Crime Data
250 words and demonstrate course-related knowledge
The thread must have a minimum of 2 references
The references must be in current APA style, and the references must be reflected in the text (in-text citations) as well as at the end
what are some of the differences in using official crime data?
What are the particular strengths and weakness of each of these types of data sources?
Crime Data
Various methods have been deployed to estimate the number of crimes reported to the police, public surveys are also carried out to determine the crime trends. This data is called the crime data. This data is widely used by government researchers, public and also private sectors. In many police departments, these crime data is summarized in detailed by the crime analysis unit, the data is then used to determine crime trends. It’s also used to identify methods used to deal with these crimes which help in decision making on the best strategies to handle such crimes. The federal and local legislators use this data to determine the areas of crime urgencies, design responsive legislation and help in making decisions concerning their budget allocation in these local areas. This data is also used by the researchers to identify the changes in crime over a period of time across various places. The data is also used by the media departments to inform the public on the crime and their trends (The National Academic Press, 2016).
Crime data from the media source helps the public to understand crimes, inform them about crime and other issues related to these crimes. Even though this is vital this data is less trustworthy since the media is well known for misinterpreting the crime statistics, these can result in false impression on the crime. Researchers provide different types of data information on crime for a period of time, since they use multiple sources, and even some forecast the crime trends, this information is well detailed and very reliable. Where certain crimes are not recorded it’s difficult for researchers to determine these crime trends since they lack the crime’s basic information. The data allows the police commanders to have full control over the field operations. The weakness of this data is the management from the crime counts to the trends also, not all police have a dedicated analysis unit these may result to manipulation or misreport of the incidences in order to curb for crime spike (Law student, 2018).
Reference
Law student. (2018, February 2). Benefits Limitations Crime Statistics. Retrieved from https://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-essays/criminology/benefits-and-limitations-of-crime-statistics.php
The National Academic Press. (2016). 3 Users (and Uses) of Crime Statistics | Modernizing Crime Statistics: Report 1: Defining and Classifying Crime. Retrieved from https://www.nap.edu/read/23492/chapter/5
