measuring crime

• 3 ways

  • official statistics
  • self- report surveys
  • victim surveys
• official statistics

  • based on statistics and collected by the Government/Home Office.
  • Crimes have to be detected, reported and recorded
  • Police record crime
  • published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
• self- report surveys

  • Surveys of the population that ask them to confess to crimes they have committed but which they have not been caught.
  • .E.G The Offending, Crime and Justice Survey (OCJS), was commissioned by the Home office to look at 10-15 year olds.
  • It measured drug use and anti-social behaviour.
  • Responses are always given anonymously.
  • It provides information offences that are not dealt with by the police or courts
  • can show some of the hidden figure of crime.
• victim surveys

  • Surveys of the public which ask them to report crimes they have experienced/been a victim of, whether or not they have reported them.
  • asks respondents about their experiences of crime
  • if they have been victims of particular offences during a specified time period
  • if so, whether they reported the crimes to the police
• official statistics

  • published by the ONS (Government) quarterly
  •  secondary data (already produced by government organisations based on police recorded data)
  • Official statistics are quantitative data
  • provide information on the total number of crimes ‘known to the police’.
  • allows comparisons to be made between crimes
  • provide us information on the social characteristics of those who have been convicted of offences
  • Only crimes that have been detected, reported and recorded will make it into the official statistics and so it is not a valid measure of the true crime rate
• Why do sociologists use official statistics? ADVANTAGES

  • can show trends (changes) over time.
  • cheap and easily available on the internet.
  • can compare crime between different areas and social groups
  • data can be combined with the results of victim surveys and self-report studies to estimate the ‘real’ rate of crime.
• Process

  Crime detection, reporting, and recording follow distinct stages.

  • Not all crimes are detected e.g petty theft
  • meaning they go unreported and uncounted in statistics.
  • Even if detected, victims may not report crimes due to:
  • trivality
  • fear of consequences
  • distrust of the police
  • privacy concerns
  • Employers may choose to quietly dismiss dishonest workers rather than report them.
  • Of the crimes reported, only about 40% are officially recorded due to:
  • some may be seen as too minor
  • lacking in evidence
  • the victim chooses not to proceed with complaint
• Dark figure of crime

  • crime that is not shown in the official statistics
  • it hasn’t been detected, reported or recorded by the police
  • like an iceberg
• Examples of dark figure crime

  • victimless crimes- no reporting
  • crimes committed at work are dealt with internally
  • crimes committed by powerful individuals or groups may not be recorded e.g white collar crimes
  • petty crimes are undetected and unreported
  • official stats lack validity
  • 80% of crime never appears in them
• Advantages of victim surveys

  • includes crime not reported to the police
  • uncovers the hidden figure of crime
  • results help policy makers devise policies to tackle crime, e.g. crimes against youth.
  • more accurate figure of crime
  • CSEW includes a specific victim survey on domestic violence
• Disadvantages of victim surveys:

  • It does not cover all crime e.g. victimless crimes (e.g. possession of drugs, shoplifting
  • People still might not admit to being a victim (e.g. from rape)
  • Respondents’ memories may be inaccurate, e.g. over identification of black people
  • May not be aware that they are victims of crime
• Advantages of self-report studies

  • It includes crime not reported to the police
  • uncovers some of the hidden figures of crime
  • It is also the most useful way of finding out about victimless crimes, such as illegal drug use
  • possible to find out about offenders ages, gender, ethnicity and social class
• Disadvantages of self-report studies

  • People may lie or exaggerate
  • Most are carried out on young people as they are easy to study, none are carried out on professional criminals
  • e.g. drug traffickers.
  • The majority of crimes uncovered tend to be trivial because people do not want to admit serious crimes.