cja/346 Self reporting surveys is one tool used in collecting statistical data on crime reporting. This form of survey can be used in many ways but can it be accurate is the most important question. One good piece of information that i read in our book is that with this tool we don't have to rely on government statistics that may be skewed or maybe not cover smaller cities. One of the strength's of self reporting surveys is that "researcher's can correlate a variety of characteristics of respondents with their admitted offenses that go beyond the demographics of age, race, and gender."(ch2,pg36) One of the weakness which can also lead to skewed date in the reports is that some of these self reported surveys may not be 100 percent accurate on all information provided. Some people may not even report because of fearing they maybe arrested or break there parole and going back to prison. So this may not be an effective tool unless there is some sort of guarantee to the people to collect data to be able to maybe prevent crime in certain areas. With that said there are other tools that collect this type of data as