NCJ Number
159486
Date Published
1995
Length
50 pages
Annotation
This chapter explores a number of interrelated questions about the state of knowledge about crime levels, crime patterns, and crime trends in Great Britain.
Abstract
Following an overview of the changing perceptions of crime and approaches to its measurement, some key influences in these changes are discussed in detail. A discussion of the paradigm shift in the 1970's notes that since the late 1960's, when, galvanized by a new generation of scholars with a strong interest in sociological theory, the discipline began to expand out of its positivist parameters, the task of understanding and explaining crime has been interpreted in a variety of new ways. In this context, the chapter discusses the new focus on victims and new thinking about crime prevention. A discussion of official crime statistics considers the total volume of crime, types of crime, geographical distribution, and trends. Another major section of the chapter addresses the advent of crime surveys; it discusses national and local surveys. A discussion of crime studies other than surveys mentions ethnographic or participant-observation studies of particular small groups or individuals. A broad conclusion drawn by the author from this study is that while criminologists may know a lot more about crime, they are less sure about the implications of this knowledge. In sum, the 1980's saw increasing sophistication in data-collection techniques and important advances in knowledge about previously "hidden" forms of crime; the challenge of the 1990's apparently is to find new theoretical frameworks to make sense of it. 34 notes, an 18-item bibliography, and 175 references