Appendix B

Axia College Material
Appendix B

Statistics

UCR and Self-Report Data

Complete the matrix below. To complete this matrix, list two pros and two cons of Uniform Crime Report (UCR) data and two pros and two cons of self-report data.

|Statistical Information |Pros |Cons |
|Official Information: |FBI Releases Preliminary Annual Crime Statistics for 2009 |Self-report studies have many advantages, but they also | |
|Uniform Crime Report (UCR)| |suffer from specific disadvantages due to the way that | |
| |Washington, D.C. May 24, 2010 |subjects generally behave. Self-reported answers may be | |
| |Department of Justice [phone] |exaggerated; respondents may be too embarrassed to reveal| |
| | |private details; various biases may affect the results, | |
| |— filed under: |like . Subjects may also forget pertinent details. | |
| |Preliminary 2009 statistics indicate that violent crime in the |It is also possible for results to be biased by a lack of| |
| |nation decreased 5.5 percent and property crime declined 4.9 percent|respondents, if there are systematic differences between | |
| |when compared with data from 2008, according to the FBI’s |people who respond and people who do not. Care must be | |
| |Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report, which was released today. |taken to avoid biases due to interviewers and their | |
| |Data in the report came from 13,237 law enforcement agencies that |demand characteristics. | |
| |submitted six to 12 months of data in both 2008 and 2009. |--------------2nd part the unofficial | |
| |Violent Crime | | |
| |All four violent crime offenses—murder and not negligent |Respondents are more likely to stop participating mid-way| |
| |manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated |through the survey (drop-offs). | |
| |assault—declined nationwide in 2009 when compared with 2008 data. |Respondents cannot ask for clarification. | |
| |Robbery murder decreased 7.2 percent, aggravated assault declined |Low response rate in some modes. | |
| |4.2 percent, and forcible rape decreased 3.1 percent. |Often respondents returning survey represent extremes of | |
| |Violence fell in all city groupings. The most decrease, 7.5 percent,|the population - skewed responses (consequence of low | |
| |Violent crime declined 4.0 percent in the nation’s metropolitan |response rates). | |
| |counties and 3.0 percent in nonmetropolitan |Allows shy respondents to answer sensitive questions in | |
| |Cities with 25,000 to 49,999 inhabitants were the only city |private. | |
| |population group to report an increase in the percentage of murders,|No interviewer intervention available for probing or | |
| |5.3 percent. Forcible rape trends dropped in all cities growth |explanation. | |
| |groups. The largest decrease was 7.3 percent in cities of less than |Respondents can read the whole questionnaire before | |
| |10,000 residents. Metropolitan counties reported a 3.7 percent |answering any questions. | |
| |decline in the number of rapes, 0.3 All population groups reported |Free of interviewer bias. | |
| |decreases in the volume of robbery in 2009. Of the city groups, | | |
| |cities with populations of 100,000 to 249,999 had the largest | | |
| |decrease at 10.3 percent. Metropolitan counties reported a 6.7 | | |
| |percent drop in robberies; 0.7 | | |
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|Unofficial Information: | |The goal of self-report research is to construct a |
|Self-Report Data |The number of aggravated assaults declined in all population groups,|measure of delinquency identical to the measure of |
| |with cities of 500,000 to 999,999 inhabitants reporting a 6.3 |delinquency explicit in official definitions and implicit|
| |percent decrease. Aggravated assaults declined 3.7 percent in |in official procedures, but without the omissions, |
| |nonmetropolitan counties and 3.0% |mistakes, and biases of official measurement (Identical |
| | |concept) |
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Web Resources

Identify one Web resource of official information and one Web resource of unofficial information about the occurrence of delinquency in the United States. Copy and paste the URL addresses into the spaces provided.

Official Information

URL of Web site : www.fbi.gov/ucr/prelimsem2009/index.html en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_statistics

Name of Web site: www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm

Unofficial Information

URL of Web site: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self_report_study

Name of Web site: Wikipedia.com Self repot Groves, R.M. 1989. Survey Errors and Survey Costs Wiley. ISBN 0471611719