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Statistics for Criminology and Criminal Justice
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Statistics for Criminology and Criminal Justice

Fourth Edition


December 2025 | SAGE Publications, Inc

Statistics for Criminology and Criminal Justice, Fourth Edition is an introductory statistics text for undergraduate criminology and criminal justice students. Written for students with a basic background in algebra but who have had little or no exposure to the study of statistics, the text provides step-by-step illustrations and amply opportunities to apply and practice those concepts using real data. The overarching goals of the book are to offer students a foundational knowledge of statistics that helps them make logical connections within and across concepts, and to demonstrate to students the importance and utility of statistics in criminal justice. The Fourth Edition reflects societal changes of recent years including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the #MeToo and racial justice movements that challenged the antiquated beliefs that had justified mistreatment of women and people of color by the criminal-legal system; the growth of artificial intelligence and its ability to disrupt labor markets and further the spread of misinformation, fraud, and predatory cybercrime; mass-casualty events that have become almost routine, and the true-crime genre has firmly embedded itself as a cultural phenomenon.

 
Preface to the Third Edition
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Author
 
Part I: Descriptive Statistics
 
Chapter 1: Introduction to the Use of Statistics in Criminal Justice and Criminology
Science: Basic Terms and Concepts

 
Types of Scientific Research in Criminal Justice and Criminology

 
Software Packages for Statistical Analysis

 
Organization of the Book

 
Thinking Critically

 
Review Problems

 
Key Terms

 
 
Chapter 2: Types of Variables and Levels of Measurement
Units and Levels of Analysis

 
Independent Variables and Dependent Variables

 
Correlation versus Causation

 
Levels of Measurement

 
Chapter Summary

 
Thinking Critically

 
Review Problems

 
Key Terms

 
 
Chapter 3: Organizing, Displaying, and Presenting Data
Data Distributions

 
Graphs and Charts

 
Grouping Data

 
SPSS

 
Chapter Summary

 
Thinking Critically

 
Review Problems

 
Key Terms

 
Glossary of Symbols and Abbreviations Introduced in This Chapter

 
 
Chapter 4: Measures of Central Tendency
Distribution Shapes

 
The Median

 
The Mean

 
Using Means and Medians to Determine Distribution Shape

 
Deviation Scores and the Mean as the Midpoint of the Magnitudes

 
SPSS

 
Chapter Summary

 
Thinking Critically

 
Review Problems

 
Key Terms

 
Glossary of Symbols and Abbreviations Introduced in This Chapter

 
 
Chapter 5: Measures of Dispersion
The Variation Ratio

 
The Range

 
The Variance

 
The Standard Deviation

 
The Standard Deviation and the Normal Curve

 
Chapter Summary

 
Thinking Critically

 
Review Problems

 
Key Terms

 
Glossary of Symbols and Abbreviations Introduced in This Chapter

 
 
Part II: Probability and Distributions
 
Chapter 6: Probability
Discrete Probability: The Binomial Probability Distribution

 
Continuous Probability: The Standard Normal Curve

 
Chapter Summary

 
Thinking Critically

 
Review Problems

 
Key Terms

 
Glossary of Symbols and Abbreviations Introduced in This Chapter

 
 
Chapter 7: Population, Sample, and Sampling Distributions
Empirical Distributions: Population and Sample Distributions

 
Theoretical Distributions: Sampling Distributions

 
Sample Size and the Sampling Distribution: The z and t Distributions

 
Chapter Summary

 
Thinking Critically

 
Review Problems

 
Key Terms

 
Glossary of Symbols and Abbreviations Introduced in This Chapter

 
 
Chapter 8: Point Estimates and Confidence Intervals
The Level of Confidence: The Probability of Being Correct

 
Confidence Intervals for Means with Large Samples

 
Confidence Intervals for Means with Small Samples

 
Confidence Intervals with Proportions

 
Chapter Summary

 
Thinking Critically

 
Review Problems

 
Key Terms

 
Glossary of Symbols and Abbreviations Introduced in This Chapter

 
 
Part III: Hypothesis Testing
 
Chapter 9: Hypothesis Testing: A Conceptual Introduction
Sample Statistics and Population Parameters: Sampling Error or True Difference?

 
Null and Alternative Hypotheses

 
Chapter Summary

 
Thinking Critically

 
Review Problems

 
Key Terms

 
Glossary of Symbols and Abbreviations Introduced in This Chapter

 
 
Chapter 10: Hypothesis Testing with Two Categorical Variables: Chi-Square
The Chi-Square Test of Independence

 
Measures of Association

 
SPSS

 
Chapter Summary

 
Thinking Critically

 
Review Problems

 
Key Terms

 
Glossary of Symbols and Abbreviations Introduced in This Chapter

 
 
Chapter 11: Hypothesis Testing with Two Population Means or Proportions
Two-Population Tests for Differences Between Means: t Tests

 
Two-Population Tests for Differences Between Proportions

 
SPSS

 
Chapter Summary

 
Thinking Critically

 
Review Problems

 
Key Terms

 
Glossary of Symbols and Abbreviations Introduced in This Chapter

 
 
Chapter 12: Hypothesis Testing with Three or More Population Means: Analysis of Variance
ANOVA: Different Types of Variances

 
When the Null Is Rejected: A Measure of Association and Post Hoc Tests

 
SPSS

 
Chapter Summary

 
Thinking Critically

 
Review Problems

 
Key Terms

 
Glossary of Symbols and Abbreviations Introduced in This Chapter

 
 
Chapter 13: Hypothesis Testing with Two Continuous Variables: Correlation
Beyond Statistical Significance: Sign, Magnitude, and Coefficient of Determination

 
SPSS

 
Chapter Summary

 
Thinking Critically

 
Review Problems

 
Key Terms

 
Glossary of Symbols and Abbreviations Introduced in This Chapter

 
 
Chapter 14: Introduction to Regression Analysis
One Independent Variable and One Dependent Variable: Bivariate Regression

 
Adding Independent Variables: Multiple Regression

 
Alternatives to Ordinary Least Squares Regression

 
Ordinary Least Squares and Logistic Regression in SPSS

 
Chapter Summary

 
Thinking Critically

 
Review Problems

 
Key Terms

 
Glossary of Symbols and Abbreviations Introduced in This Chapter

 
 
Appendix A. Review of Basic Mathematical Techniques
 
Appendix B. Standard Normal (z) Distribution
 
Appendix C. t Distribution
 
Appendix D. Chi-Square (?2) Distribution
 
Appendix E. F Distribution
 
Glossary
 
Learning Checks Answer Key
 
Review Problems Answer Key
 
References
 
Index

For instructors

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ISBN: 9781071816653
£139.00