Which Source Possesses the Best Data on the Empirical Aspects of Criminal Events? A Theory of Opportunity and Necessary Conditions

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2153239
AutoresScott Jacques (0000-0002-2089-4078, Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA, autor de correspondencia)
Año2019
Volumen40
Número12
Páginas1543-1552
Fecha de publicación2019-12-02
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaDeviant Behavior (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0163-9625 • E-ISSN: 1521-0456
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01639625.2018.1559635
OpenAlexW2906049261
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas46

Offenders and nonoffenders possess valuable information about crime. But which possesses the best data? This is a complex issue, so I narrow my focus to data on empirical aspects of criminal events. Drawing on the necessary conditions perspective, I theorize that a source's possession 1) of data varies directly with its involvement in cases; 2) of representative data varies inversely with nonrandom involvement in cases and nonrandom siphoning off from the larger group to which it belongs; and, 3) of accurate data varies inversely with time since involvement in cases. Those general principles suggest that offenders, especially active ones, possess the most data, representative data, and accurate data on empirical aspects of criminal events. I conclude by discussing the implications of those general principles for observation research, sources' possession of subjective data, and their possession of empirical data on other criminological events, specifically victimization and policing

Criminology · Data mining · Data science · Data source · Empirical research · Perspective (graphical · Possession (linguistics · Statistics · Computer Science · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Mathematics · Psychology · Artificial Intelligence