Malcolm W. Klein Center for Research on Crime and Social Control University of Southern California 1. BACKGROUND In June of 1988, approximately forty scholars and researchers met for four days in the Leeuwenborst Congres Center in Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands, to participate in a workshop entitled Self-Report Metho­ dology in Criminological Research. The participants represented 15 nations and 30 universities and research centers, a diversity that was matched by the experiences and focal interests in self-report methods among the participants. This volume is the result of the workshop process and in particular of the invitations to participants to prepare pre-conference papers for distribution prior to the workshop. The chapters in the volume were selected from the larger set of pre­ conference papers. As workshop conv~ner and volume editor, it falls on me to set some of the context for this enterprise. Self-report crime is "admitted" crime, derived from interview and questionnaire responses obtained from adults and juveniles (regardless of whether or not they have been arrested) concerning their own illegal behaviors. Growing awareness of the limitations of official crime statistics has led to the development of self-report procedures.

Inhalt

I. Studies In Several Nations.- Self-Report Delinquency Research in Holland with a Perspective on International Comparison.- Accommodating Self-Report Methods to a Low-Delinquency Culture: A Longitudinal Study from New Zealand.- Working Towards Clearer Definitions: A National Self-Report Study of Teenage Boys and Girls in England and Wales.- On the Use of Self-Reports in Measuring Crime Among Adults: Methodological Problems and Prospects.- Self-Reported and Recorded Data on Drug Abuse and Delinquency on 287 Men in Stockholm.- Scaling and Reliability Problems in Self-Reported Property Crimes.- II. Technical Issues in Self-Report Research.- Improving Self-Reported Measures of Delinquency.- Prevalence and Incidence in the Study of Antisocial Behavior: Definitions and Measurements.- Development of a New Measure of Self-Reported Antisocial Behavior for Young Children: Prevalence and Reliability.- Comparative Research on Crime and Delinquency - The Role and Relevance of National Penal Codes and Criminal Justice Systems.- What Kind of Homogeneity for Self-Report Delinquency Items?.- III. Self-Report Research in a Longitudinal Context.- Methodological Issues with Self-Reported Crime and Delinquency: An Analysis from a Canadian Study of the Transition from School to Work.- Design of and Self-Report in a Longitudinal Study on the Relation Between Education and Delinquency.- Some Problems with the Use of Self-Reports in Longitudinal Research.- Panel Effects and the Use of Self-Reported Measures of Delinquency in Longitudinal Studies.- Designing a Self-Report Instrument for the Study of the Development of Offending from Childhood to Adulthood: Issues and Problems.- Self-Reported and Official Offending from Adolescence to Adulthood.- Epilogue: Workshop Discussions and Future Directions.