Making crime count / Kevin D. Haggerty.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Haggerty sheds light on the gathering and disseminating of crime statistics through an examination of the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, the branch of Statistics Canada responsible for producing data on the criminal justice system.

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CHOICE Review

Haggerty (sociology, Univ. of Alberta) investigates the gathering, use, and influence of national crime statistics by the Canadian Centre for Criminal Justice Statistics, which operates in close relationship to Statistics Canada and produces the widely known and influential Uniform Crime Reports. Haggerty has identified a good case study by which to comment extensively on the larger, familiar concern about the meaning of statistics. He has also found a new way to study crime statistics, by focusing on the agency that collects the data rather than the statistics themselves. Addressing issues of political influence, race, institutional culture, and rational attitudes about the validity of statistics, the author reminds us that complex cultural influences color the production of this information. There is an especially useful chapter on the difficulty of collecting accurate statistics, even though the process is well organized, partly because of conflicting local and national practices. For undergraduate and graduate levels. M. J. Moore Appalachian State University