Measurement in Criminology and Criminal Justice: A Brief 20-Year Retrospective (From Measuring Crime: Large-Scale, Long-Range Efforts, P 209-222, 1990, Doris Layton MacKenzie, Phyllis Jo Baunach, et al, eds. -- See NCJ-122173)

• NCJ Number: 122182
• Author(s): R M Figlio
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 14 pages
• Sale Source: California Correctional Peace Officers Assoc
• Publication Type: Best Practice/State-of-the-Art Review
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This retrospective on measurement in criminology and criminal justice over the past 20 years traces the development of modern criminology, identifies new directions, and discusses self-report studies and large-scale, long-range efforts.

Abstract

The development of modern criminology is traced to the recommendations of the 1967 President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice, as it called for Federal support for research on crime and how best to handle it. The commission suggested goals for a statistical program which would aid in addressing "street crime." Government support for crime and criminal justice measurement has been guided by a host of agencies spawned under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. A shift from proactive crime prevention to reactive crime control has impacted the kinds of data collected and the uses to which these materials are being put. The "new criminology" is that body of work over the past 20 years characterized by careful definition of variables, concern with the measurement issues of validity and reliability, the awareness of error terms and statistical artifacts, the development and use of categorical data analytic techniques, and the refinement of multivariate techniques of all types. Self-report studies and large-scale, long-range data-collection efforts have provided a more complete picture of crime and crime trends.