The Mismeasure of Crime

by Clayton J. Mosher, Terance D. Miethe, Dretha Mae Phillips

After a decade of steady decline, the appearance of conflicting reports regarding crime statistics has led many to call into question the accuracy of the current methods used to compile these statistics. Because the measurement of social phenomena involves human decisions, inevitably errors are made. This book aims to identify and examine the nature of these errors so that social scientists, legislators, and the general public will be able to conduct a healthy dialogue on the topic in order to remedy some of the problems. Before the book goes into much contemporary detail, historical measures of crime are given an overview. The authors then follow with chapters on the three most common methods used to report crime. Official data, self report, and victimization studies are analyzed in depth in order to discuss the specific errors that can occur in each type of measurement. The final chapter of the book describes ways that these measures can be applied to specific situations. The end result is the formation of a clearer picture of the impact these measures can have on the formation of crime prevention and control policies.  

224 pages, Paperback

First published February 6, 2002

Reviews

[Daniel DeLappe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good academic read on a very important problem in society. If you do read this book make sure that you have a basic knowledge of Statistics. The billions of dollars wasted on the justice system is justified by data collection that questionable in its validity and reliability. There are states that have thrown the results of these surveys due to the sketchy gathering of the data by the justice system itself. Are these measures good enough to justify the money spent. No. Is the media compliant in this scam. Yes, news via press release needs to stop. If the sheep would stop bleating about the need for more policing we might have a chance to find how much is needed, but then how would politicians buy your vote?

[Jahir Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book was easy to read and provided interesting information but the information is now a bit outdated. Overall great read for criminal justice data information.