Modernizing Crime Statistics: Report 2 New Systems for Measuring Crime (2018) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Summary
Summary
Pages 1-14
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 1... ...
But levels of these activities are not well characterized in current crime statistics; counts of seizures and arrests for drug law violations may say as much about law enforcement's reaction to illegal drug activity than the levels and changes in the drug activity itself. Since 1991 the Office of National Drug Control Policy has periodically published estimates of the quantity (in metric tons)
|
From page 2... ...
-- since 1959, in a report bearing the prominent title Crime in the United States. The UCR data are aggregated tallies of offenses reported to or otherwise known to law enforcement agencies; the source data are voluntarily contributed to the national collection by way of a network of state-level coordinating bodies.
|
From page 3... ...
This report covers the two remaining planks of the charge: • Methodological issues, assessing the adequacy and appropriateness of current crime statistics collections and suggesting the best conceptual means of collecting data based on the recommended classification, including the integration of data on specific crime types from non-BJS or FBI sources and enabling the identification and measurement of emerging crime types going forward; and • Implementation issues, describing how national crime data collection should proceed, practically and effectively, including suggesting how to leverage available information technology assets, accommodate the demands of crime data stakeholders, and moderate the burden placed on crime data providers while being mindful of the voluntary nature of crime data reporting. By the nature of panel studies like this one, and given the sheer extent of the panel's charge, this report is necessarily a conceptual blueprint for modernizing crime statistics rather than a precise and detailed implementation plan.
|
From page 4... ...
To provide detail on the coverage gaps in current crime statistics, this report matches the crime classification described in Report 1 to the coverage of current nationally compiled crime statistics sources (NIBRS and NCVS) , as detailed in Appendix C and summarized in stylized form in Box S.1.
|
From page 5... ...
in addition to its count. In this study, the brand of crime data collection that we propose is incident-based, recording attributes describing incident, offender, and victim characteristics that are essential for disaggregation and analysis.
|
From page 6... ...
For some offense types including homicide, it may be essential to generate more frequent, interim estimates at the declared expense of increased uncertainty in addition to more refined final estimates. STRUCTURE OF NEW NATIONAL CRIME STATISTICS COLLECTION A related conclusion recognizes that no single data source can span the full range of crime; rather, a new crime statistics system will necessarily be a system of multiple data collection efforts: Conclusion 2.3: Improvement in the nation's crime statistics will require enhancements to and expansions of the current data collections, as well as new data collection systems for the historically neglected crime types highlighted by the proposed crime classification.
|
From page 7... ...
national crime statistics. Survey data on crime are necessarily limited in the degree to which the resulting data can be disaggregated along useful analytical lines; certain crime types are still, relatively speaking, rare events in the population at large, so the survey's sample size would have to be unworkably large to support finegrained estimates.
|
From page 8... ...
Again, though, the quality of victimization survey data is contingent on eliciting sufficient responses on possible crime incidents in order to draw inferences, and so it is critical that the NCVS be adequately resourced to fulfill its purposes. To these two core methodologies, we add a third: the aggregation of information through a crime measurement clearinghouse function, perhaps primarily administrative record-type data drawn from external resources including federal and state agencies.
|
From page 9... ...
, and also flowing out of abundant respect for the voluntary nature of contribution of data to national statistics, whether that is local law enforcement agencies filing UCR/NIBRS data or respondents completing an NCVS interview. But legal inability to impose on crime data
|
From page 10... ...
The chief entity in a governance structure would take the broader view; its duties would include setting policy for the system as a whole, establishing the process for updating and maintaining the underlying classification of crime, providing a voice for and attention to feedback from the range of crime data stakeholders, and facilitating ongoing methodological research and development. Two more conclusions by the panel note the absence of both these functions and make the direct appeal for them to be created: Conclusion 3.1: A stronger federal coordination role is needed in the production of the nation's crime statistics: providing resources for information systems development, working with software providers to implement standards, and shifting some burden of data standardization from respondents to the state and federal levels.
|
From page 11... ...
national crime statistics can only be effective if it can either work effectively with -- or compel information resources from -- myriad sources. This includes executive agencies spanning multiple problem domains and cabinet departments, independent agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency, quasiindependent entities such as the Postal Inspection Service, and federal and state law enforcement entities (including Offices of Inspector General)
|
From page 12... ...
national crime statistics is neither easy, inexpensive, nor short in terms of time to completion. To modernize crime statistics will require a large investment in collecting data on things that are currently all but ignored in current crime measurement efforts.
|
From page 13... ...
Real benefit will arise from utilizing these tools and finally starting to shed light on long-neglected offenses, consistent with a rigorous classification and drawing from third-party administrative-type data resources that have not typically been thought of as part of the nation's crime data infrastructure. That data infrastructure should enable longer-run research and development on both new auxiliary measures of crime (such as the harms done by offenses)
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.