Crime statistics

• Problems with victim surveys-

  -Victims are unpredictable and often don't report crimes

  -May not be aware that their victims

  -Victims of SA may fear humiliation
• Isington Crime survey (Lea and Young)-

  Found that poor people living in inner city areas have a higher chance of becoming a victim to crime. They criticise the CSEW for not focusing on these people.
• Crime statistics-


  -Police recorded crime- all crimes reported to and recorded by police but doesn't include the dark figure of crime.

  -CSEW- A victimisation survey that measures the amount of crime in England or Wales by asking people wether they or their household has experienced crime in the last year.
• Administration problems of recording crime-

  -Pilkington- describes a dark figure of crimes not being recorded

  -New laws- Labour (1997-2010) created 300 new laws

  -Self report studies - show high crime rates - Campbell- female offending was much higher than PRC
• Problems with OCS-


  -In 2014/15 teh CSEW recorded 50% more crime than PRS

  -Data is influenced by crime classifications changings, police perceptions, policing policy and these are all unreliable

  -Lacks validity - doesn't capture the whole picture

  -2014 HMRC- 19% of reported crimes aren't recorded.
• Theoretical problems-


  -Grey and Cicourel- stats indicate that police use stereotypes, every 47 crimes reported, 27 are recorded and only 5 cleared up

  -Interprivists- limited as their a social construct

  -Labelling- argues that they tell us more about policing in the UK

  -Marxism- stats collected and serve in the interests of the ruling class which creates a division, Box- OCS also diverts attention from M/C, white collar and corporate crime.