"

Measuring Crime

Three measure cups in a row: a small yellow one, a medium blue one, and a large green one
Figure 2.1. Unfortunately, measuring crime is not as easy as getting out our measuring cups, nor is it always helpful to compare communities’ crime in terms of “a little crime,” “more crime,” and “the most crime.” In this chapter, we will explore the ways we attempt to measure criminal behavior and the factors that can make comparisons challenging.

Contents of This Chapter:

  1. Chapter Introduction
    1. Learning Objectives
    2. Key Terms
    3. Licenses and Attributions for Chapter Introduction
      1. Open Content, Original
      2. Open Content, Shared Previously
  2. Current Crime Categories
    1. Check Your Knowledge
    2. Licenses and Attributions for Current Crime Categories
      1. Open Content, Original
  3. Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Report
    1. Activity: Local Crime Rates
    2. National Incident-Based Reporting System
    3. Hate Crime Statistics Data Collection
    4. Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted
    5. National Use-of-Force Data Collection
    6. Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection
    7. Limitations and Challenges
    8. Learn More: Examples of What the Data Really Tells Us
    9. Check Your Knowledge
    10. Licenses and Attributions for Sources of Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Report
      1. Open Content, Original
      2. All Rights Reserved Content
  4. Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Victimization Survey
    1. Challenges and Limitations
    2. Check Your Knowledge
    3. Licenses and Attributions for Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Victimization Survey
      1. Open Content, Original
      2. Open Content, Shared Previously
  5. The Dark Figure of Crime
    1. Why Crimes Go Unreported
    2. Activity: Janell and Martin
    3. Which Data Should We Use?
    4. Check Your Knowledge
    5. Licenses and Attributions for the Dark Figure of Crime
      1. Open Content, Original
      2. All Rights Reserved Content
  6. Misusing Crime Statistics
    1. Learn More: The Myth of the Super-Predator
    2. Check Your Knowledge
    3. Licenses and Attributions for Misusing Crime Statistics
      1. Open Content, Original
      2. Open Content, Shared Previously
  7. Conclusion
    1. Chapter Summary
    2. Discussion Questions and Supplemental Resources
      1. Discussion Questions
      2. Supplemental Resources
    3. Licenses and Attributions for Conclusion
      1. Open Content, Original
  8. References

How to Navigate this Book Online

Table of Contents

Every page of this book has a button labeled CONTENTS. In most browsers, this button will be in the upper left corner. You can click anywhere on that button to show the book’s table of contents. Clicking the button again hides the table of contents.

In the table of contents, you can click on a title of a chapter to navigate to the beginning of that chapter.

You can also click on the “+” in the table of contents to see the chapter’s sections and navigate directly to that place in the book.

Turning a Page

If you’re reading on a larger screen, look at the bottom of the page. There is a button in the lower right corner labeled “Next →” that you can click to move forward, and another button in the lower left corner labeled “← Previous” that you can click to move backward.

Reading on Smaller Screens

On smaller screens, like phones and tablets, the CONTENTS are at the top of the page. Look for the Previous and Next buttons at either the top or bottom of the page.

2

License

Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Introduction to Criminology: An Equity Lens Copyright © by Jessica René Peterson and Taryn VanderPyl is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book