RT Article
T1 Estimating the size of criminal populations
JF Journal of quantitative criminology
VO 6
IS 3
SP 293
OP 314
A1 Rossmo, D. Kim
A1 Routledge, Rick
A2 Routledge, Rick
LA English
YR 1990
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1764276868
AB The estimation of total population size for various phenomena of crime is an important factor critical for criminal justice policy formulation and criminological theory development. In this paper, methods are discussed for estimating the size of a criminal population from police records. Capture-recapture analysis techniques, borrowed from the biological sciences, are used to predict the size of population for migrating (or fleeing) fugitives and for street prostitutes. Heterogeneity and behavioral responses to previous police encounters are identified as major complicating factors. The basic problem is that the police records are virtually unaffected by a potentially large pool of cryptic criminals. It is shown how independently collected auxiliary data can address this problem.
K1 Warrants
K1 street prostitutes
K1 migrating/fleeing populations
K1 capture-recapture analysis
K1 criminal population estimation
DO 10.1007/BF01065412