NCJ Number
200497
Date Published
1999
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the process employed to measure violent crime in North Carolina.
Abstract
The increases in the official statistics of violent crime in North Carolina prompted the governor to allow researchers to develop the best research design to estimate the problem. It was decided that both mail and telephone surveys would be conducted simultaneously. The two most often cited statistics, the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), were used to compare and contrast the findings from the present study. The telephone survey results are slightly more conservative than the mail results. There is an under-reporting of crime using either UCR statistics or NCVS statistics. The rate at which residents of North Carolina are victims of robbery is approximately seven times that reported by the UCR. The incidence of rape is approximately 15 times higher than reported by the UCR. Aggravated assault occurs at a rate approximately 3.2 times that reflected by the UCR. Simple assault cases in North Carolina are approximately 100 percent higher than those of the United States as reflected by NCVS. The findings indicate that there was no statistical difference between the two modes of interview, mail or telephone. Findings also show that violent crime in North Carolina is underestimated by the official statistics by magnitudes ranging from 7 percent to 100 percent. The variables associated with such high levels of violent crime must be determined before any prevention strategies or policy implications can be employed. The next step in the research process is to identify the causes of the violent crime problem in North Carolina. Some of the information collected on the mail survey can be used as a starting point to determine the correlates. 7 tables, 13 references