Explain the advantages and disadvantages of three significant methods used to measure the nature and extent of crime. Do you think any method is better than the others? How could you use all three in concert with each other?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The UCR is the best known and most widely cited source of aggregate criminal statistics. It tallies and annually publishes a number of reported offenses by city, county, standard metropolitan statistical area, and geographical divisions of the United States. It also shows numbers and characteristics of individuals arrested for Part I and non-index Part II crimes, except traffic violations. It is not an accurate measure of crime on its own as it uses the hierarchy rule, where it takes the most serious offense of every group of crime reported. It also records only reported crimes and might not form an accurate estimate of all crimes across the country. The NCVS asks crime victims about their encounters with criminals. It is the most important and widely used victim survey and is considered largely unbiased and provides a good estimate of crime. However, validity issues include overreporting, underreporting, inability to record personal criminal activity of those interviewed, sampling errors, and inadequate question format. Self-report surveys allow participants to reveal information about their violations and have focused mostly on juvenile delinquency and youth crime. Critics suggest that it is unreasonable to expect people to candidly admit illegal acts, that some people forget, exaggerate, or are confused about illegal acts, and that serious chronic offenders are unlikely to participate or be truthful. Because each method takes a different angle and captures different types of crime, the three could be taken together to form a more comprehensive picture of crime trends than one on its own. Student answers will vary if they think any methods are better than others.