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

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2153239
AutoresScott Jacques (0000-0002-2089-4078, Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA, autor correspondente)
Ano2019
Volume40
Fascículo12
Páginas1543-1552
Data de publicação2019-12-02
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoDeviant Behavior (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0163-9625 • E-ISSN: 1521-0456
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01639625.2018.1559635
OpenAlexW2906049261
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências 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