GOVERNMENT NEWS
A Practitioner’s Reflections to
Motivate a Career in Statistics
Michael Sinclair, Bureau of Justice Statistics
I
had the opportunity a few
months ago to give a group
of faculty members and stu-
dents of a statistics department
an overview of my career in both
the federal government and the
private sector. The goal was not
to highlight my work, but to tell
the students that my life to date
as a typical and ordinary statisti-
cian was filled (and continues to
be) with an array of rewarding
projects and challenging oppor-
tunities. In addition, I wanted to
help inform the students’ career
choices by giving them some
sense of the benefits of working
in the federal sector. As I consider
this talk to have been successful,
I will summarize it here, hope-
fully motivating others to use
their unique career experiences
and research activities as a way to
promote the profession.
The key is to recognize that
all the work we do, whether or of Justice Statistics (BJS). I was (police reported crimes are count-
not we are a star of the profes- fortunate to join BJS as the dep- ed by the FBI in the Uniform
sion, is meaningful. Many years uty director—I am now acting Crime Reporting System), and it
ago, I heard Graham Kalton, director—in October 2008. BJS provides a wealth of data on the
a renowned survey researcher, is a member of the federal statisti- consequences and characteristics
describe statisticians as falling cal system and the statistical arm of crimes.
into one of two categories associ- of the Department of Justice. BJS also has many other roles
ated with the historical classifica- It employs about 60 staff mem- to describe the law enforcement,
tion of employment into blue- bers with varying backgrounds prosecution and adjudication,
collar and white-collar workers. in political science, criminology, and corrections systems. We mea-
He classified himself as being sociology, psychology, computer sure changes in the number of
of the blue-collar variety among science, and statistics. We col- law enforcement officers, equip-
those of us who try to implement lect data on the entire criminal ment and operational practices,
the development work of others justice system, starting with our and how the police interact with
to make our surveys better. While largest household survey: the the community. We provide the
Kalton may have been overly National Crime Victimization public with a picture of pre-trial
humble in his remarks, many Survey (NCVS). The NCVS outcomes, the rate of convictions,
students will find themselves in measures the national rate of per- civil case results, and sentencing
a practitioner role and need to sonal and property victimization by the courts. We also examine
know how rewarding a career in the United States. As a house- the flow of inmates through pris-
along this path can be. hold survey, it has the unique ons, jails, probation, and parole
To start, let me provide some ability to provide data on both and the rate of those who return
information about the Bureau unreported and reported crimes to crime after being released.
JULY 2009 AMSTAT NEWS 45
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