Deck 2: The Measurement of Crime

Question 1

The word statistics derives from the seventeenth-century English term state-istics which referred to the

A) census bureau's compilation of information regarding the quality of life.
B) officially gathered counts of births, deaths, and marriages.
C) department of human services trends on state expenditures.
D) president's economic forecast for the upcoming fiscal year.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

The use of statistics within criminology began with

A) Quetelet's use of natural science procedures.
B) Descartes' observations of the natural world.
C) Copernicus' discovery that the earth orbits the sun.
D) Columbus' explorations into the Western Hemisphere.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Who compiles the Unified Crime Reporting statistics (UCR)?

A) Local police departments and state officials.
B) The Bureau of Justice Statistics.
C) The FBI.
D) Academic criminologists at "Research 1" schools.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The UCR was originally established in

A) 1964.
B) 1987.
C) 1979.
D) 1930.

Question 5

The UCR provides information on

A) four violent street crimes offenses.
B) four property crime offenses.
C) victimization rates per 100,000 people.
D) both a and b above

Question 6

In addition to murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, the most "serious" UCR crimes include

A) rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson.
B) rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft.
C) robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson.
D) rape, robbery, simple assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson.

Question 7

Where are murder rates highest according to the UCR?

A) The murder rate is higher in rural areas than urban areas.
B) The murder rate is higher in urban areas than rural areas.
C) Murder rates are highest in the South, and lowest in the West.
D) Murder rates vary dramatically from year to year, making it impossible to track such trends.

Question 8

How does the NIBRS compare to the UCR?

A) Because the NIBRS is superior it will replace the UCR.

Question 9

Criticism of the UCR include(s)

A) unreported crimes, or the "dark figure" of crime.
B) voluntary reporting by police and the potential for manipulation.
C) the fact that only the most serious offense is recorded when more than one crime occurs.
D) all of the above.

Question 10

Which of the following is not a criticism of the UCR?

A) It relies on the legalistic definition of crime.

Question 11

Which of the following does a better job of estimating the "dark figure" of crime?

A) The UCR.
B) The NCVS.
C) Unofficial measures of crime.
D) Official measures of crime.

Question 12

Which of the following is NOT necessary for a crime to be reported in the UCR?

A) Someone must perceive an event as criminal.
B) Someone must alert the police, who must then agree that it is criminal.
C) The report must be reviewed by the offender for accuracy.
D) The police must code the event on the proper UCR form and submit the report to the FBI.

Question 13

Philip Jenkins' research using homicide data from the UCR indicates how easily manipulated data can be used to create an "epidemic" in

A) forcible rape.
B) burglary.
C) serial murder.
D) manslaughter.

Question 14

Donald Black's research indicates that several conditions must be met in order for an event to be filed and submitted to the UCR by the police. Those conditions do NOT include

A) the seriousness of the crime or the social status of the complainant.
B) the complainant's preference for resolution or his or her demeanor toward the police.
C) the relational distance between the offender and the complainant.
D) the ethnic identity of the victim.

Question 15

Which type of hate crime bias is most common according to the UCR?

A) religion and ethnicity
B) sexual orientation
C) disability
D) race

Question 16

Victimization data allows analysts to estimate how much crime exists that is

A) not reported to the police.
B) frivolous.
C) committed for fun and games.
D) redundant with those reported to the police.

Question 17

The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) was established in _____, in order to provide a more accurate view of crime in the United States.

A) 1962
B) 1972
C) 1982
D) 1992

Question 18

How often are NCVS participants interviewed?

A) Once per year.
B) Twice per year.
C) Three times per year.
D) Four times per year.

Question 19

The UCR and the NCVS differ in several respects. Most importantly,

A) the UCR estimates the rate of criminal acts reported to the police, whereas the NCVS estimates the amount of personal victimizations annually.
B) the NCVS allows estimates for the "dark figure" of crime, while the UCR does not.
C) the NCVS interviews actual victims, whereas the UCR takes only the perspective of the police into consideration.
D) All of the above are important differences between these two sources of crime data.

