Measuring Crime
- LAST REVIEWED: 01 November 2017
- LAST MODIFIED: 14 December 2009
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195396607-0057
- LAST REVIEWED: 01 November 2017
- LAST MODIFIED: 14 December 2009
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195396607-0057
Introduction
The measurement of crime is an important topic, but it is frequently overlooked by criminologists. This slight is unfortunate, since accurate crime data are needed to adequately test theories of offending and victimization as well as to assess the effectiveness of public policies. The three main sources of crime data include official reports from the police, surveys of victims, and self-reports from offenders. Much of the work assessing how crime is measured focuses on data collected in the United States. Studies of US crime data and its measurement likely have broad applicability since US systems such as its National Crime Victimization Survey have served as the model for data collection efforts in other countries.
General Overviews
Although crime measurement has not garnered a great deal of widespread attention, several good overviews exist that both discuss the issues surrounding measuring crime as well as describe the available data sources. Although these texts typically focus on crime measurement in the United States, the concerns raised are more broadly applicable, since data-collection efforts in the United States have served as a model for other countries. A classic study in this area is Biderman and Lynch 1991, an examination of crime measurement in the context of divergence, or why police and victimization data might not tell comparable stories about crime trends. This work was updated and expanded by Lynch and Addington 2007, which includes chapters that examine new efforts to measure crime by police sources and victimization surveys. Both volumes are well suited for graduate students, graduate seminar classes, and researchers looking for a solid overview of police and victimization data. For advanced undergraduate students, graduate students and researchers new to the area, Mosher, et al. 2002 offers a clear overview to the topic and summarizes the current measurement issues. The edited volume by Duffee, et al. 2000 provides another excellent overview to measurement issues. This volume is easily accessible for graduate students and researchers. The chapters provide thorough reviews of topics, including measuring crime using victimization and self-report offender surveys as well as measuring particular crimes such as sexual assault.
Biderman, Albert D., and James P. Lynch. 1991. Understanding crime incidence statistics: Why the UCR diverges from the NCS. New York: Springer-Verlag.
A thoughtful and thorough, if slightly dated, review and synthesis of the measurement issues involving data from police reports and victimization surveys. Recommended for graduate students and researchers.
Duffee, David, David McDowall, Lorraine Green Mazerolle, and Stephen D. Mastrofski. 2000. Criminal Justice 2000: Measurement and analysis of crime and justice, Vol. 4. Washington, DC: United States Department of Justice.
Edited volume contains several excellent chapters that thoroughly address topics of measuring crime through victimization surveys and self-report offender surveys. Includes specialized topics such as measuring sexual assault and fear of crime. Recommended for graduate students and researchers. Available online.
Lynch, James P., and Lynn A. Addington. 2007. Understanding crime statistics: Revisiting the divergence of the NCVS and UCR. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Update and expansion of Biderman and Lynch 1991. Edited volume includes chapters describing data sources and sources of divergence between data from police records and victimization surveys. Recommended for graduate students and researchers.
Mosher, Clayton, Terance D. Miethe, and Dretha M. Phillips. 2002. The mismeasure of crime. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Covers all three sources of crime data (police records, victimization surveys, and self-report offender surveys). Includes critiques of these data and how these problems have led to the “mismeasure” of crime. Recommended for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers new to the area.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Active Offender Research
- Adverse Childhood Experiences
- Aging Prison Population, The
- Airport and Airline Security
- Alcohol and Drug Prohibition
- Alcohol Use, Policy and Crime
- Alt-Right Gangs and White Power Youth Groups
- Animals, Crimes Against
- Anomie
- Arson
- Bail and Pretrial Detention
- Biosocial Criminology
- Blackmail
- Black's Theory of Law and Social Control
- Blumstein, Alfred
- Boot Camps and Shock Incarceration Programs
- Burglary, Residential
- Bystander Intervention
- Capital Punishment
- Chicago School of Criminology, The
- Child Maltreatment
- Chinese Triad Society
- Civil Protection Orders
- Collateral Consequences of Felony Conviction and Imprisonm...
