Post 1

I concur with functions of crime data as you have listed above considering that this is the key role played by this information. Facilitating the operations of criminal justice agencies is an indispensable value of crime data. From a Christian’s perspective, justice is an integral component of the society, therefore given that crime data enables agencies to deliver justice, then it is essential to collect the data for the organization.

The issue of reporting a crime is significant in criminal justice especially in assessing criminal activities in a region (Grawert, Onyekwere, & Kimble, 2018). Particularly, when official and self-reports are used, the validity of the data becomes a point of concern. Piquero, Schubert, and Brame (2014) assert that the simultaneous functioning of self and formal crime reports is less assessed to account for their reliability and validity. Therefore, given that these types of reporting are part of policies, their reliability and effectiveness when used simultaneously is a critical matter.

Post 2

As you have already described, crime data serves many functions to the nations, it not only benefits the crime agencies but other groups of people such as researchers also benefit from the data. Nevertheless, problems with measures of crime data is a significant challenge to the criminal justice system. Williams, Burnap, and Sloan (2017) position that the method used to measure crime data has a significant implication on how the crime is perceived, and also conceptualized. Given that crime data implicates what investigators look for in a crime and how they look for it, it is essential that measures of crime data be sufficient enough to provide valid, reliable statistics.

From a Christians world view, crime deserves punishment, and at the same time, offenders must be shown mercy. Punishing and showing mercy may seem impossible but the policies in the criminal justice system facilitate it. Keeping crime data informs the jury of the crimes done by a particular offender which essential in determining the level of punishment. As Adamczyk, Freilich, and Kim (2017) assert, religion serves to deter crime and its related behaviors, as such, it is a significant component to consider when looking at factors influencing crime.

References

Piquero, A., Schubert, C., & Brame, R. (2014). Comparing Official and Self-report Records of Offending across Gender and Race/Ethnicity in a Longitudinal Study of Serious Youthful Offenders. Journal Of Research In Crime And Delinquency, 51(4), 526-556. doi: 10.1177/0022427813520445

Grawert, A. C., Onyekwere, A., & Kimble, C. (2018). Crime and Murder in 2018: A Preliminary Analysis. Brennan Center for Justice.

Williams, M. L., Burnap, P., & Sloan, L. (2017). Crime sensing with big data: The affordances and limitations of using open-source communications to estimate crime patterns. The British Journal of Criminology, 57(2), 320-340.

Adamczyk, A., Freilich, J. D., & Kim, C. (2017). Religion and crime: A systematic review and assessment of next steps. Sociology of Religion, 78(2), 192-232.