Victimization studies help sociologists find out who is targeted the most, and what sort of crimes they are likely to be a victim of. This can then help to make it less easy for these crimes to be committed and local authorities will be more aware of the crimes that are affecting more and more people. however problems with victimization studies are the validity of what people are saying happened, they could be bias, or be telling a lie to make it seem worse than it is.
Self -Report studies are useful for sociologists because it lets them know which social groups are the most likely to commit crimes and of what sort of crime they commit. People will admit to crimes that aren't major or harmful to others. If they have not yet been caught for a crime they are unlikely to admit to it for fear of being caught, also if people have committed a crime and do admit to it they may over exaggerate to make it seem more dramatic ( makes them feel important). Validity problems - are they telling a real account of what happened?
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