CRIM 335 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1 (part 2) : Homicide, Embezzlement, National Crime Victimization Survey
30 May 2017
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Concentrates on the victims of the crime. Select thousands of households: anyone over 12yrs old is interviewed about crime that occurred, interviewed every 6 months. Able to address the dark figure of crime by talking to the witnesses about crimes that they never reported to the police. Weakness: the ncvs leaves out crime that happens to (1) the homeless and (2) to young children under age 12 two huge groups that it misses. Telescoping: the human tendency to perceive events as having occurred more recently than they actually did. Individuals report (either in a written survey or interview) the extent of their own past criminal offending or victimization and other information. Huge lack of a long-term, systematic study that can be used to estimate national crime rates huge weakness. **the most important aspect of self-reporting surveys is that they are the only available source of data for determining the social and psychological reasons people commit crimes.
