Crime+and+Victimology

7/31/2019 Crime+and+Victimology

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Victim of violence

Victimology and Criminology

Measuring Rates ofVictimization

Trends in Crime


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Cases that received wide media attentionfor specific reasons include the following.

Murdered child (caylee anthony case)

2 year old Caylee Anthonyhttp://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20253947,00.html


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On December 11, 2008, a utility worker foundthe skeletonized remains of Caylee Anthony in a

black plastic bag about a quarter-mile from theAnthony home off the highway. Prosecutors thencharged Casey Anthony with first-degreemurder.


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Photos from the site where remains found thought to be CayleeAnthony

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http://snarkfood.com/bombshell-twist-in-caylee-anthony-case/31570


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More than 5,000 angry protestors marched through the streetsof Howard Beach, carrying signs and chanting ...This is notJohannesberg.

http://www.queenstribune.com/anniversary2003/howardbeach.htm


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Lester was convicted of manslaughter andassault for CHASING Michael Griffith, a 23 yearold construction worker. The description of cold-blooded violence was the basis for Lesters 15-

30-year prison sentence, later shortened by law to20 years. Two other Howard Beach teenagers,Jason Ladone and Scott Kern, got similarsentences. Lester was released in 2001, 15 yearsafter the killing and was deported to England,Ladone was released in April 2001 and Kern wasreleased in 2002


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http://www.queenstribune.com/anniversary2003/howardbeach.htm

Jon Lester exits a Queens courthouse during trial


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http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/edward_cole/9.html

Carroll Edward Cole testifies at Dallas trial


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The important point of this case is howthe early warning signs of a violent youthwere missed. A careful investigation was not

conducted on the death of Duane nor was athorough interview of Cole held. Backgroundinformation on Cole had added red flags ofthe child abuse, child witnessing of sexual

violence, the absent father, and the socialisolation of the boy.


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http://www.inquisitr.com/13264/man-dressed-as-santa-claus-kills-at-least-three-at-la-christmas-party/

Bruce Jeffrey Pardo


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On Christmas Eve 2008, the newly divorcedhusband of their daughter, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo,arrived at the home of Joseph and Alicia Ortegadressed in a Santa Claus suit. He opened fireand killed nine people inside the house,including the elder Ortegas, his ex-wife Sylvia,three of their children, two daughters in law, and

a teenager who was working at a computer.


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Criminology is the study of crime as asocial phenomenon. Edwin H. Sutherland(1947) defined the objectives of criminology

as the development of general and verifiedprinciples and knowledge regarding theprocess of law, crime and treatment ofprevention.


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In contrast, victimology is the study ofthe victim, including the offender andsociety.

Victimology is a social-structural way ofviewing crime and the law and the criminaland the victim.


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Historically, victimology was a branch ofcriminology, and as such the earlycriminologists and victimologists focused their

analysis and writing on typologies of crimevictims, assessing the ways in which a victimmay contribute, knowingly or unknowingly, tohis or her own victimization.


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Measuring the extent of victimization is agoal of researchers. Statistics assist policymakers and those who provide victim services.

However, there is no one single way to define,classify, and measure domains of violentevents because each counting system involvessome evaluation ofpeoples observations and

reports of what they perceive as violent events.


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There are three nationwide (USA)measurement systems that count and classifycrime:

Official reports of law enforcement departments Surveys that ask people about offenses they

have committed

Surveys that ask people about victimizingexperiences


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* Uniform Crime ReportFor events that police classify as crimes,

the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) systemcollects basic information about the most

serious crimes committed. Uniform CrimeReports began recording crime information in1931 and therefore is one of the oldestsystems of crime data collection. Thisreporting system was designed for the lawenforcement community throughout theUnited States. The task of implementing the

directive went to the FBI.


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* Victimization SurveysVictimization surveys are interviews

with a random sample of people to ask ifthey have ever been a victim of a crime.

Hindelang (1976) described thedevelopment of surveys wi8th stages orgenerations. Each stage sought toimprove the methodology by identifyingproblems in an earlier stage.


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Stage 1: Presidents Commission on Crime in mid-1960: This survey was a pilot to test the feasibilityof counting crime victims.

Stage 2: National Opinion Research CENTER(NORC): This survey targeted 10,000 householdsand asked persons to report on incidents in thepast year.


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* Second-Generation Victimization SurveysThe second-generation surveys sought to

correct the problems identified in the first-generationsurveys and involved several methods.

* Record checks: This method sought to compareinformation from police records with victimizationsurvey data.

* Reverse record check: This check was done bylocating crime victims names in police files andcontacting them and administering a victim survey.


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* Forward record check: This check wasaccomplished by asking people in a victim survey ifthey had contacted police about the incident.


