Crime 2

Question 1

Official police records fail to account for

Answer 1

63% of victimisations are never reported to police; police will record crimes but police need to be convinced there has been a crime, it needs to be serious enough to allocate resources, police need to believe there is a good chance of solving the crime and achieving a conviction

Question 2

Compared to victim surveys, police records….

Answer 2

Compared to victim surveys police records focus on more person crime

Question 3

Examples person crime

Answer 3

violence, sexual offences etc. versus vandalism, burglary, theft

Question 4

Victim surveys

Answer 4

interview a general sample of citizens about their victimisations

Question 5

What do victim surveys find

Answer 5

found that most crime is property-related and petty

Question 6

Offender (self) records

Answer 6

many more crimes committed than reported, over-reporting in status offences (juveniles breaking alcohol laws), minor crimes and the fact that 95% of citizens break laws

Question 7

Social determinants of crime

Answer 7

ingenuity fallacy; tendency to think that police know where crime will occur and will be there to prevent or apprehend offenders; socio-economic conditions; humans are free, independent beings

Question 8

Ingenuity fallacy

Answer 8

environment determines crime rather than the criminal abilities

Question 9

Offenders are not…

Answer 9

not clever and skilful. For example, most crimes are opportune, being property crimes when guardians are absent (highest burglary rate during day when adults are at work and children are at school), not at night when everyone is at home.

Question 10

Cromwell et al (1991) found

Answer 10

thieves knocked on the door to see if anyone was home; then as quickly as possible forced entry, robbed and exited

Question 11

Major motivation

Answer 11

pick times and places that maximised rewards and minimised confrontation, detection and being apprehended

Question 12

What needs to be done

Answer 12

need to analyse the context (ie, situations and times) when most crimes occur

Question 13

Constabulary fallacy

Answer 13

tendency to think that police know where crime will occur and will be there to prevent or apprehend offenders

Question 14

In reality what happens

Answer 14

In reality, police only detect about 2% of crimes and rely on victims and bystanders to report crimes

Question 15

What do you need to understand

Answer 15

need to understand the social psychology of crime reporting and the influence of others on the victim