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Modernizing Crime Statistics: Report 2 New Systems for Measuring Crime (2018) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix F: Cautionary Tales from International Experience: Police-Report Crime Statistics in the United Kingdom
Pages 243-248

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From page 243...
... We argue in this report for completely rethinking the way the United States measures crime, including adoption of a new classification of crime, and using that classification as blueprint for implementing and coordinating a new crime statistics system according to the principles and sensitivities of a statistical agency. We believe we have been appropriately open about the difficulty of the task.
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From page 244...
... Likewise, it concluded that "practical considerations" -- the existing ties between the national Home Office and the territorial and specialpurpose police agencies -- advised against an administrative transfer of policereport data. An initial assessment of UK crime statistics effectively granted them conditional designation as "National Statistics" subject to completion of five enhancements, chief among them the provision of "more information about the quality of the police recorded crime statistics, including the consistency with which crimes are recorded and classified" (United Kingdom Statistics Authority, 2011:3)
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From page 245...
... ensure that users are made fully aware of the limitations of the recorded crime statistics" (United Kingdom Statistics Authority, 2014a:2)
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From page 246...
... to interpret changes in the published crime statistics from one reference period to another," "explain more fully how all the administrative data sources are used to produce statistics about crime," and (mindful of ongoing audit by the Inspectorate of Constabulary) consider the general question of "whether statistics based on police recorded crime data can be produced to a level of quality that meets users' needs" (United Kingdom Statistics Authority, 2014a:4)
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From page 247...
... Indeed, they are largely for naught without adequate attention to the quality of the underlying data entering the system or to whether the resulting data products are understood by data users/stakeholders and meet their needs. 1 In brief: Ireland was one of the first countries (in recent years)
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Key Terms

  • statistics authority
  • kingdom statistics
  • recorded crime
  • crime data
  • national statistics

  • authority stripped
  • police recorded
  • statistics publication
  • reference period
  • completely rethinking

  • ultimately sided
  • central statistics
  • select committee
  • previous reform
  • formally detached

  • own review
  • explicitly directed
  • statistics based
  • quickly drew
  • prc data

  • produce statistics
  • governance rules
  • missed opportunities
  • public information
  • summarized user

  • including adoption
  • accountable directly
  • central statistical
  • initial assessment
  • formal responsibility


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