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* Third-Generation Victimization SurveysThe National Crime Survey(NCS) was

initiated in 1972 with a probability sample of72,000 households. The plan called for interviewswith each member of the household. Householdswere to be contacted every 6 months for a total ofseven interviews. Many of the concerns identified

in the first and second-generation surveys wereaddress and corrected in this stage.


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* Fourth-Generation National CrimeVictimization Survey

Concerns were again addressed aboutwording, bounding, memory decay, and

telescoping for the fourth-generation surveys.Redesign efforts were made to address thequestionnaire and the data collectionprocedures. The results of the National CrimeVictimization Survey (NCVS) indicate improvedata regarding victim offender relationshipswhen a crime was a nonstranger type.


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Difficulties in MeasurementThe task of describing the national pattern of

violence from the various reporting systems iscomplicated by the fact that they differ in terms of(1) the domain of events that they attempt tocapture, (2) the unit of count on which theirstatistics are based, (3) the timing of the counting

and tabulation, and (4) the sources of discretionand error in recording the events. Thesedifferences are described as difficulties in recall,telescoping, and bounding.


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* RecallThe NCVS uses a 6-month reference period.

Respondents are asked to report crimeexperiences that occured in the last 6 months.

* Telescoping

Telescoping refers to a respondentsmisspecification of when an incident occurred in

relation to the reference period.


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BoundingBounding is achieved by comparing incidents

reported in an interview with incidents reported ina previous interview and deleting duplicate

incidents that were reported in the currentreference period.


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Crime in the United States is a significantcriminal justice and public health problem, anddespite a declining crime rate during the past 2decades, the serious nature of homicide, forcible

rape, robbery, aggravated assault, domesticviolence, burglary, larceny-theft, carjacking, andmotor vehicle theft impact millions of victims andtheir families each year.


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Violent crime trends reported for 1990included the following: The violent crimevictimization rate was higher for men, theftvictimization was higher for men than forwomen, and the highest rate of violentvictimization for any age group targeted thoseyounger than age 25 years.


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Statistics also revealed that as individualsage, crime rate victimization decreased, and racedid not differentiate for victimization rates ofsimple assault and personal theft. Overall, violentcrime, robbery, and aggravated assaultvictimization rates did differ by race; the highestviolent crime victimization rates based on

economic range existed for those earning lessthan $7500 annually, and those least at risk weremember of households with an annual incomeabove $25,000.


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Individuals with only an elementary schooleducation experienced the highest rates ofcrime victimization, and persons with college

education experienced the lowest rates.


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According to the 23-year summary reportof the extent and nature of criminalvictimizations from 1973 to 1995, the rate of

victimization dropped to its lowest level in1995. In general, this pattern of decreasingrates occurred for personal and householdcrimes for many of the years over the 1973 to

1995 time frame.


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The NCVS reported that an estimated 2.9million serious nonfatal violent victimizationsoccurred in 1990(nonfatal violent crimesinclude rape, robbery, and violent assault).

Internationally, this rate ranked among theworlds highest levels. According to theBureau of Justice Statistics, the decline in thetotal violent crime rate from 1993 to 1995 was

the largest single-year decrease evermeasured.


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The total rate of violent crime from 1973 to1990 decreased 9.2%, though an analysis ofyear-to-year trends from 1973 to 1990 reveals nospecific pattern but rather a few declinesaccompanied by steady increases and stablerates in total violent crime. The sharpest year-to-year reduction in crime actually occurred

between 1994 and 1995 (BJS, 1997a).


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From 1995 to 1996, the violent crime ratedeclined 10%, continuing the downward trendfrom 1994 (BJS, 1997b). Criminal victimizationrates for US residents older than the age of 12

years declined 12.4% (to 44.5 per 1000individuals) in 1995. Overall, personal crime fell13% (to 46.2% per 1000 individuals) from the1994 level (BJS, 1997b).


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Violent Offenses: Subgroup StatisticsThe NCVS results have supported the

finding that criminal victimization rates do

not occur at the same rate acrosssubgroups of the population. Differentialrates are found on the basis of race, ageand gender, reflecting both bias andvulnerability.


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* RaceRace is an important differentiating factor in

rates of victimization. For example, the statistics

show that violent victimization rates for murderinvolve ethnic minority males in urban areas to agreater extent than white males.


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* AgeAlthough teenagers and young adults are

more likely than older adults to be murdered,three-fourths of all murder victims are aged 24years or older when they are killed.


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* GenderOverall violent crime rates declined from

1994 to 1995 both for men (10.7% decline) andwomen (14.4% decline). Women haveapproximately one-third the risk of men beingmurdered, but women are four times as likelyas men to be killed by a spouse or intimate

partner.

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