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11 - Conclusion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2009

By
James P. Lynch  and
Lynn A. Addington
Edited by
James P. Lynch  and
Lynn A. Addington
James P. Lynch
Affiliation:
Distinguished Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York
Lynn A. Addington
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of Justice, Law, and Society, American University in Washington, D.C.
James P. Lynch
Affiliation:
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York
Lynn A. Addington
Affiliation:
American University, Washington DC
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Summary

One goal of Understanding Crime Statistics is to encourage and facilitate the appropriate use of crime statistics through a discussion of the divergence of the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). We also seek to build on the idea of complementarity, which originated from the work of Biderman and Lynch (1991). Specifically, Biderman and Lynch's work makes two important points concerning crime statistics. One is that all statistical systems will distort to some degree the data produced and the important lesson for researchers is to understand how this occurs so that appropriate adjustments can be made. The second point is that it is virtually impossible to get statistical systems that are organized as differently as the NCVS and the UCR to tell the same story across the board. Given these two points, Biderman and Lynch concluded that energy and resources were better invested in discovering ways to use these data systems in complementary rather than competing ways.

Although the principle of complementarity seems to be widely accepted today, this acceptance may be fickle. Complementarity has not received a real test because of the coincidence that the two series have tracked reasonably well for more than a decade. When the two series diverge, and history tells us that they will, ready explanations for this divergence must be available as well as examples of very specific ways in which the two systems (even in a divergent state) can be used jointly to shed new light on the crime problem.

Type
Chapter
Information
Understanding Crime Statistics
Revisiting the Divergence of the NCVS and the UCR
 , pp. 297 - 334
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

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  • Conclusion
    • By James P. Lynch, Distinguished Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, Lynn A. Addington, Assistant Professor of Justice, Law, and Society, American University in Washington, D.C.
  • Edited by James P. Lynch, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, Lynn A. Addington, American University, Washington DC
  • Book: Understanding Crime Statistics
  • Online publication: 23 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511618543.011
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  • Conclusion
    • By James P. Lynch, Distinguished Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, Lynn A. Addington, Assistant Professor of Justice, Law, and Society, American University in Washington, D.C.
  • Edited by James P. Lynch, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, Lynn A. Addington, American University, Washington DC
  • Book: Understanding Crime Statistics
  • Online publication: 23 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511618543.011
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Conclusion
    • By James P. Lynch, Distinguished Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, Lynn A. Addington, Assistant Professor of Justice, Law, and Society, American University in Washington, D.C.
  • Edited by James P. Lynch, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, Lynn A. Addington, American University, Washington DC
  • Book: Understanding Crime Statistics
  • Online publication: 23 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511618543.011
Available formats
×