimes
These crime may provide
the resources to obtain
desired goods and services
through conventional
means
Figure 3.6 The Relationship between
Temperature and Crime
 Age and Crime

• Regardless of economic
status, marital status, race,
and sex, younger people
commit crime more often
than their older peers;
research indicates this
relationship has been
stable across time periods
ranging from 1935 to the
present
 Gender and Crime

• All data sets support the

theory that male crime rates
are much higher than those
of females. What accounts
for female crime?
– Masculinity hypothesis
– Chivalry hypothesis
– Socialization and
development
Longitudinal Birth Cohort Research

Research that tracks an identifiable

group of individuals over a long period
of time. What are some of the advantages
of this kind of research? Disadvantages?
 The “Chronic 6%”

After following a birth cohort of 9,945 boys

born in Philadelphia in 1945, Wolfgang and
his associates found that 6% of the total sample
were responsible for 51.9% of all offenses.
These were referred to as chronic offenders or
career criminals. Similar research has resulted
in similar findings.
 Continuity of Crime

The cohort follow-ups clearly show that

chronic juvenile offenders continue their
law-violating careers as adults.
 Implications of the Chronic Offender
Concept

• Traditional theories of criminal behavior have

failed to distinguish between chronic and
occasional offenders.
– Why do some continue on in crime while others
do not?
• If we can identify chronic offenders, what
should we do about them before and/or after
they commit an offense?