SOC 1500 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Steven Levitt, General Social Survey, Clearance Rate
2 Aug 2013
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
When a crime is committed, the victim reports it to the police, the media picks up on it, the public finds out and politicians feel the need to do something. Almost a cycle that repeats itself: do news reports encourage police to crack down, methodological practices, how are the crimes counted, how do police decide if a crime is founded. Self report surveys: people report their own criminal activities anonymously, usually quite accurate, but not always the case. Problems include: lying, forgetting, bragging, people not wanting to admit their crime. Not feeling the need to do so: used with captive audience (ex. Students, prisoners: emphasis is on minor offences, ex. drug and alcohol use, are the most deviant least likely to respond, ex. Missing cases are people who can make up a significant portion of the population. This is the third source of crime data used and surveys people if they have ever been victims in a crime.
