NCJ Number
108163
Date Published
1987
Length
30 pages
Annotation
Recognition of the importance of good criminal justice system statistics in planning, policymaking, and administration led to the establishment of the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics and the development of national strategies for producing and sharing such statistics.
Abstract
The concept of the Centre is still evolving, and methods for counting crimes are still in their formative stages. Some, like the uniform crime reports, are based on official records and suffer the limitations of such data. Other methods, such as victimization surveys and self-report studies, also have limits. However, the new information technology and recent advances in police management information systems and crime classification systems hold promise for providing improved data. While the extent of crime in Canada varies depending on the data sources used, when taken together, uniform crime reports and victimization surveys suggest that there is less serious crime in Canada than is generally assumed. Through an integrated program of criminal justice data collection that recognizes the limitations of any one data source, it should be possible to build powerful theories of crime and sound policies and programs for crime prevention and control. 6 figures, 7 tables, and 5 annotated references. (Author summary modified)