Chapter 3: Measuring delinquency

Abstract

Chapter 3 focuses on measuring delinquency, presenting both research methods and sources of data for studying delinquent behavior. The most common method used in the study of delinquency is survey research. This chapter briefly describes the process of survey research, and presents the National Youth Survey and the Community Survey of the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods as examples of this methodology. Other research methods presented in Chapter 3 include ethnography, ecological analysis, and the comparison of offenders and non-offenders, a method used by Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck in the mid-1900s. To foster an understanding of these research methods, we discuss both strengths and weaknesses of these different approaches. Three primary data sources are also presented in this chapter: “official data” provided through the Uniform Crime Reporting program and through Juvenile Court Statistics, victimization surveys such as the National Crime Victimization Survey, and self-report surveys of offending. Again, we discuss both strengths and weaknesses of these data sources, and consider why they sometimes present differing pictures of the amount and types of delinquency in the United States.

Key Terms

• survey research
• ethnography
• ecological analysis
• Uniform Crime Reporting program
• cross-sectional survey
• longitudinal survey
• validity
• reliability

Outline

1. Research methods for studying crime and delinquency
   1. Comparing offenders and non-offenders
   2. Survey research
      1. The National Youth Survey
      2. The Community Survey of the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods
   3. Ethnography
   4. Ecological analysis
      1. Contemporary ecological analysis
2. Sources of data on crime and delinquency
   1. “Official data”
      1. Uniform Crime Reporting program
      2. Redesign of the UCR program
      3. Strengths of UCR data
      4. Weaknesses of UCR data
      5. Juvenile Court Statistics
   2. Victimization surveys
      1. Strengths of victimization surveys
      2. Weaknesses of victimization surveys
   3. Self-report surveys
      1. Strengths of self-report data
      2. Weaknesses of self-report data
   4. Comparing data sources
      1. Comparing UCR and NCVS data
      2. Comparing self-report data to UCR and NCVS data
3. Summary and conclusions