Crime Stats - Deviance and Social Control - Lecture Slides, Slides of Sociology of Deviance

Download Crime Stats - Deviance and Social Control - Lecture Slides and more Slides Sociology of Deviance in PDF only on Docsity! Crime Statistics docsity.com 2 It’s difficult to quantify deviance. • Sources of Response Bias: – Mistrust of official representatives – Social desirability bias – Financial motivation • Difficulty in finding respondents (Rs) – Lack of contact info – Decentralization of deviants • Wariness of funding sources • Rs’ misunderstanding of survey instruments docsity.com The Utility of Crime Rates Crime rates are more than just numbers. Political Uses Campaign fodder Indications of social inequities Economic Impacts Symbolic Uses docsity.com Sources of Crime Statistics Uniform Criminal Reports (UCR) AKA “official statistics” Police-gathered National in scope Critiques of UCR Low rates of reporting Flaws in police recording Usefulness of UCR Consistency Gauge of police activity docsity.com More Sources of Crime Stats Victimization Surveys Uncover unreported crimes and reporting rates Very high completion rates (in US) Flaws- - Not national in scope in Canada BRely on victim’s memory and interpretation Self-Report Surveys In principle, perhaps the most effective way of tabulating crime- including victimless and white-collar crimes But lots of practical problems... docsity.com