"Reporting Crimes to the Police: The Status of World Research." Journal of Research
in Crime and Delinquency, 21 (May, 1984), pp.113-137.
Since the mid-1960s there has been a great deal of interest around the world in the use of sample surveys of
the general population to study crime. The advantages of doing so have been discussed in detail many times
(National Research Council, 1976l Biderman, 1967). Crime surveys have been conducted in many nations, a
practice that is continuing despite their heavy costs. Large-scale national surveys have been conducted in the
United States, the Netherlands, Australia, Great Britain, and Sweden. Smaller but regular national studies
have been carried out in the rest of Scandinavia, and there has been a national survey in Spain. There have
been large surveys of victimization in individual cities in Germany, Switzerland, and England. Canada has
completed very large studies of seven major cities, including two surveys of Vancouver, and the Israeli
Census Bureau has added victimization questions to a national survey. In addition, small but useful city
studies have been conducted in Mexico, Columbia, Israel, and Belgium. The four islands that make up the
Dutch Antilles also have been surveyed. The findings of these surveys have accumulated to the point where it
is possible to perceive cross-national regularities – or clear inconsistencies–in what they reveal.
in Crime and Delinquency, 21 (May, 1984), pp.113-137.
Since the mid-1960s there has been a great deal of interest around the world in the use of sample surveys of
the general population to study crime. The advantages of doing so have been discussed in detail many times
(National Research Council, 1976l Biderman, 1967). Crime surveys have been conducted in many nations, a
practice that is continuing despite their heavy costs. Large-scale national surveys have been conducted in the
United States, the Netherlands, Australia, Great Britain, and Sweden. Smaller but regular national studies
have been carried out in the rest of Scandinavia, and there has been a national survey in Spain. There have
been large surveys of victimization in individual cities in Germany, Switzerland, and England. Canada has
completed very large studies of seven major cities, including two surveys of Vancouver, and the Israeli
Census Bureau has added victimization questions to a national survey. In addition, small but useful city
studies have been conducted in Mexico, Columbia, Israel, and Belgium. The four islands that make up the
Dutch Antilles also have been surveyed. The findings of these surveys have accumulated to the point where it
is possible to perceive cross-national regularities – or clear inconsistencies–in what they reveal.
Comparing Measures of Crime: Police Statistics and Survey Estimates of Citizen
Victimization in American Cities. Proceedings of the American Statistical Association,
Social Statistics Section, 1974.
The growing use of sample surveys to measure the volume and distribution of crime in the United States will
provide social scientists and police administrators with valuable new data with which to test their theories and
plan crime-reduction programs. One use of the surveys has been to compare them to official statistics.
Reports released by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration have stirred public interest by their
contrast with police figures on crime and the type summarized in the FBI’s yearly Uniform Crime Report. Such
comparisons inevitably reveal wide gaps between rates registered by the two sources. This type of analysis
has been encouraged by the government’s decision to calculate UCR-compatible figures from citizen surveys,
although this is perhaps the least useful application of the data. Survey and police crime-measurement
procedure produce different figures, but the reasons for this and its implications require analysis. A
discussion of how survey and official crime statistics differ and why we obtain these discrepancies may clarify
both their comparability and their individual interpretation, and it may speak to their improvement in the future.
There is a detailed discussion of the crime measurement process on both the police and survey sides of the
comparisons.
Victimization in American Cities. Proceedings of the American Statistical Association,
Social Statistics Section, 1974.
The growing use of sample surveys to measure the volume and distribution of crime in the United States will
provide social scientists and police administrators with valuable new data with which to test their theories and
plan crime-reduction programs. One use of the surveys has been to compare them to official statistics.
Reports released by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration have stirred public interest by their
contrast with police figures on crime and the type summarized in the FBI’s yearly Uniform Crime Report. Such
comparisons inevitably reveal wide gaps between rates registered by the two sources. This type of analysis
has been encouraged by the government’s decision to calculate UCR-compatible figures from citizen surveys,
although this is perhaps the least useful application of the data. Survey and police crime-measurement
procedure produce different figures, but the reasons for this and its implications require analysis. A
discussion of how survey and official crime statistics differ and why we obtain these discrepancies may clarify
both their comparability and their individual interpretation, and it may speak to their improvement in the future.
There is a detailed discussion of the crime measurement process on both the police and survey sides of the
comparisons.
Crime Reporting
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