Training Course in the Analysis of Crime and the Criminal Justice System, Module 6 - Analysis of Specific Crime Types, Part 1

• NCJ Number: 82351
• Author(s): W Newman
• Date Published: Unknown
• Length: 0 pages
• Publication Format: Film
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. Videotape, total running time 23 minutes, black and white, 1 inch. Part of the training course in the Analysis of Crime and the Criminal Justice System. See also NCJ-82345-82355 and NCJ-82357 for other videotapes. There is no Module 10 in this series; it was a training exercise.

Annotation

The function of and steps used by management information systems in crime analysis are discussed, with comments on the effects of data analysis on policy decisions and the different information needs of private industry and criminology.

Abstract

Crime analysis provides information for decisionmaking and discovers what questions should be asked using the scarce data resources available. Data for analysis may derive from private or public organizations or the government; information may be either primary (e.g., police reports) or secondary (e.g., insurance company reports). Private industry, whose information needs differ from those of criminologists, collect data only to the point of marginal utility, whereas criminologists must obtain data for specific uses and thus do not adhere to market rules to the same extent. In the information system, planning leads to data collection and then analysis, followed by implementation, collection of further data, and renewed planning. The information system asks questions about the crime phenomenon and identifies what questions should be asked and what data gaps exist. It is assumed that appropriate data have been collected for analysis, that analysis is germane and has been conducted effectively, and that target population analysis is accurate. Data analysis may have different effects from those desired. For example, a policy of closing stores early because of known high crime rates in stores with long hours may displace crime to other areas. Analysts must seek to correlate all significant data to promote meaningful decisions. Analysis types may be descriptive, comparative, or analytical, depending on the degree of complexity needed for the particular purpose. The speaker is the FBI survey statistician for the Uniform Crime Reports.