Self-report studies

• Self-report studiesasks people to reveal crimes they have committed and if so how often they have done so. Include lists of criminal and deviant tasks and they are asked to tick activities they have committed within a given time period.
• Examples of crime it may include are: 

  • Riding a bicycle without lights in the dark
  • Driving a car or motorbike under the age of 16
  • Not going to school for no good reason
  • Dropping litter on the street instead of putting it in a bin
  • Stealing something from a shop
  • Carrying a weapon anywhere
  • Having a fight in a public place or where others can see
• Advantages of Self-Report Studies:

  • It could uncover some of the hidden figures of crime and can show some of the dark figure of crime
  • It would be possible to find the hidden offenders’ ages, gender, social class and even their location
  • It is the most useful way to find out about victimless crimes such as illegal drug use
• Disadvantages of Self-Report Studies:

  • People might lie or exaggerate on the forms as it is anonymous so they might not care what they put down and might just put things on it for fun
  • A lot of self-report studies that are carried out are carried out on younger people and students as they tend to be easier to study. 
  • No self-report studies are carried out on professional criminals or drug traffickers or any sort of big criminals.
  • Most of the crimes that are uncovered tend to be unimportant because people don’t want to admit that they have been committing serious crimes.
• These studies give another alternative to official statistics and suggest criminal behaviour is more common