Deck 2: Measuring Criminal Victimization

Question 1

Name three major data sources researchers use to measure the level of crime.

Answer 1

No Answer

Question 2

What was the original purpose behind developing the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR)?

Answer 2

No Answer

Question 3

Give three advantages associated with the UCR.

Answer 3

No Answer

Question 4

Give three disadvantages associated with the UCR.

Question 5

List the UCR Part I Index Offenses.

Question 6

What is NIBRS?

Question 7

What advantages does NIBRS hold for the study of victimization?

Question 8

What is a victimization survey?

Question 9

How many generations of victim surveys are there to date?

Question 10

How did the researchers conduct the NORC survey?

Question 11

Compare and contrast NORC and UCR crime rates contained in Table 2.1 of your textbook.

Question 12

What does sample size have to do with the NORC findings?

Question 13

Did the NORC study have any shortcomings?

Question 14

Explain how telescoping could affect a victim survey.

Question 15

What role does memory decay play in a victim survey?

Question 16

Do telescoping and memory decay balance each other?

Question 17

What is a reverse record check?

Question 18

What was learned from the reverse record check strategy?

Question 19

How do forward record checks work?

Question 20

What was learned from the forward record check strategy?

Question 21

What are the three assumptions behind the record check strategy?

Question 22

What is a "panel design"?

Question 23

What is "bounding," and why is it important?

Question 24

What is the difference between a "self-respondent" and a "household respondent"?

Question 25

Explain four things that researchers learned from the second-generation surveys.

Question 26

What is the "mover-stayer problem"?

Question 27

What major problem did business victimization surveys face?

Question 28

How does the fourth generation of victim surveys represent an improvement over earlier efforts?

Question 29

What is a "screen question"?

Question 30

Why are screen questions valuable?

Question 31

Give an example of a screen question.

Question 32

What is a "gray-area event"?

Question 33

What is a supplement survey?

Question 34

What is the International Crime Victims Survey (ICVS)?

Question 35

What does a comparison of the number of crimes reported in the NCVS with the number of crimes reported in the UCR tell us?

Question 36

What does the information in Table 2.3 convey regarding victim-offender relationships?

Question 37

Define fear of crime.

Question 38

What difficulties surround the measurement of fear?

Question 39

Explain what "risk" means.

Question 40

Explain what "vulnerability" means.

Question 41

What is "vicarious victimization"?

Question 42

How does vicarious victimization relate to fear of crime?

Question 43

What do the terms "revictimization" or "repeat victimization" mean?

Question 44

What does "series victimization" mean?

Question 45

What is the difference between a "near repeat" and a "virtual repeat"?

Question 46

What does "risk heterogeneity" mean?

Question 47

How does "event dependency" help explain repeat victimization?

Question 48

What three findings emerge from studies of revictimization?

Question 49

The annual FBI Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) is based upon which of the following?

A) victim surveys
B) self-report data
C) crimes known to the police
D) insurance reports
E) the "dark figure of crime"

Question 50

Which of the following crimes is NOT an Index or Part I Offense in the UCR?

A) murder
B) robbery
C) burglary
D) aggravated assault
E) kidnapping

Question 51

Which of the following is NOT an advantage of the UCR?

A) It provides an annual compilation of data.
B) It helps standardize crime definitions.
C) It allows a look at crime trends.
D) It provides details about a large number of felonies, misdemeanors, local ordinance violations, and traffic citations in all 50 states.
E) All of the above are advantages.

Question 52

The "dark figure of crime" refers to which of the following items?

A) crimes not known to the police
B) criminal acts committed by police officers
C) crimes known to the police
D) hate crimes
E) crimes that take place between 6 pm and 6 am

Question 53

Which of the following items describes the accurate use of the "hierarchy rule" when multiple offenses occur during the course of a criminal event?

A) crimes are ranked according to the temporal order in which they occur during a criminal event
B) the entire incident is recorded under the most serious offense
C) agencies are ranked by the number of crimes they report
D) the incident is cataloged by the number of officers dispatched to the scene
E) the seriousness of a property crime is determined by the value of the property that is lost or damaged

Question 54

Which of the following variables is NOT collected in the NIBRS program?

A) sex of victim
B) type of injury
C) cause of the crime
D) property value
E) all of the above are collected

Question 55

The Ennis/NORC victimization survey uncovered a crime rate that was _______ as what the Uniform Crime Reports uncovered.

A) the same as
B) roughly twice as high as
C) approximately 10 times as high as
D) almost four times lower than
E) almost 10 times lower than

Question 56

Which of the following methodological issues affected the Ennis victimization survey?

