The growing number of the crime involving the youth have alerted not only the schools, where are today’s youth commits most of the gravest crimes, it is also alarming the law enforcement agencies. Typical questions that law enforcers ask when events like this happen is what to do to an armed minor when the risk of multiple casualties are high, do you shoot or talk the kid out of the situation? Considering the threat that some of these children bring, several ways are initiated to at least get an idea of how intense the problem of juvenile delinquency is. One of the ways to address this issue is to conduct a survey. This will at least give the public the idea of how poorly the problem has increased and hopefully develop ways to address the problem. To acquire statistical data, particularly in securing criminal records, statisticians and various agencies use surveys like self-report and official reports. A self-report is a personal reporting of admission or denial of the subject on the topics presented to them. On the other hand, official reports are based on the records generated by a credible institution about a subject. These are usually collated from the daily reports filed and recorded by the institution for documentation.
Comparison of Self-Report and Official Data for Measuring Crime
In 2014, the National Center for Juvenile Justice published a report on juvenile delinquency. Furthermore, the NCJJ also commissioned a self-report survey to verify and compare the data from the two sources. In Figure 1, you can show how there was clearly a difference in the self-report and the official report. Based on the report while it was the personal testimonies of the young offenders themselves, it still shows a slight difference in the official report of the National Center for Juvenile Justice. The record suggests that self-report data shows that is slightly higher than the official report. This could imply that the law enforcement agency has not been adequately performing their investigations to be able to generate accurate results.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Figure 1: Trends in Self-Report and Official Records on drug-related arrests in 2014.
Implication of the Discrepancy
When discrepancies similar to this occur, as a member of the general public you become alarm of the failure on the part of the law enforcement agency in keeping up with their job. Typically, the public assumes that the law enforcement agencies are actively serving and protecting the community. However, with discrepancies like this somehow the public can be careful and be assertive on demanding for results. Society cannot always relay on chances. Instead, important data and the integrity of information must be ensured. Discrepancies similar to this means they were not able to perform their duties. It cannot be assumed that the error in the information is on the self-report survey because that was information provided by the suspects themselves. If any they should not be incriminating themselves. A higher percentage from the self-report is alarming in the sense that it implies that the efforts exerted by the law enforcers are not enough to protect and identify the culprits or the menace of society.
References
Maxfield, M. G., Luntz, B., & Widom, C. S. (2000). Comparing Self-Reports and Official Records of Arrests. Journal of Quantitative Criminology , 87-110.
Sickmund, M., & Puzzanchera, C. (2014). Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 2014 National Report. Pittsburgh, PA: National Center for Juvenile Justice. Retrieved from https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/nr2014/downloads/chapter3.pdf
Workshop Summary. (2003). Measurement Problems in Criminal Justice Research. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press.
