Crime Statistics as Constructs: The Case of Swedish Rape Statistics
Crime Statistics as Constructs: The Case of Swedish Rape Statistics
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犯罪统计作为结构：瑞典强奸统计案例
DOI：
10.1023/a:1008713631586
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发表时间：
2000
影响因子：
1.7
通讯作者：
H. V. Hofer
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
H. V. Hofer
本文以瑞典的强奸统计数据为重点，从经验上描述了不同因素对国家一级官方犯罪统计数据的影响。有人认为，基于官方犯罪统计数据进行跨国犯罪水平比较是极其危险的，因为构建规则差异很大。犯罪水平的国际比较通常应限于国际受害者调查的结果。瑞典的强奸统计数据的例子--与欧洲资料册中的其他国家相比，大约高出三倍--被用来解释哪些因素会影响统计数据。应考虑统计、法律和实质性因素。作者表明，统计惯例的变化、强奸的法律定义以及随着时间的变化都对统计产生了实质性的影响。本文指出，犯罪统计在很大程度上是一种建构，它的出现对构建过程中应用的规则非常敏感。因此，为了恰当地使用统计数据，对指导这一进程的原则的透彻了解是至关重要的。
Using Swedish rape statistics as a focus, this article aims to empirically describe the way in which different factors affect official crime statistics produced at the national level. It is argued that cross-national comparisons of crime levels are extremely hazardous when based on official crime statistics, since the construction rules vary widely. International comparisons of crime levels should as a rule be confined to findings of international victim surveys. The example of rape statistics in Sweden - about three times higher when compared to other countries in the European Sourcebook - is used to explain what factors can influence statistics. Statistical, legal and substansive factors are to be taken into account. The author shows that changes in statistical routines, the legal definition of rape and changes over time all influence the statistics in a substansive way. This article indicates the great extent to which crime statistics are a construct, whose appearance is very sensitive to the rules applied in the process of construction. In order to employ statistics appropriately, a thorough knowledge of the principles guiding this process is therefore essential.