Topic 9c: Self-report studies Flashcards Preview

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Flashcards in Topic 9c: Self-report studies Deck (2)
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1
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Intro

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Self-report studies use questionnaires or interviews to collect information about individuals, and ask them to admit to the number of crimes they have committed. As well as being asked how often they commit illegal acts, respondents are generally asked details of their social characteristics, social class, race and so on, in an attempt to get round the biases in official criminal statistics. The data collected can then be compared with official conviction rates to discover which offenders are most likely to be convicted.

2
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Conclusion

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•The problem of categorization and relevance - a further difficulty is the impossibility of including all criminal acts in the questionnaire or interview. Thus, the researcher has to be selective, which raises problems as to which offences should be mentioned and questioned about and which not. The majority of the crimes uncovered tend to be trivial.
•White collar crime is likely to be under represented in self report studies. Crimes committed by corporations will not appear and some middle class individuals may not see their acts as criminal e.g. tax evasion.
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