NCCD Research Review : Any Truth You Want: the Use and Abuse of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics

Abstract

Recent public policy statements assert that crime is on the increase and that this increase has led to overcrowded prisons. However, contradictory trends in crime and criminal justice activity appear in the published data. Is crime in creasing? remaining stable? or decreasing? A yes to each question is possible, depending on the indicator and time period selected or the criminology text consulted. Similar inconsistencies can be found in the data on prison popu lations. To help sort out these apparent contradictions, the authors present guidelines for number and type of indicators, trend analysis time periods, and data currency. They draw conclusions about recent trends in crime and pun ishment and comment on the limitations of their analysis.

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