Measuring Crime Victimization

Sources for research and data on measuring crime victimization help to serve in devising victimization programs. The various types of crimes are significant indicators of how and why victimization occurs.
Describe some main sources of how crime is reported. Describe at least three reporting sources: how the data is collected (i.e., provided by police departments), surveys conducted, self-reporting, or research; and what type of crime data is collected.

Primary Task Response: Within the Discussion Board area, write 400–600 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas:
What source of crime reporting data do you feel is the most important to researchers? Explain why.
What method of collecting crime data do you feel is the most accurate? Explain your reasoning.
What significant challenges do you think exist with regard to crime reporting? Explain.
How do you think these challenges can be overcome? Explain.

SAMPLE SOLUTION

Measuring Crime Victimization
There are several main sources of crime data that are usually used in the United States including the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), which is an FBIs system that is widely used to record crimes and make decisions. Since 1930, the UCR has been tracking data on several crimes which include: burglary, robbery, rape, aggravated assault, murder and vehicle theft. However, in the 1979 the UCR system began reporting on arson (Langton, Planty & Lynch, 2017). In addition, there are a number of law enforcement agencies that report their UCR data to the FBI, despite that data having limitations that make it unsuitable to analyze local crime. However, the UCR has its limitations or challenges: jurisdiction reporting, which means that not every agency of the police will define crimes as well as the UCR (Sullivan & McGloin, 2014). For example, a crime defined as rape in one country may be defined as sexual assault in another country….