The text is intended both as a guide for those with little background on the topic and as a reference for experienced researchers and criminal justice professionals. It explains the theoretical and historical development of criminology; examines the issue of unreported crime and offenders; and describes the nature, sources, and uses of official statistics, self-report studies; and victimization surveys. It also discusses offender statistics, with emphasis on the variables of age, sex, race, and class, and explores the difficulties involved in interpreting short-term and long-term trends in the crime rate. The text also assesses what crime data indicate about the relationships between unemployment and crime and presents an evaluation and prognosis of the field of crime statistics. Figures, tables, glossary, index, and approximately 250 references (Publisher summary modified)