measuring crime

• sources of crime


  -official statistics

  -the crime survey of England and Wales
• official statistics


  -involve police recorded crime; court records and prison records which are published quarterly on ONS

  -come from the government
• the crime survey of England and Wales (CSEW)

  -interview with households; a continuous survey; consist of a random sample of 35,000; use adults & children ages 10-15; is published quarterly

  -is a victim survey (asking people if they have been victims of crime)
• self-report


  -typically done by academics/on inquiry when funding is given

  -asking if people have committed a crime
• link to Young & deviance

  -makes behaviours seem more deviant/criminal than it is, links to Young & his study on drug use - people were labelled as deviant

  -official statistics relate to defining acts as deviant

  -can't trust crime stats when they say there has been an increase in crime, link to New York & homelessness as they made it criminal, making it look like more crime is happening
• evaluations of ways of measuring statistics

  -not all crime is reported or recorded

  -official statistics only involve recorded crime, not all reported crime is involved

  -do not account for invisible crime (WCC)

  -CSEW relies on memory - not always reliable

  -CSEW = researcher effect

  -CSEW = lack of knowledge, may not know they're a victim

  -official statistics = government manipulation

  -dark figure of crime
• difference between reported & recorded crime


  -reported = told to the police

  -recorded = logged by the police
• why crime is not always recorded

  -Moore, Aiken & Chapman (2000): don't record crime due to promotions & relations at work; classification of crime; social status of the victim; seriousness of the crime; police discretion

  
  

  -court recorded crime: not all crimes are prosecuted in court - the CPS has to do the full code test
• sociological perspectives on crime statistics

  -functionalism: like statistics, show what crime is happening in society & if there needs to be adaptation in society

  
  

  -marxism: don't like statistics, they reflect the ruling class ideology and keeps the bourgeoisie in control, statistics may be manipulated

  
  

  -interactionism: don't like statistics, they are a social construct & the product of labelling

  
  

  -feminism: don't like statistics, they are patriarchal but, liberal feminists also say that they may underplay male victims

  
  

  -left realism: like statistics, they have some use and should not be rejected as crime is a real problem