Crime And Deviance - Measuring Crime Flashcards
What are the source of crime statistics?
Police recorded crime
Victim surveys
Self-report studies
Court & prison records
What is police recorded crime?
Crime that is detected, reported to & recorded by the police
What are Victim surveys?
A face-to-face survey where households are asked about their experience of crime within the last 12 months e.g. the crime survey for England and Wales (CSEW)
What are self-report studies?
Anonymous questionnaires where participants own up to crimes whether discovered or not
What are court & prison records?
Records that reveal some of the characteristics of offenders who have been caught
What are crime statistics used for?
Comparing crime rates with previous years
Revealing police efficiency and to help them concentrate their resources
Providing the public with information about criminal activity
Why do sociologists treat statistics with caution?
They reveal more about the process of reporting (by the public) and collecting (by the police)
SOCIOLOGIST: Why do labelling theorists criticise statistics?
Argue they reveal more about the definitions & stereotypes adopted by the police & courts
What are the problems with the representativeness of statistics?
Unrecorded crime -> not all crimes are recorded which produces a ‘dark figure of crime’
What 3 things must happen before a crime is reported?
Must come to someone’s attention
Must be reported to police
Police must be willing to accept the law has been broken
SOCIOLOGIST: What criticisms of statistics do Jones & Young have?
The problem with the crime rate is that it is based on crimes reported to the police
What are the factors that affect the reporting & recording of crime?
Public reporting
Invisible crime
The police
The judiciary
Media & Politics
Why do some people not report crime?
Can be seen as too petty
Only reported if it is beneficial
They distrust the police
The victim is unaware
The victim is unable to report the crime
The victim is embarrassed
The victim doesn’t want to harm the offender
They see it as a ‘private matter’
SOCIOLOGIST: What do Kinsey, Lea & Young say about people’s trust in the police?
Inner city residents have little faith in the police
w class people turn a blind eye & not get involved in crime (fear of reprisal from the criminals)
What is invisible crime?
A crime where victims are unaware it has occurred e.g. white collar crime (hard to detect)
Hidden by internal inquiry