A1- crime statistics

Question 1

what are the 3 main ways in crime can be measured in society ?

Answer 1

1. official crime statistics.
2. victim surveys
3. self - report

Question 2

what are official statstics ?

Answer 2

Official statistics are statistics published by government agencies or other public bodies such as international organizations as a public good.

Question 3

How is data gathered for official statistics ?

Answer 3

Official statistics are collected by governemnt agencies with crime data primarily gathered by the police. Official statistics consist of data that provide an overview of crime rates and trends

Question 4

what are the advantages of using official statistics to measure crime ?

Answer 4

• easy and cheap access
• reliable and verifiable
• allows for comparison between groups
• few ethical issues no direct contact between groups

Question 5

what are the disadvantages of using official statistics to measure crime ?

Answer 5

• not always accurate because they rely on crime that is actually reported and recorded by official bodies
• there are many crimes that go undetected , unreported and unrecorded.
• refer to as the dark figure of crime

Question 6

what is the dark figure of crime ?

Answer 6

The dark figure of crime refers to the amount of unreported or undiscovered crime.

Question 7

what are victim surveys ?

Answer 7

victim surveys are surveys that ask respondents of their experiences of crime in a given time period.

Question 8

how is data gathered for victim surveys ?

Answer 8

victim surveys rely on random probability sampling

Question 9

what are the advantages of using victim surveys to measure crime ?

Answer 9

• reliable
• allows us to get the hidden figure of crime.
• The sample is selected to represent the population
• provides data on unreported crime.

Question 10

what are the disadvantages of using victim surveys to measure crime ?

Answer 10

• does not include all police - recorded crimes
• unreliable , data hard to analyse and categorise
• It does not trach the crimes that impact American youth

Question 11

what are self - report surveys ?

Answer 11

self - report surveys are a questionnaire that ask individuals about their criminal behaviours.

Question 12

how is data gathered for self - report surveys ?

Answer 12

Data is gathered for self - report surveys through questionarres, interviews and diaries

Question 13

what are the advantages of using self report surveys to measure crime ?

Answer 13

• cost - effective and easy for administration , allowing for a distribution to a large number of participants at a low cost.
  -quickly and speedy data collection
• possibility for online surveys has made data collection easier
• can be used to assess self - regulated learning.

Question 14

what are the disadvantages of using self - report surveys ?

Answer 14

• fixed choice questions
• lack of flexibility
• forces people to answer lowers validity
• question may be misunderstood/