Question 20

Major findings from the NCVS show that

A) except for homicide and motor vehicle theft, less than half of all victimizations are reported to the police.
B) crime victimization rates have been increasing significantly over the last two decades.
C) perpetrators are becoming increasingly vicious in their offending.
D) victims are entirely satisfied with the criminal justice system's response to their needs.

Question 21

Problems with the NCVS have included a time-in-sample bias, which is when respondents

A) are victimized repeatedly over the course of their participation.
B) become paranoid about "stranger danger" and insist that everyone is out to get them.
C) become overly vigilant about crime and take greater precautions for themselves thereby producing a reduced crime victimization trend.
D) become experts on crime just by participating.

Question 22

A major change in the NCVS since 1992 is that the surveys are now ____________, which means that they deal with changing rates over a longer period of time.

A) collaterally conducted
B) longitudinal
C) attitudinal
D) latitudinal

Question 23

Neither the UCR nor the NCVS compile statistics on

A) homicide.
B) burglary.
C) corporate crime.
D) arrest rates.

Question 24

Official sources of data for corporate crime are usually found in different federal agencies, such as

A) the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
B) the National Labor Relations Board, and the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor.
C) the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Food and Drug Administration.
D) all of the above

Question 25

Self-report studies provide

A) police-based data.
B) offender-based data.
C) victim-based data.
D) incident-based data.

Question 26

Self-report studies generally ask respondents about their own criminal behavior, and do so with the promise of

A) confidentiality.
B) anonymity.
C) absolution.
D) precision.

Question 27

Austin Porterfield's pioneering research, published in 1946, is a good example of the utility of self-report studies. It showed that

A) despite claims to the contrary, boys and girls offend in a similar manner.
B) regarding class status, middle-class and working-class respondents had similar offending patterns.
C) despite similar patterns, working-class offenders were much more likely to be processed by the courts than middle-class offenders.
D) both b and c are true in Porterfield's study.

Question 28

Large-scale, self-report studies have found that

A) boys commit more offenses than girls.
B) girls commit more offenses than boys, but they don't get caught.
C) boys and girls are equal in the amount of crime that they commit.
D) gender is irrelevant when estimating criminal behavior with self-report data.

Question 29

Self-report data rely on honesty and clear memories of the respondents, which means that the responses provided may be

A) exaggerated.
B) underreported.
C) understated.
D) all of the above

Question 30

Self-report studies may be useful as sources of offender-based information, however, they do not illuminate

A) the stereotypes of criminal offenders.
B) why class, race, and gender patterns exist in offending behavior.
C) why girls are more delinquent than boys.
D) the actions each offender engaged in.

Question 31

Studies that include self-reports, psychological evaluations, IQ tests, and criminal histories are often referred to as

A) life-course data.
B) life-history data.
C) participant observation.
D) unofficial crime data.

Question 32

The Professional Thief by Edwin Sutherland and Tragic Magic by Stuart Hills and Ron Santiago are examples of what kind of research?

A) participant observation
B) comparative-historical
C) self-report surveys
D) biographical

Question 33

Tearoom Trade by Laud Humphreys and The Nude Beach by Jack Douglas and Paul Rasmussen are examples of what kind of research?

A) participant observation
B) uniform crime reports
C) self-report surveys
D) biographical

Question 34

Comparative criminology allows analysts to examine crime using a ________ approach.

A) cross-disciplinary
B) cross-structural
C) cross-cultural
D) cross-behavioral

Question 35

The utility of comparative analysis extends to the analysis of

A) political agendas surrounding crime.
B) social policy addressing crime.
C) crime trends and types.
D) all of the above

Question 36

Data for comparative criminological studies is available from official sources, such as

A) the United Nations, the World Health Organization, and the International Police Organization.
B) the United States Military, and the Transnational Coalition for Human Rights.
C) Amnesty International, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
D) Police Boosters International, and Prisoners United.

Question 37

One challenge of comparative criminology is that

A) an "obviously" illegal behavior in one country is also an illegal behavior in most other countries.
B) illegal acts in one cultural context may not be viewed as criminal in another cultural context.
C) legal acts in the United States are usually illegal in other countries, because of the United States' promise of personal liberty.
D) gender issues differ in all countries, so studying male and female criminality would be impossible.

