Americans are fed a steady diet of crime news. Briefly describe the pluralist approach to understanding law and conflict. In making your assessment consider how these statistics are generated and compare the UCR reports to other forms of crime data. The National Crime Victimization Survey and self-reported criminality studies both encounter a similar problem regarding the reporting of more serious crimes. What is that problem, and how does it affect the utility of statistics generated from victimization surveys and self-reported criminality studies.
Age seems to have something to do with the types of crimes people commit.
Describe that connection. Some criminologists have argued that there is no systematic proof that socioeconomic status is linked to serious criminality. Official arrest statistics point to an over-representation of African Americans in certain types of crime. Some categories of people seem to have higher victimization rates than do others. Discuss some of these patterns and, especially, the reasons for them.