Abstract
This chapter includes an in-depth discussion of measurement issues associated with hate crime data collection. Examples are given from the UCR Hate Crime Statistics Program, the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), and the systems that measure school-based hate crimes to show the impacts of these measurement issues. We begin by addressing issues that arise with the data collection methods, target populations, missing data, geographic scope, temporal issues, and units of analysis. Measurement issues concerning the determination of bias motivation and the offenses that are included as hate crimes are presented. The information that we provide in this chapter is designed to provide and understanding of the strengths and limitations of data collection systems for measuring and studying hate crime.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The FBI anticipates that all law enforcement agencies will transition to NIBRS by 2021 (FBI, 2019b).
References
Bureau of Justice Statistics. (2014). School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey 2015 questionnaire. https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/scs15_q.pdf
Bureau of Justice Statistics. (2017). National Crime Victimization Survey, 2016: Technical documentation. https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/ncvstd16.pdf
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). Principles of epidemiology in public health practice: An introduction to applied epidemiology and biostatistics. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Office of Workforce and Career Development.
ChildStats.gov. (n.d.). Child population: Number of children (in millions) ages 0–17 in the United States by age. https://www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/tables/pop1.asp
Criminal Justice Information Services. (2012, March 19). UCR program changes definition of rape: Includes all victims and omits requirement of physical force. CJIS Link, 14(1). https://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/cjis-link/ucr-program-changes-definition-of-rape
Criminal Justice Information Services. (2013, May 7). UCR program adds human trafficking offenses to data collection, includes more specific prostitution offenses. CJIS Link, 15(1). https://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/cjis-link/ucr-program-adds-human-trafficking-offenses-to-data-collection-includes-more-specific-prostitution-offenses
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (1993). Hate Crimes Statistics, 1992. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/149507NCJRS.pdf
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2014). Hate Crime Statistics, 2013: Table 2: Incidents, offenses, victims, and known offenders by offense type, 2013. https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2013/tables/2tabledatadecpdf/table_2_incidents_offenses_victims_and_known_offenders_by_offense_type_2013.xls
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2015). Hate crime data collection guidelines and training manual. https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime-data-collection-guidelines-and-training-manual.pdf
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2019a). Crime in the United States, 2018: Offense definitions. https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2018/crime-in-the-u.s.-2018/topic-pages/offense-definitions
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2019b). A guide to understanding NIBRS. https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/ucr/a-guide-to-understanding-nibrs.pdf/view
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2019c). Hate Crime Statistics, 2018: About hate crime statistics. https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2018/resource-pages/about-hate-crime.pdf
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2019d). Hate Crime Statistics, 2018: Methodology. https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2018/resource-pages/methodology
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2019e). Hate Crime Statistics, 2018: Table 2 Incidents, offenses, victims, and known offenders by offense type, 2018. https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2018/topic-pages/tables/table-2.xls
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2019f). Hate Crime Statistics, 2018: Table 6 Offenses: Victim type by offense type, 2018. https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2018/resource-pages/tables/table-6.xls
Harlow, C. W. (2005). Hate crime reported by victims and police. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Hate Crimes Statistics Act, 34 United States Code §41305. (1990). https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:34%20section:41305%20edition:prelim)
Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. (2020). Resource guide: National Crime Victimization Survey.
Langton, L., & Planty, M. (2011). Hate crime, 2003–2009. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Langton, L., Planty, M., & Lynch, J. P. (2017). Second major redesign of the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). Criminology & Public Policy, 16(4), 1049–1074.
Masucci, M., & Langton, L. (2017). Hate crime victimization, 2004–2015. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Maxfield, M. G., & Babbie, E. R. (2018). Research methods for criminal justice and criminology. Boston: Cengage.
Miller, A. K. (2003). Violence in U.S. public schools: 2000 school survey on crime and safety. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, US Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2004/2004314.pdf
Morgan, R. E., & Oudekerk, B. A. (2019). Criminal victimization, 2018. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Musu, L., Zhang, A., Wang, K., Zhang, J., & Oudekerk, B. (2019). Indicators of school crime and safety: 2018. https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/iscs18.pdf
Sandholtz, N., Langton, L., & Planty, M. (2013). Hate crime victimization, 2003–2011. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Pezzella, F.S., Fetzer, M.D. (2021). Measurement Issues. In: The Measurement of Hate Crimes in America. SpringerBriefs in Criminology(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51577-5_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51577-5_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-51576-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-51577-5
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)