A2 FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY - DEFINING AND MEASURING CRIME

Question 1

Give the legal definition of a crime and give two problems with it

Answer 1

Crime: any act that breaks the law and therefore warrants some form of punishment. HOWEVER…

• Not all beh.s that break the law are punished
• What is considered to be crime changes over time and culture, which can lead us to argue that crime is socially constructed.

Question 2

Give two examples of crimes that differ over culture and two over time

Answer 2

Culture:

• Bigamy is illegal in the UK but is still legal today in some cultures e.g. in Cameroon
• Since 2014, forced marriage has been illegal in the UK but it’s still legal in some forms in some cultures e.g. Malawi

Time:

• Parents used to be allowed to smack their children but it was made illegal in 2004
• Homosexuality was illegal in the UK until 1967.

Question 3

Describe official statistics as a way of measuring crime

Answer 3

• Official stats are based on the no. of crimes reported to and recorded by the police.
• They are released annually by the Home Office

Question 4

Evaluate official stats as a way of measuring crime

Answer 4

(+) Provide a useful snapshot to help dev crime prevention strategies
(-) Not all crimes are reported to the police due to fear of further consequences or thought that it is not important enough; doesn’t reflect true level of crime
(-) Not all crimes are recorded by the police, potentially to make themselves look better; doesn’t reflect true level of crime
=> estimated that official stats only represent about 25% of all crime

Question 5

Describe victim surveys as a way of measuring crime

Answer 5

Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) sent to just 50,000 random households across the UK. Ppts asked to report whether they’ve been victims of crime over the last 12 months.

Question 6

Evaluate victim surveys as a way of measuring crime

Answer 6

(+) Includes crimes that may not have been reported/recorded so more accurate reflection
(-) Small sample size so might not be representative
(-) Issues recalling when the crime happened make it unreliable

Question 7

Describe offender surveys as a way of measuring crime

Answer 7

Volunteers give details of the crimes they’ve committed over the past 12 months. It targets likely groups of offenders based on age, previous offences, location etc.

Question 8

Evaluate offender surveys as a way of measuring crime

Answer 8

(+) Can provide details of likely demographics of offenders
(-) Responses give are likely to be false to some extent; criminals may either hide some crimes that they have committed to protect themselves from punishment (despite the fact that confidentiality is assured), or they may over-exaggerate to gain respect.
(-) The fact that the surveys are targeted means that some crimes like burglary are going to be over-exaggerated, whilst other types of crime like corporate crime/fraud will be underrepresented.