Host: David Riedman, founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database
Guest: Dr. Matt Nobles, Criminologist and Methodologist, University of Central Florida
All research projects start with finding data or evidence, and then applying a research methodology to answer the question.
Federal crime data is incomplete, published ~2 years after crimes occur, and doesn’t add up when multiple sources are cross-referenced.
Before 2000, there wasn’t a federal mandate for colleges and universities to report crimes on campus. Dr. Nobles’ first major research project was analyzing unreported sexual assaults on campus.
There is not a Higher Education School Shooting Database because it’s very hard to define the boundaries of a university campus (e.g., is a shooting during college night—specifically targeting college students—at a bar next to campus a higher ed school shooting?)
Without standardization of crime data, we don’t know the characteristics of crimes, we can’t measure the impacts, we don’t know if rates are going up/down, and we can’t develop useful public policy.
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio, New England Journal of Medicine, and my article on CNN about AI and school security.
Ep 12. Crime data isn't great. Dr. Matt Nobles explains how a strong research methodology can address these problems.