Estimating the Reliability of Crime Data in Geographic Areas

Crime data are problematic: Crimes that are never reported undermine its validity and differences in police recording practices affect its reliability. However, the true extent of these problems is not well known, with existing studies suffering from a number of methodological limitations. We examin...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:  
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Brunton-Smith, Ian (Autor)
Otros Autores: Cernat, Alexandru ; Pina-Sánchez, Jose ; Buil-Gil, David
Tipo de documento: Electrónico Artículo
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2024
En: The British journal of criminology
Año: 2024, Volumen: 64, Número: 6, Páginas: 1347-1361
Acceso en línea: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Journals Online & Print:
Gargar...
Verificar disponibilidad: HBZ Gateway
Palabras clave:
Criminal
Statistics
Reliability
Validity
regions
UK
Descripción
Sumario:Crime data are problematic: Crimes that are never reported undermine its validity and differences in police recording practices affect its reliability. However, the true extent of these problems is not well known, with existing studies suffering from a number of methodological limitations. We examine the quality of police recorded crime data and survey-based crime estimates recorded in England and Wales using a robust latent trait model that effectively represents the competing sources of error. We find that whilst crime rates derived from police data systematically underestimate the true extent of crime, they are substantially more reliable than estimates from survey data. Reliability is lower for violence and criminal damage and is getting worse over time.
ISSN:1464-3529
DOI:10.1093/bjc/azae018