reporting crime and deviance

Theories offer an explanation as to why someone commits a crime or behaves in a certain manner. Your role as a learner is to understand the difference between crime and deviance while keeping some form of objectivity. To have objectivity in the field of criminal justice, one must be able to obtain data that isn’t flawed or biased. Gathering official data can be cumbersome and challenging. For example, if you are trying to find out the number of rapes that have occurred in a particular neighborhood, you will rely on information that has been reported to the local law enforcement. If information hasn’t been reported, the data can be flawed. Analyzing different data collection methods (survey research, participant observation, and official data). In addition, determine the following:

• Are these methods successful at capturing the information it’s intended to capture?
• Which method would you consider has had greater success? Which one has had the least success? Provide specific examples to support your answer.
• What are some of the ethical concerns associated with the selected measures?
• Should we consider other data collection methods in the field of criminal justice that have rarely been used (such as telephone surveys, online surveys, and so on)? Provide reasons to support your answer