In this assignment, you are asked to compare and contrast these three sources of data regarding crime: official statistics,
victimization surveys, and self-report surveys. Answer the following questions in complete sentences, paragraph form
regarding these sources.
1. Identify how each source of data is collected. Your answer should include who is responsible for collecting the data
source, what information is collected by each data source, and how often each source of data is collected.
2. Identify and describe at least three strengths of each source of data.
3. Identify and discuss at least three weaknesses of each source of data.
4. Discuss how human actors might impact each source of data and what impact does this potentially have for our
knowledge of crime and the operation of the criminal justice system.
5. Do the different sources of data provide a similar picture of crime to each other in regards to race/ethnicity, gender, and
social class? Explain.
6. Obtain official crime data for the last 3 years from UT Arlington and one other campus in the DFW area. This information
can be obtained using the UTA 2020 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report link/site: https://police.uta.edu/public-
info/annual-reports/index.php (https://police.uta.edu/public-info/annual-reports/index.php) – OR
– https://police.uta.edu/_docs/reports/2020_Clery%20ASR%202017-
2019_ADA%20Accessible_w%20Attachments_Final.pdf
(https://police.uta.edu/_docs/reports/2020_Clery%20ASR%202017-2019_ADA%20Accessible_w%20Attachments_Final.pdf)
Do not call UT Arlington’s Police Department for this information. Write a brief summary of the number of index
crimes that have occurred on the UT Arlington campus and on the other campus in the DFW area in the last 3 years. Be
sure to identify what other campus used.
7. What factors might lead this data for the two campuses to be either similar or different across the two campuses? Identify
and discuss at least three factors and how they might impact the data.
8. Based on this data, do you think that UT Arlington is more or less safe than the other campus you examined? Justify
your answer.