Crime Statistics Flashcards
what is triangulation?
triangulation is using quantative and qualatative methods together
what are the main sources of crime statistics?
police recorded crime (PRC)
victim surveys (CSEW)
self report studies
court/prison records
how may crime statistics be argued to be socially constructed?
police may not record all crime that’s reported/observed
may regard matter too trivial to waste time on
may be satisfactorily resolved
may regard victim as unreliable
may interpret law in way act is not seen as a crime
how has reporting/counting/recording crime changed?
the media and their influence
changing police attitudes
less serious offences now reported
changing social norms/attitudes
community policing and higher policing
changing counting rules
more sophisticated equipment
easier communication
people have more to lose today (more consumer goods, need crime number for insurance payout)
evaluate victim surveys
ask whether they’ve been victims to crime and whether they reported it
+ help overcome the problem of crime not being reported to police
-people may overexaggerate or lie to please researchers
-may not realise they’ve been a victim
-doesn’t include all crimes (CSEW doesn’t include businesses)
-victimless crimes unlikely to be reported
evaluate self-report studies
ask people to ‘own up’
-validity , male offenders may overexaggerate to reinforce masculinity
-may ignore respondents’ own definition of crime (certain groups may have normalised crime, e.g handling stolen goods)
-lack representativeness
how do functionalist/new right/ right realists view crime statistics?
broadly accept statistics as representative and accurate, viewing them as useful for establishing patterns
how do interactionists/labelling theorists view crime statistics?
statistics are social constructions, revealing stereotypes
patterns shown in these statistics fuel these stereotypes, generating a self fulfilling prophecy
how do marxists/neo-marxists view crime statistics?
statistics are unrepresentative as they overexaggerate working class crime and ignore crimes of the powerful, giving the impression that main criminals are underclass
how do feminists view crime statistics?
statistics underrepresent extent of female crime and crimes against women
how do left realists view crime statistics?
statistics are broadly correct but under represent white-collar crime, exaggerating extent of working class crime, especially by some ethnic minority groups
crime has more than halved since its peak in…
1995
only ? prisoners who made an allegation of discrimination against prison staff had their case upheld, compared to ? of discrimination from prisoner to staff had their case upheld
only 1% prisoners who made an allegation of discrimination against prison staff had their case upheld, compared to 76% of alleged discrimination from prisoner to staff had their case upheld
? % of prison population are from ethnic minority groups
27 % of prison population are from ethnic minority groups
