Patterns of Crime and the Social Characteristics of Offenders: Gender and Ethnicity

After a brief hiatus, we’re back to business with a fifth example of Jill Swale’s ATSS work, this one focusing on patterns of offending and how differences based on gender and ethnicity (you can easily add further variables, such as age, to the exercise if you want) can be identified and explained.

The exercise itself is a simple one to organise and run, although you’ll need to update the “Websites and Other Sources” section of the instructions because the suggested web data no-longer works and you’ll need to use texts that reference more contemporary crime statistics. That aside, the exercise is generally straightforward and is designed to encourage students to apply a range of skills to sociological data and research in terms of: 

• Researching patterns of offending.
• Identifying major trends.
• Developing explanations / hypotheses for gender, ethnic and age differences in offending.
• Testing explanations against sociological research and data.
• Evaluating sociological research.