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
What is the police response to crime?
Many crimes deemed as petty & usually take the social background of the reporter into account
What is the police’s categorisation of crime?
When they ‘filter’ crimes
What is dispersal of resources?
When resources are targeted by police
What is differential enforcement?
Regional priorities taken by the police
What is police discretion?
Selective policing (gender, ethnicity etc.)
What is police culture?
The police’s attitude to arrests/levels etc.
What are some issues with the judiciary?
Stereotyping in court
Solicitors crafting of cases
Biased jurors
‘middle class/white’ magistrates
Police distortion of facts
How does politics affect crime?
Laws created -> creates biased attention to certain groups & the power of certain groups to shape the law in their interests
How does the media affect crime?
deviance amplification & sensitisation
What are the strengths of victims surveys?
help to overcome the problem of offences not being reported to the police
What are the criticisms of victims surveys?
People may exaggerate/lie -> social desirability bias
People may forget they were a victim -> might have repressed traumatic memories
Doesn’t include all crime -> surveys households & excludes commercial premises e.g. no shops = no record of business crime
Issues with generalisability
What is the logic behind victim surveys?
People tell researchers more about their experience of crime than to the police because it is confidential -> gains more accurate picture of criminal activity
Who are the real victims of crime?
Young, w class black males
What are some strengths of self-report techniques?
Provides information about the characteristics of offenders that aren’t reported to/caught by police
Help discover the risk factors with offending e.g. difficult childhood
What are some criticisms of self-report techniques?
Issues with validity -> people exaggerate/lie (if the crime is really bad e.g. paedophilia
Relies on memory -> people may not remember every offence
May ignore the respondent’s own definition of crime -> some subcultures find some crimes common & accept it
Lack of representation -> Those who live chaotic lifestyles/persistent or serious offenders may not participate
What do functionalists think about statistics?
Stats accurate & representative (useful for establishing patterns)
What do interactionists think about statistics?
stats are social constructions & useful to reveal stereotypes
create self-fulfilling prophecy
provide police a guide of ‘typical offender’
What do Marxists/Neo-Marxists think about statistics?
They are biased, underrepresent crimes of the powerful and give an impression all crimes w class
What do feminists think about statistics?
underrepresent extent of female crime & crimes committed by men against women
What do left realists think about statistics?
they are broadly correct though underrepresent white-collar & corporate crime & exaggerate w class crime particularly by some minority ethnic groups
