Uniform Crime Victimization Survey
Unfortunately, all of the primary methods of collecting crime data experience inherent flaws, either in the attributes data collected, or the methodology for collecting data. Ideally, a centralized database combining quantitative, qualitative, and geographic attributes would provide the best measure of statistical analysis relating to crime. However, this is near impossible to accomplish, as crime definitions vary from state to state, and there is standardized methodology for local law enforcements with regard to reporting crime (Fagin, 2016). In the case of the Uniform Crime Report, published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the data only represents a quantitative analysis of crimes reported by law enforcement to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The data collected provides virtually no information on the characteristics of the crime or its victim(s) (Chilton & Jarvis, 1999). Furthermore, the Uniform Crime Report is an inaccurate representation, as it does not account for the dark figure of crime statistics, which are crimes that go unreported to law enforcement for a variety of reasons (Fagin, 2016)
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Although the NCVS does provide a more qualitative analysis, with particular regard to victimization, the method of data collection presents problems. First, the NCVS relies on data that is self-reported by the victim, which could potentially be inaccurate (Fagin, 2016). Additionally, the survey does not provide any information regarding the geographic location of the crime itself (Fagin, 2016). Finally, the problem of unreported crime remains; if the victim did not report the crime to anyone originally, it is highly unlikely they will report the crime on the survey (Fagin,
Although the NCVS does provide a more qualitative analysis, with particular regard to victimization, the method of data collection presents problems. First, the NCVS relies on data that is self-reported by the victim, which could potentially be inaccurate (Fagin, 2016). Additionally, the survey does not provide any information regarding the geographic location of the crime itself (Fagin, 2016). Finally, the problem of unreported crime remains; if the victim did not report the crime to anyone originally, it is highly unlikely they will report the crime on the survey (Fagin,