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"...this is as good and as readily understandable on the subject of crime statistics as you are ever likely to find." -New Law Journal
Product Description
* What are the main ways of acquiring numerical information about crime and offenders?
* How can we understand this information and avoid the various pitfalls of interpretation?
* What does the evidence tell us about the relationships between offending and age, sex, race, class, unemployment, and trends in crime over the years?
This clear and practical text breathes life into an essential subject that students have at times found uninspiring. It provides a guide to crime data for those with little background in the subject and at the same time, it will provide a source of reference for more experienced researchers. The authors have, for example, minimized as far as possible the presentation of detailed figures and complicated tables, but they have not avoided some of the more difficult issues that arise in interpreting and using such data.
Understanding Crime Data begins by locating the study and use of crime data within the theoretical and historical development of criminology, a subject that has long been haunted by the dark figure of hidden crime and offenders. Readers are guided through the development, limitations and uses of the three main sources of numerical crime data, and selected key issues in the interpretation of crime data are examined.
The characteristics of offenders are discussed with reference to the key variables of age, sex, race and class, and the difficulties involved in interpreting long and short term trends in the crime rate are highlighted. The authors assess what crime data can tell us about the relationships between crime and unemployment, and they conclude the book with their personal evaluation and prognosis of the field.
Understanding Crime Data is a well structured text for students of criminology, and it includes annotated further reading, lists of basic concepts, and a glossary for ease of reference. It will also have considerable appeal to professionals in criminal justice, probation and social work.
* How can we understand this information and avoid the various pitfalls of interpretation?
* What does the evidence tell us about the relationships between offending and age, sex, race, class, unemployment, and trends in crime over the years?
This clear and practical text breathes life into an essential subject that students have at times found uninspiring. It provides a guide to crime data for those with little background in the subject and at the same time, it will provide a source of reference for more experienced researchers. The authors have, for example, minimized as far as possible the presentation of detailed figures and complicated tables, but they have not avoided some of the more difficult issues that arise in interpreting and using such data.
Understanding Crime Data begins by locating the study and use of crime data within the theoretical and historical development of criminology, a subject that has long been haunted by the dark figure of hidden crime and offenders. Readers are guided through the development, limitations and uses of the three main sources of numerical crime data, and selected key issues in the interpretation of crime data are examined.
The characteristics of offenders are discussed with reference to the key variables of age, sex, race and class, and the difficulties involved in interpreting long and short term trends in the crime rate are highlighted. The authors assess what crime data can tell us about the relationships between crime and unemployment, and they conclude the book with their personal evaluation and prognosis of the field.
Understanding Crime Data is a well structured text for students of criminology, and it includes annotated further reading, lists of basic concepts, and a glossary for ease of reference. It will also have considerable appeal to professionals in criminal justice, probation and social work.
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First Sentence
David Garland (1994) has argued that the discipline of criminology developed from, and continues to be influenced by, two rather different projects, the 'governmental' and the 'Lombrosian'. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
David Garland (1994) has argued that the discipline of criminology developed from, and continues to be influenced by, two rather different projects, the 'governmental' and the 'Lombrosian'. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Dr J Moynihan provides a thoughtful narrative and introduction into the social construction of crime data in the UK and the USA. Traditionally great store has been placed in crime statistics. Indeed, many a poltical campaign and a policy has been underscored by the widespread acceptance of such data, and the trends it purports to illustrate. However, if such data is faulty, as this book suggests (convincingly) then this has profound implications for the criminal justice sytsem. Beyond this, we must link this text to the wider literature from the Glasgow University Media Group, concerning the manipulation of the media, and hence of the electorates consciousness. The book begins by outlining the classic theory of crime statistics, and their construction. However, in a series of entertaining (!) and insightful chapters, we are introduced to the deep flaws which underlay the creation of such data. In order to understand, and study criminology, it is essential to be fluent with the weaknesses that underlay the data. This is especially true in the US context, where policy is created, and maintained, by reference to easily manipulated 'facts'. Lives are spent in prison, or even lost, as a result of policies founded on lies. On a cheerier note, the book is littered with numerous references to Bob Dylan, that social critic and iconoclast who has criticised contemporary culture from his bus. I recomend this book to readers of social science, social policy, and communication studies.
Format:Paperback
I had an essay in my first year of Uni about the dark figure of crime. I was lucky enough to find this book in the library, I took it home with me and sat there for the rest of the night doing my essay. Fantastic book for looking up useful statistics and other information. Also not to big and bulky to carry around and with not too much information you have to wade through to get to what you want. When I got my essay back I had a pass, so can't complain. Would recommend if you have an essay on the subject or just for some general background reading. May be worth buying as they are hard to come by around essay deadlines.
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