CRIM10001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Victimisation, Participant Observation, Intellectual Disability
15 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
CRIM 10001 - Lecture 2a
Measuring crime & theories of crime causation
Measuring crime
Official
• Police statistics – bulk of statistics are gathered and released annually by police
• Court and correctional statistics
• Other institutional data (e.g. drug tests of arrestees, hospital admissions)
o E.g. Aus Institute of Criminology
• Victimisation surveys – asking people if they have been victims of crime previously
Unofficial
• Self-report data – focus on people who admit to committing offences
• Observation
• Participant observation
None of these are perfect – they all have problems
How much crime is there?
Depends on:
• Definitions of crime
• Accuracy of data gathering techniques
• Community cooperation – people may not report to police
• What is actually measured (reporting rates; conviction rates; sentencing options)
Always adopt a critical stance when it comes to someone asserting how much crime occurs
• It is almost impossible to measure how much is occurring
Perspectives and criminological theories
• There are diverse and contradictory theories regarding crime
Questions and assumptions of human and social nature
Is human behaviour determined of freely willed?
• The classical perspective → The free-acting agent
Vs.
• The Positivist perspective → idividuals ehaviour is deteried y fores ore or
less beyond their control
Are people influenced by internal or external forces?
If behaviour is determined, what are the major determining factors?
• Internal → biological/genetic, psychological
Vs.
• External → social structures, economic strain, disorganised communities
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Official: police statistics bulk of statistics are gathered and released annually by police, court and correctional statistics, other institutional data (e. g. drug tests of arrestees, hospital admissions, e. g. Aus institute of criminology: victimisation surveys asking people if they have been victims of crime previously. Unofficial: self-report data focus on people who admit to committing offences, observation, participant observation. None of these are perfect they all have problems. Depends on: definitions of crime, accuracy of data gathering techniques, community cooperation people may not report to police, what is actually measured (reporting rates; conviction rates; sentencing options) Always adopt a critical stance when it comes to someone asserting how much crime occurs. It is almost impossible to measure how much is occurring. Perspectives and criminological theories: there are diverse and contradictory theories regarding crime. Questions and assumptions of human and social nature. Is human behaviour determined of freely willed: the classical perspective the free-acting agent.
