Education Commons^™

Assessing The Relevance Of Statistics And Crime Analysis Courses For Working Crime Analysts, Jonathan A. Kringen, Christopher M. Sedelmaier, Elink-Schuurman-Laura

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Crime analysts study criminal activity and police function to improve performance. Analysts inform operations, aid resource allocation, and evaluate programs. These tasks require high levels of statistical literacy. Given that most analysts are college-educated civilians, college coursework in statistics and/or crime analysis may represent the foundational knowledgebase within the profession. However, little research has attempted to determine if coursework teaches the skills needed by analysts. Underlying this issue is a limited understanding about what technical skills crime analysts regularly use. Analyzing parallel surveys of 98 criminal justice educators and 146 crime analysts, this study compares the skills taught in undergraduate-level …