Data On Crime

• Main methods of collecting data on crime used by sociologists

  • Police recorded crimes
  • The Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW)
  • Self-report surveys
• Alder


  Women are controlled by their husbands in the way that younger girls are controlled by their fathers and male siblings
• Police recorded crimes


  • They show the number of crimes that the police have recorded in the previous 12 months
  • For a crime to be recorded, it either has to be reported to or detected by the police
  • Once an incident has been reported to the police, they have to decide whether or not the incident is a crime
• Corporate crime


  Crimes committed by companies, such as illegal pollution, not giving proper pay or conditions, criminal negligence, tax evasion, fraud
• Crime


  Any act or omission that breaks the law. For conviction, the court needs to be satisfied the person both did the illegal act and intended to do it/knew they were doing it
• Strengths of using police recorded crime statistics

  • They are a reliable source of data as they are repeated annually and consider statistics from all 43 police forces in England and Wales
  • Discounts acts that people may perceive as criminal but have been judged not to warrant inclusion by the police
  • Inform police priorities and allow the police to focus on the most dangerous crimes for the public
• Key terms


  • Crime rate
  • Criminal justice system
  • Criminal subculture
  • Dark figure of crime
  • Delinquency
  • Deviance
• Crime rate


  The number of reported crimes per 100,000 of the population
• Limitations of using police recorded crime statistics


  • Many crimes go unreported to the police-this is what is called the 'dark figure of crime'
  • Subjective judgements of police officers may mean that many crimes are ignored because of lack of evidence or conflicting opinions
  • Can be manipulated by police forces to reflect political motivations, e.g. if the government wants to look like they are 'getting tough on crime
• Criminal justice system

  All the institutions, organisations and people involved in the investigation, prosecution and prevention of crime, including the police and the courts
• Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW)


  • It is the official measure of crime in the UK
  • It is a victim report survey that asks around 40,000 people annually if they have been a victim of crime in the past 12 months
  • It takes into account the 'dark figure of crime' - those crimes that are not reported to the police or recorded as crimes by the police
• Criminal subculture


  A group of people for whom crime is normal, e.g. a criminal gang
• Dark figure of crime


  Crimes that do not show in the statistics as they are not reported
• Strengths of using CSEW


  • Accounts for crimes not reported to or recorded by the police
  • Uses a large sample that is representative of the population
  • Based upon interpretation of those who have been the victim of crime rather than the interpretation of the police
• Delinquency


  Rule-breaking and law-breaking, often used in the context of young people ("juvenile delinquents")
• Limitations of using CSEW


  • Does not account for victimless crimes' such as drugs and prostitution
  • Relies upon the memory of those being asked to recall being a victim of crime over past 12 months
  • People may define themselves as victims of crime when no offence has been committed, e.g. if something is lost it may be recalled as being stolen
• Deviance


  Behaviour that does not conform to the norms and values of society, including crimes and legal but abnormal behaviour
• Self-report surveys


  • This involves asking offenders to disclose the crimes they have committed over a period of time
  • Anonymity is granted and the individual responses of offenders are kept confidential, allowing them to respond freely without fear of being charged for any offences they admit to
• Deviancy amplification


  The reaction to crime and/or deviance can actually make it worse or increase it, e.g. media reporting encouraging more people to commit crimes
• Strengths of self-report surveys


  • Provides insight into the acts committed by criminals, including victimless crimes such as drugs and prostitution
  • Provides an insight into criminal networks
• Deviant career


  Breaking the law as a way of earning a living and choosing to live one's life
• Limitations of self-report surveys


  • Less likely to focus on white collar and corporate crime and more likely to focus on working-class crime
  • Respondents are unlikely to disclose information that may lead to others being convicted
  • Criminals may omit or exaggerate their criminal activities
• Discrimination


  Treating people differently because of certain characteristics
• Dark figure of crime


  The differences between crimes that have been reported and recorded and the actual amount of crime that is committed in society
• Ethnic group


  A group of people who all share the same ethnicity
• Ethnic minority


  An ethnic group who are a minority group in society
• Reasons why people do not report crime

  • Fear of retribution from those that they report to the police
  • They do not know that they are a victim of crime
  • Lack of trust in the police
  • Dealing with the offences themselves
  • Belief that they are partially responsible for becoming a victim of crime
• Ethnicity


  Culture, a product of people's race, nationality, culture, perhaps religion, language, etc.
• Reasons why crime is not recorded


  • Lack of evidence to allow the police to investigate the incident
  • The police do not believe a crime has occurred
  • People decide not to pursue criminal charges against an individual for fear of incriminating themselves
• Folk devils


  Popular villains in the media, with their crimes exaggerated
• Functionalist view of crime data

  • Functionalists view the recording of crime from a positivist viewpoint
  • They believe that the recording of crime is based upon observable facts and that it is an objective measure of the amount of crime that is committed in a given period of time
  • This data can be used to inform decision makers in society about the priorities of the police and what laws and policies should be created
• Gender deal


  The emotional rewards women receive from marrying and having children, stopping them from committing crime
• Identity theft


  A form of fraud where a criminal steals an individual's personal data to pass themselves off as that person
• Marxist view of crime data

  • Marxists take a critical view of the data on crime, particularly that which is presented as official statistics
  • They argue that the data collected is a representation of deviance against the dominant norms and values of society - that is of the ruling class or elite
  • Corporate, state and white-collar crime is greatly under-represented in the statistics
• Indictable offence


  An offence where the person has the right to trial by jury
• Injustice


  When something is not fair, including "miscarriages of justice" where people are found guilty of a crime they did not commit
• Feminist view of crime data


  • Feminists argue that the collection of data on crime is often based upon a male-dominated society and looks at the concerns of male crime, rather than looking holistically at crime of both genders
  • Males commit the vast majority of crimes (estimated at 87%) and are more likely to be imprisoned than females (94% of prisoners were male in 2020)
  • The reasons behind female crime are often ignored