Question 38

Crime data generally represent

A) the objective truth about crime.
B) the reality of street crime in a comprehensive view.
C) the interests and biases of the analyst.
D) nothing.

Question 39

Well-educated analysts examine crime data based on their understanding of the

A) objectively gathered information.
B) inherent biases and flaws within the measures of crime.
C) inherent biases and misunderstandings of the offenders.
D) trends that crime data clearly indicate are true.

Question 40

Which of the following is a reason why participant observation is not a common research method in criminology?

A) It is extremely time-consuming.
B) IRBS often don't give approval for it.
C) It raises issues of ethics, objectivity, and danger.
D) It is relatively inexpensive.

Question 41

Which of the following is not a source of data regarding corporate crime?

A) OSHA
B) FDA
C) NHTSB
D) UCR
E) EEOC

Question 42

Using NCVS data we know that ______ of all victimizations are reported to police.

A) less than one-quarter
B) less than one -half
C) more than one-half
D) almost all

Question 43

Which of the following is not a cause of distortion of UCR data?

A) "crusades" against particular crimes
B) intentional manipulation of data by police
C) technological changes
D) all of these are sources of UCR distortion

Question 44

What is the hierarchy rule?

A) The requirement that only the most serious offense is coded for UCR reporting.
B) The requirement that the FBI must estimate statistics for agencies that do not supply their own data.
C) The practice of viewing UCR data as superior to that in the NCVS.
D) The rule that unofficial measures of crime must only be used when official measures are unavailable.

Question 45

What is the source of data on the eight "most important" UCR crimes?

A) actual arrests
B) interviews with victims
C) crimes reported to the police
D) criminal convictions

Question 46

Crime data are "objective facts" that always indicate precisely how much crime exists.

Question 47

Data measuring crime are shaped by the interests and biases of the analyst.

Question 48

The Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) are compiled annually by the Department of Human Services.

Question 49

The Uniform Crime Reports may be a measure of police activity rather than crime.

Question 50

The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is designed more as a substitute for the UCR program than as a complement.

Question 51

The NCVS provides offender-based data for estimating the prevalence and incidence of crime.

Question 52

The Uniform Crime Reports categorize criminal behavior into Part I and Part II offenses.

Question 53

Both the UCR and the NCVS have methodological and conceptual flaws.

Question 54

Self-report studies provide victim-based data for estimating the prevalence and incidence of crime.

Question 55

Comparative criminological studies allow scholars to evaluate the relative merits of social policies related to crime control.

Question 56

It is possible to know the entire amount of crime in a community, state, or nation.

Question 57

Although life-histories and criminal biographies may not be generalizable, they nonetheless offer useful information about crime and criminality.

Question 58

Social science researchers have sometimes gone "underground" to observe criminal and deviant behavior.

Question 59

Comparative criminology allows criminologists to view crime from a variety of theoretical perspectives.

Question 60

Historical criminological data is implicitly comparative.

Question 61

NCVS data provide a means to estimate the dark figure of crime.

Question 62

The UCR includes FBI estimates of data for localities that do not report their information.

Question 63

Police face pressures to have both high and low numbers of arrests.

Question 64

The FBI encourages the use of UCR data as a measure of law enforcement effectiveness.

Question 65

Group A offenses provide data about street crime; Group B offenses provide data on corporate crime.

Question 66

GLBT community and state organizations typically report much higher numbers of hate crimes against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered persons than does the UCR. Based on what you know about sources of UCR data distortion and the processes involved in creating a UCR datum point, explain why the UCR might undercount anti-GLBT hate crime.

Question 67

Identify, compare, and contrast the two main official sources of crime data in the United States on the following points: who produces the report, what kind of data the report is based on, and the relation of the report to the dark figure.

Question 68

Although the UCR is the oldest and most important measure of crime in the United States, it is a flawed document. Identify and briefly explain three critiques of the UCR.