1. Defining and Measuring Crimes Flashcards
What is a crime?
An act committed in violation of the law where the consequence of conviction by a court is punishment, especially where the punishment is a serious one such as imprisonment.
What are the two key issues with defining crime?
Cultural Issues in defining crimes
Historical Issues in defining crimes
What are the cultural issues in defining crime?
What is considered a crime in one culture is not in another - for instance, homosexuality is illegal in countries like Saudi Arabia but legal in the UK.
What are the historical issues in defining crime?
Definitions of crime change and adapt with crime, for instance it was legal up until 2004 for a parent to hit their child as part of ‘reasonable punishment’ this is no longer the case.
What are the 3 key ways of measuring crime?
Official Statistics
Victim Surveys
Offender Surveys
How are Official Statistics used to measure crime?
Figures based on the number of crimes that are reported to and recorded by the police that are often used by the government to inform crime prevention strategies.
How are Victim Surveys used to measure crime?
A questionnaire that asks a sample of people about any crimes that have been committed against them in a fixed time period and whether or not they have been reported to the police.
How are Offender Surveys used to measure crime?
A self-report method that requires people to record the number and types of crime they have committed over a specific period.
Who publishes the Official Crime Statistics?
The Home Office - they provide a snapshot into a countries crime rates
What is the main victim survey in the UK and how is it conducted?
The Crime Survey for England & Wales
50,000 households are asked about their experiences of crime and the police in the last year.
What was the main offender survey in the UK and how is it conducted?
The Offender Crime and Justice Survey was the main survey between 06-09 it targeted individuals based on risk factors like age, previous convictions, and social background and asked them to self-report on crimes they’d committed.
What are the evaluation points for Official Statistics?
Underestimate the true extent of crime;
Crimes may not be reported bc; the victim chooses not to, the victim is also involved in illegal activity, the victim isn’t aware there being abused
Crimes may not be recorded bc; the police may refer the case elsewhere, the police may not take the complaint seriously, the police may not want to record crime so as to reduce annual crime levels
What are the evaluation points for Victim Surveys?
They do provide insight into crimes not reported to the police so don’t conceal the dark figure so much
But; they rely on self-report of individuals so Social Desirability Effect and Demand Characteristics may influence the results - less accurate
What are the evaluation points for Offender Surveys?
It is useful for seeing how may crimes are committed by a select few individuals
But; offenders may either wish to conceal or play-down offences to avoid punishment or exaggerate them to boast about it - less accurate
Also, the targeted nature of the survey means white-collar crimes are underrepresented compared to others
