Simon MacKenzie

Sam
Crime Reporting Methods
June 13, 2014
Intro to Criminology
Jessica

Simon MacKenzie

In the present day and age crime has become a major area of interest for many people.
When turning on the television there is seemingly always a show about some form of crime
whether it is murder mysteries, thefts, kidnapping or drug dealing. The celebration of crime has
become bigger than the crimes themselves and with this fascination is an over representation of
crime in the news. Criminal activity is reported in four main forms; police data via the uniform
crime reports, self-report surveys, victimization surveys and through the media. These four
sources will be the topic of discussion throughout this essay.
When discussing crime or criminology, it is important to keep one thing in mind; not all
criminals get caught1. Crime in itself tends to be a secret, hidden act, not one which is meant to
be seen1, it is due to this that many crimes go undetected and therefore unpunished. This results
in crime numbers often being a calculated `guesstimate as criminologists seek to address the
`dark figure of crime,` this being the amount of crime that is unreported or unkown.1,2
The first form of crime reporting which will be looked at is the police forces very own,
the uniform crime report (UCR). 50 years ago the majority of crime reports came directly from
local police records, these reports were often collected solely for each police stations own
purposes, they would be written and formatted different at each police locale1,2. In 1962,
Statistics Canada along with the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police sought to uniform the
police crime reports and came up with the UCR1,2. The UCR has been designed to give reliable
crime statistics by providing police agencies with a standardized way of collecting and reporting
crime data1,2. Through this standardized process crime can easily be compared and analyzed
across the entire nation, and although it is an improved system it is not without its critics1,2. There
are two branches in the UCR, the first and original is called the UCR Aggregate, this collects the
basic summary data for 100 types of crimes1,2. The second UCR is titled the UCR2 Incident-

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based Survey, this survey collects more detailed information on the particular crime, victims and
suspects1,2. There are a few complaints about the UCR, the first and most glaring error surround
the seriousness rule. The seriousness rule states that if multiple crimes are committed in one
incident, only the most serious crime is reported, it is not hard to see how this is a problem as the
less serious crimes go unreported1. Another problem with this rule is that serious crime rates get
inflated as it is the crime which counts according to the survey1. Critics would also be quick to
point out the difference in how the UCR treats property crimes and personal crimes1,2. If a
person commits several property crimes they are reported as one incident, but if several personal
crimes occur they are recorded seperately1,2. The UCR is not a perfect system, it clearly has its
flaws, but the UCR has created a uniform process for reporting crime which must be seen as a
positive.
Victimization surveys are the second style this paper will look at, this form of survey
goes out to a mass sample of people who are asked to recall their own personal experiences of
being a victim of a crime1. This survey asks for a description of the nature and consequences of
that experience, to describe how the criminal justice system responded to the crime, whether the
victim (themselves) or someone else sought out the attention of officials and if applicable, why
not, and to indicate their perceptions and attitudes about crime and criminal justice in Canada.1
Through this report, criminologists hope to discover crimes which went unreported and why they
did not report the crime2. This report on crime can go a step ahead of the UCR as it should
include all crimes reported by the UCR along with crimes that remained unreported, thus helping
to fill the dark figure of crime which was discussed earlier1,2. Another benefit to the
victimization survey is that it collects information on the types of things people have done to
avoid a crime being committed against them, this data can then be shared as preventative caution

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to the public1. The major flaw in this system is that it relies solely on the respondents memory
along with their cooperation, they must recall dates and details of crimes, crimes which they may
have tried to forget or block out1,2. Also for the obvious reasons, these surveys cannot include all
types of crime such as murders, kidnappings, or victimless crimes such as public intoxication1,2.
The self-report survey seeks information straight from the horses mouth, this style of
survey asks people if they have committed a crime within a given time period, and asks them to
provide details1,2. This report is best used to understand the characteristics of the criminal, how
they committed the crime and why, which can be used for crime prevention1. This type of report
adds to the characteristics from the UCR such as age and race, the self-report covers information
such as education, home life and socio-economic information; the self-report helps to pain a
fuller picture2. Like the former two methods, the self-report survey also has a major flaw, the
honesty and memory of the respondent2. Often remaining anonymous and the confidentiality of
the report are a major concern of the reporter2. Many crimes will go underreported or will be
over exaggerated, statistics show the more crimes a person has committed, the less they will
report, while a person who has committed few crimes were more likely to report them2. Another
criticism of this report is the lack of uniform data collection as survey questions vary along with
time frames and locations2.
Lastly, the media has likely become the lone report the average person will see, read or
hear, unfortunately the media tends to have their own purposes in mind when reporting on
crime1. Reporters and editors pick and choose the crime they wish to report on, and will put their
own spin on it, thus the consumer does not get the simple report but the story the media wishes to
portray1. The stats show that the type of crime which occurs the most is property crime, but the
media tends to focus on violent crime, thus twisting the consumers perspective1. There is a

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simple `rule` which the media tends to go by; `if it bleeds, it leads,` the media makes its money
by drawing viewers, the more extravagant crimes draw more audience then the common crime1.
The biggest positive aspect of the media is the coverage which they can provide, the media can
get the news out fast and to millions of people. The negatives of their coverage are those aspects
which were just previously talked about and how it affects the viewer. As violent crime is over
reported, 75% of Canadians believe that more than half of all crimes involve violence when in
fact it is less than 10%1. The media displays a scary image which people believe to be true and
results in a lower feeling of safety, belief in police and the wrong perspective on crime in the
country.
The best measure of crime in my own personal opinion is through victimization surveys.
These surveys can account for the majority of crimes reported by the police via the UCR but can
add in a large number of crimes which went unreported. This survey method helps to gather a
realistic number on crime, rather than `guesstimating` the total number of crimes it can provide
further statistics on real crime. The UCR works for crime which is reported, the self-report only
works with willing, honest people and the media provides information on the extreme crime, but
victimization surveys provide reports on all types of crime whether they were officially reported
or not.

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6
References

Linden R. Criminology: A Canadian Perspective. 6th Ed. Toronto, ON: Nelson Education Ltd;
2009.
2

Schmalleger F., Volk R. Canadian Criminology Today: Theories and Applications. 5th Ed. Don
Mills, ON: Pearson Canada Inc: 2014.