- Collective Efficacy
- Commercial and Bank Robbery
- Communicating Scientific Findings in the Courtroom
- Community Change and Crime
- Community Corrections
- Community Disadvantage and Crime
- Community-Based Justice Systems
- Comparative Criminal Justice Systems
- CompStat Models of Police Performance Management
- Confessions, False and Coerced
- Contextual Analysis of Crime
- Control Balance Theory
- Convict Criminology
- Corporate Crime
- Costs of Crime and Justice
- Courts, Problem-Solving
- Crime and Justice in Latin America
- Crime Control Policy
- Crime Control, Politics of
- Crime, (In)Security, and Islam
- Crime Prevention, Delinquency and
- Crime Prevention, Situational
- Crime Trends
- Crime Victims' Rights Movement
- Criminal Career Research
- Criminal Decision Making, Emotions in
- Criminal Justice Data Sources
- Criminal Justice Ethics
- Criminal Justice Reform, Politics of
- Criminal Justice System, Discretion in the
- Criminal Records
- Criminal Retaliation
- Criminal Talk
- Criminology and Political Science
- Criminology of Genocide, The
- Critical Criminology
- Cross-National Crime
- Cultural Criminology
- Cultural Theories
- Cybercrime
- Cycle of Violence
- Desistance
- Deterrence
- Developmental and Life-Course Criminology
- Digital Piracy
- Driving and Traffic Offenses
- Drug Control
- Drug Courts
- Drug Trafficking, International
- Drugs and Crime
- Electronically Monitored Home Confinement
- Employee Theft
- Environmental Crime and Justice
- Experimental Criminology
- Family Violence
- Fear of Crime and Perceived Risk
- Felon Disenfranchisement
- Femicide
- Feminist Theories
- Feminist Victimization Theories
- Fencing and Stolen Goods Markets
- Firearms and Violence
- Forensic Science
- Fraud
- Gangs, Peers, and Co-offending
- Gender and Crime
- General Opportunity Victimization Theories
- Genetics, Environment, and Crime
- Green Criminology
- Harm Reduction and Risky Behaviors
- Hate Crime
- Hate Crime Legislation
- Healthcare Fraud
- Hirschi, Travis
- History of Crime in the United Kingdom
- History of Criminology
- Homelessness and Crime
- Homicide
- Homicide Victimization
- Honor Cultures and Violence
- Hot Spots Policing
- Human Rights
- Human Trafficking
- Identity Theft
- Immigration, Crime, and Justice
- Incarceration, Mass
- Incarceration, Public Health Effects of
- Income Tax Evasion
- Institutional Anomie Theory
- Integrated Theory
- Interpersonal Violence, Historical Patterns of
- Interrogation
- Intimate Partner Violence, Criminological Perspectives on
- Intimate Partner Violence, Police Responses to
- Investigation, Criminal
- Juvenile Delinquency
- Juvenile Justice System, The
- Kidnapping
- Kornhauser, Ruth Rosner
- Labeling Theory
- Labor Markets and Crime
- Land Use and Crime
- Lead and Crime
- Legitimacy
- LGBTQ Intimate Partner Violence
- Local Institutions and Neighborhood Crime
- Lombroso, Cesare
- Mandatory Minimum Sentencing
- Mapping and Spatial Analysis of Crime, The
- Mass Media, Crime, and Justice
- Measuring Crime
- Mediation and Dispute Resolution Programs
- Mental Health and Crime
- Mental Health Courts
- Meta-analysis in Criminology
- Middle-Class Crime and Criminality
- Migrant Detention and Incarceration
- Money Laundering
- Motor Vehicle Theft
- Narrative Criminology
- National Deviancy Symposia, The
- Nature Versus Nurture
- Neighborhood Disorder
- Neutralization Theory
- New Penology, The
- Offender Decision-Making and Motivation
- Offense Specialization/Expertise
- Organized Crime
- Panel Methods in Criminology
- Peacemaking Criminology
- Peer Networks and Delinquency
- Performance Measurement and Accountability Systems
- Personality and Trait Theories of Crime
- Persons with a Mental Illness, Police Encounters with
- Phenomenological Theories of Crime
- Plea Bargaining
- Poaching
- Police Administration
- Police Cooperation, International
- Police Effectiveness
- Police History
- Police Militarization
- Police Misconduct
- Police, Race and the
- Police Use of Force
- Police, Violence against the
- Policing and Law Enforcement
- Policing, Broken Windows
- Policing, Community and Problem-Oriented
- Policing Cybercrime
- Policing, Evidence-Based
- Policing, Intelligence-Led
- Policing, Privatization of
- Policing, Proactive
- Policing, School
- Policing, Third Party
- Polyvictimization
- Prison Education Exchange Programs
- Prison Gangs and Subculture
- Prison History
- Prison Labor
- Prison Visitation
- Prisoner Reentry
- Prisons and Jails
- Procedural Justice
- Property Crime
- Prosecution and Courts
- Prostitution
- Psychiatry, Psychology, and Crime: Historical and Current ...
- Psychology and Crime
- Public Criminology
- Public Opinion, Crime and Justice
- Public Order Crimes
- Public Social Control and Neighborhood Crime
- Punishment Justification and Goals
- Qualitative Methods in Criminology
- Queer Criminology
- Race, Ethnicity, Crime, and Justice
- Racial Threat Hypothesis
- Racial Profiling
- Rape and Sexual Assault
- Rape, Fear of
- Rational Choice Theories
- Rehabilitation
- Religion and Crime
- Restorative Justice
- Risk Assessment
- Routine Activity Theories
- School Bullying
- School Crime and Violence
- Seasonality and Crime
- Self-Control, The General Theory:
- Self-Report Crime Surveys
- Sentencing Enhancements
- Sentencing Guidelines
- Sentencing Policy
- Sex Crimes
- Sex Offender Policies and Legislation
- Sex Trafficking
- Sexual Revictimization
- Situational Action Theory
- Snitching and Use of Criminal Informants
- Social and Intellectual Context of Criminology, The
- Social Construction of Crime, The
- Social Control of Tobacco Use
- Social Control Theory
- Social Disorganization
- Social Ecology of Crime
- Social Learning Theory
- Social Networks
- Social Threat and Social Control
- Solitary Confinement
- South Africa, Crime and Justice in
- Sport Mega-Events Security
- Stalking and Harassment
- State Crime
- State Dependence and Population Heterogeneity in Theories ...
- Strain Theories
- Street Code
- Street Robbery
- Substance Use and Abuse
- Surveillance, Public and Private
- Sutherland, Edwin H.
- Technology and the Criminal Justice System
- Technology, Criminal Use of
- Terrorism
- Terrorism and Hate Crime
- Terrorism, Criminological Explanations for
- Testimony, Eyewitness
- Therapeutic Jurisprudence
- Trajectory Methods in Criminology
- Transnational Crime
- Truth-In-Sentencing
- Urban Politics and Crime
- US War on Terrorism, Legal Perspectives on the
- Victimization, Adolescent
- Victimization, Biosocial Theories of
- Victimization Patterns and Trends
- Victimization, Repeat
- Victimization, Vicarious and Related Forms of Secondary Tr...
- Victimless Crime
- Victim-Offender Overlap, The
- Violence Against Women
- Violence, Youth
- Violent Crime
- White-Collar Crime
- Wilson, James Q.
- Women, Girls, and Reentry
- Wrongful Conviction