A) small sample size
B) question wording
C) memory decay
D) telescoping
E) all of the above issues affected the survey

Question 57

A victimization that does not conform to the usual stereotype is known as a gray-area event.

Question 58

On which of the following offenses do victim surveys and official UCR data show the most agreement?

A) larceny
B) aggravated assault
C) motor vehicle theft
D) burglary
E) forcible rape

Question 59

A study that employs a reverse record check strategy or a forward record check strategy represents an attempt to examine which of the following concerns?

A) small sample size
B) question wording
C) household respondent vs. self-respondent accuracy
D) microscoping
E) respondent recall

Question 60

A research design that surveys the same people numerous times at regular intervals is called what?

A) longitudinal design
B) panel design
C) prospective design
D) retrospective design
E) cross-sectional design

Question 61

When a researcher checks for an official police report stored under the respondent's name after the respondent identifies himself or herself as a crime victim, that researcher is conducting what type of a study?

A) panel design
B) reverse record check
C) forward record check
D) cohort analysis
E) propensity score analysis

Question 62

The National Crime Victimization Survey builds its sample plans on residential locations and not residents. This strategy invites which of the following problems?

A) memory decay
B) forward record decay
C) reverse record check
D) computer-assisted telephone interviews become obsolete
E) mover-stayer problem

Question 63

What is the advantage of screen questions on victimization surveys?

A) They give you an idea about what the interviewers are going to ask you next.
B) They serve as prompts for recalling past victimization experiences.
C) They only ask about crimes that occurred in the past twelve months.
D) None because they serve as fillers until the interviewer gets to the real questions.
E) All of the above are advantages.

Question 64

The random sampling of victimization surveys has selected your residence to participate in the latest round of the NCVS. You are the only person at home when the interviewer arrives. The interviewer asks you, "Have you or anyone at this address been the victim of a violent crime in the past six months?" By answering this question, you represent which of the following items?

A) a household respondent
B) a self-respondent
C) a family representative
D) an adult respondent
E) only "b" and "c" above are correct

Question 65

Which of the following best describes a "gray-area event"?

A) a victimization episode that is not reported to the police
B) a victimization that takes place just outside the officer's geographical jurisdiction
C) an interracial victimization event
D) a victimization that does not correspond to the usual stereotype
E) a victimization episode involving an elderly person

Question 66

Which of the following terms does NOT belong on this list?

A) reverse record check
B) prevalence data
C) incidence data
D) repeat victimization
E) revictimization

Question 67

Which of the following is true about fear of crime?

A) the objective and the subjective odds of victimization are balanced
B) the objective odds of victimization are much higher than the subjective odds
C) the objective odds of victimization are much lower than the subjective odds
D) there is no difference between the objective and the subjective odds of victimization
E) the authorities are unable to provide sufficient information to address the issue

Question 68

According to your textbook, which of the following is a vulnerability factor?

A) living alone
B) residential location
C) fear of crime
D) lack of social support
E) all of the above are vulnerability factors

Question 69

A heightened fear of crime stemming from exposure to media accounts about the growing crime problem is an example of which of the following items?

A) transference
B) countertransference
C) catharsis
D) double victimization
E) vicarious reinforcement

Question 70

Which of the following terms are victimologists referring to when they talk about the number of individuals who experience a victimization episode within a certain period of time?

A) victimization rate
B) prevalence data
C) incidence data
D) episodic victimization
E) repeat victimization

Question 71

What conclusion would victimologists reach if incidence was greater than prevalence in a victim survey?

A) the subjective odds of victimization have soared
B) the objective odds of victimization have soared
C) repeat victimization does not exist
D) repeat victimization does exist
E) there is an acute need to examine police patrol tactics

Question 72

The Uniform Crime Reports are produced annually by the CIA.

Question 73

Robbery and arson are examples of Index offenses.

Question 74

Another name for the dark figure of crime is Batman.

Question 75

According to the hierarchy rule, only the top 3 offenses per day are submitted to the UCR from each jurisdictional agency.

Question 76

Telescoping occurs when respondents mistakenly bring criminal events that occurred outside the time frame into the survey period.

Question 77

A forward record check begins by locating victims in police records.

Question 78

Surveying the same group of households or respondents at regular intervals over a period of time is called a panel design.

Question 79

Screen questions are those inquiries that probe possible victimization experiences.

Question 80

A victimization that does not conform to the usual stereotype is known as a gray-area event.