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* What are the main ways of acquiring numerical
information about crime and offenders? * How can we
understand this information and avoid the various
pitfalls of interpretation? * What does the evidence
tell us about the relationships between offending and
age, sex, race, class, unemployment, and trends in crime
over the years? This clear and practical text breathes
life into an essential subject that students have at
times found uninspiring. It provides a guide to crime
data for those with little background in the subject and
at the same time, it will provide a source of reference
for more experienced researchers. The authors have, for
example, minimized as far as possible the presentation
of detailed figures and complicated tables, but they
have not avoided some of the more difficult issues that
arise in interpreting and using such data. Understanding
Crime Data begins by locating the study and use of crime
data within the theoretical and historical development
of criminology, a subject that has long been haunted by
the dark figure of hidden crime and offenders.Readers
are guided through the development, limitations and uses
of the three main sources of numerical crime data, and
selected key issues in the interpretation of crime data
are examined. The characteristics of offenders are
discussed with reference to the key variables of age,
sex, race and class, and the difficulties involved in
interpreting long and short term trends in the crime
rate are highlighted. The authors assess what crime data
can tell us about the relationships between crime and
unemployment, and they conclude the book with their
personal evaluation and prognosis of the field.
Understanding Crime Data is a well structured text for
students of criminology, and it includes annotated
further reading, lists of basic concepts, and a glossary
for ease of reference. It will also have considerable
appeal to professionals in criminal justice, probation
and social work. |
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