Primary Crime Data Sources in the United States Essay

Primary Crime Data Sources in the United States - Essay Example This means that unreported crimes are not covered by the data. Therefore, the Uniform Crime Reports can not be said to cover all crimes but only reported crimes. They conclude that alone the Uniform Crime Reports do not provide comprehensive and conclusive data on incidence of crime in the United States so they must be considered only one part of an analysis of crime an supplemented with other sources of evidence. While they do not consider the National Archive of Criminal Justice Datas National Incident-Based Reporting System the same could be said of it. Its data is based on reported crime and leaves unreported crime unconsidered and unaccounted for. No official publications on crime rates consider unreported crime. Arguably, by definition, unreported crime cannot be considered using strictly quantitative measures. Unreported crime is best studied using other research methods such as interviews with residents of and employees of social service agencies in the city or area under examination. They may be particularly true in areas where law enforcement agencies and the criminal justice system are distrusted or feared. Lynch and Jarvis (2008) point to an even greater problem with academic statistical analysis of the Uniform Crime Reports. They note that the data is produced by and for law enforcement agencies and is intended to provide broad indicators of crime trends to law enforcement agencies. They also note that the data is not statistically rigorous, nor does it claim to be, because it was never conceived as a tool for academic analysis. Unlike the Uniform Crime Reports the National Incident-Based Reporting System also includes data on clearance or the disposition of incidents. This is particularly useful data for researchers and is not impaired by the fact that only reported incidents are included in the data set. For example, Jarvis and Regoezci (2009) used the National Incident-Based Reporting System to