PICT103 Lecture 2: PICT103 - Measuring Crime
5 Jun 2018
School
Course
Professor
PICT3
Measuring Crime
• New law = new crimee.g. 'Carly's law': It is a new offence for and adult to lie about there
age when communicating with children
• Our ideas about crime are not objective. There are things that form our perceptions of
crime. The news, crime show, etc, can influence and create out impression of crime:
these may not necessarily give you the right impression
• Crime facts and statistic can be deliberately manipulated by people with an
agenda, inducing politicians and the media. This is why we have to think critically
about what we see and hear.
How do we measure crime
Where do official crime stats come from?
• Statistical information is recorded at all stage of the criminal justice system: the 3 C's:
- Cops
- Courts
- Corrections
• Supporting agencies, e.g. Department of Human Services, Department of Health, Tax
Office, local councils
• Australian Bureau of Statistics
- They conduct Crime Victim Surveys (taking random samples of people in various
areas). This is helpful because not everyone reports crime to the police.
Different types of official stats
• Emergency calls/ police dispatches (2% of calls are about serious crimes)
• Type of offence
• Arrest rates
• Polices use of firearms, tasters, etc
• Location and time of offence
• Conviction/clearance rates
• Offender information
• Victim information
• Imprisonment rates
• Sentencing data
• Parole and post release
• Hospital emergencies
• Fine reporting
Why do we measure crime?
To answer questions concerning:
• Current levels of crime
• Risks
• Improvement or not?
• Effectiveness of Criminal justice systems
• Police working?
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Measuring crime: new law = new crime e. g. "carly"s law": it is a new offence for and adult to lie about there age when communicating with children, our ideas about crime are not objective. There are things that form our perceptions of crime. This is why we have to think critically about what we see and hear. Where do official crime stats come from: statistical information is recorded at all stage of the criminal justice system: the 3 c"s: Corrections: supporting agencies, e. g. department of human services, department of health, tax. Office, local councils: australian bureau of statistics. They conduct crime victim surveys (taking random samples of people in various areas). This is helpful because not everyone reports crime to the police. To answer questions concerning: current levels of crime, risks, improvement or not, effectiveness of criminal justice systems, police working, what areas need attention.
