Following an overview of the changing perceptions of crime and approaches to its measurement, some key influences in these changes are discussed in detail. A discussion of the paradigm shift in the 1970's notes that since the late 1960's, when, galvanized by a new generation of scholars with a strong interest in sociological theory, the discipline began to expand out of its positivist parameters, the task of understanding and explaining crime has been interpreted in a variety of new ways. In this context, the chapter discusses the new focus on victims and new thinking about crime prevention. A discussion of official crime statistics considers the total volume of crime, types of crime, geographical distribution, and trends. Another major section of the chapter addresses the advent of crime surveys; it discusses national and local surveys. A discussion of crime studies other than surveys mentions ethnographic or participant-observation studies of particular small groups or individuals. A broad conclusion drawn by the author from this study is that while criminologists may know a lot more about crime, they are less sure about the implications of this knowledge. In sum, the 1980's saw increasing sophistication in data-collection techniques and important advances in knowledge about previously "hidden" forms of crime; the challenge of the 1990's apparently is to find new theoretical frameworks to make sense of it. 34 notes, an 18-item bibliography, and 175 references