[lbo-talk] Occupy Oakland reports and pics

[Wojtek S]

Doug: "Surveyors call up people. They ask, "Were you the victim of a
crime. If yes, what kind?" The technique isn't perfect, but how do you
know it yields an undercount? People could also overreport to make
their lives seem more dramatic than they are."

[WS:] Studies show that people tend to under-report undesirable
experiences and over-report desirable ones in surveys.  There is also
a recall problem especially when the reference period is rather long
(6 months in case of NCVS vis a vis 1 to 4 weeks used in labor force
surveys).  The reference period itself can also result in the
undercounting of infrequent/irregular experiences - such as
vicitimization.

Being a crime victim is by all means an undesirable experience and it
is often associated with shame, especially if the perp is a family
member or someone the victim knows.  Frankly, I doubt that many people
in this country would want to make to look their lives miserable to
their own friends or family members, let alone an anonymous
interviewer.

So with that in mind, while the NCVS is an improvement over the police
records, it is very likely to undercount victimizations, especially
"shameful" ones such as assaults by family members or rapes.

-- 
Wojtek

"Modern conservatism is just a neoliberal gloss on medieval domination."