ABSTRACT
We need to be very careful here. The media, politicians, or even criminal justice offi-
cials socially construct many problems. By social constructions, we mean that certain
problems are perceived, and decisions are made to focus attention and resources on a
particular problem (Spector & Kitsuse, 2001; Walker, 2005). However, perceptions of a
problem and reactions to it may be quite different than the actual size or distribution
of a problem. We need methods to document, describe, and analyze problems. At min-
imum, we need to be sure that a problem actually exists before taking any specific action,
but we also need to know about the size and distribution of a problem in order to plan
effective solutions.
