Improving National Crime Surveys: With a Focus Upon Strangely Neglected Offenders and Their Offences, Including Fraud, High-Tech Crimes, and Handling Stolen Goods (From Surveying Crime in the 21st Century, P 243-261, 2007, Mike Hough and Mike Maxfield, eds., -- See NCJ-220695)

• NCJ Number: 220706
• Author(s): Mike Sutton
• Date Published: 2007
• Length: 19 pages
• Sale Source: Criminal Justice Press/Willow Tree Press
• Publication Format: Book Chapter
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter proposes new directions for improving the BCS and other national crime surveys.

Abstract

This chapter suggests an independent, transparent, less nebulous, and more systematic review process as a solution to improve decisionmaking about the locations, offenses, offenders, and victims to be included in national crime surveys. The solution proposes conducting a series of independently funded city surveys whose sampling from real geographically defined neighborhoods would provide data for the assessment of levels of fear and victimization within real neighborhoods in known cities; city-level surveys would better assess the accuracy of national and regional generalizations that arise from the current BCS findings. A determination was rendered regarding the usefulness of the current national crime surveys area as a genuine barometer of fear, victimization, and even police performance in the real world, particularly real problem neighborhoods. This would enable measurement of comparative levels of fear, victimizations, self-reported frauds, smuggling offenses, and illegal drug consumption. With more focus on new and neglected crime types such as fraud and high-tech crimes, surveys might substantially enhance criminological knowledge and crime prevention policymaking. Notes, references