crime statistics

Question 1

sources of crime statistics?

Answer 1

home office
Crime Survey for England and Wales

Question 2

what is the home office statistics and what does it include?

Answer 2

. police recorded crime- PCR - then reported to the home office
. include all crime that could be tried in court- serious and less-
. includes type of crime, location and when it occurred
. affected by changes to laws and police recording methods

Question 3

what is the crime survey for England and Wales?

Answer 3

victim survey which asks a sample of roughly 50,000 individuals a year whether they have been a victim of crime- reported or not

Question 4

strengths of home office statistics?

Answer 4

. data is gathered by police, who are experienced
. police will record data before it is forgotten
. police will record insignificant events that others may deem not important
. all crimes that are reported are recorded

Question 5

strengths of crime survey for England and Wales?

Answer 5

. records all crime, including unreported crime
. victim-centred, if they feel it was a crime it is recorded as such
. records individuals personal experiences and how crime actually affects them
. police can use the information to detect future crimes
. has a very large sample

Question 6

reliability?
-definition

Answer 6

the idea that the results will remain the same regardless of who is conducting the research. if its repeated by another researcher they will gain the same results

Question 7

reliability and the home office?

Answer 7

police have strict guidelines (laws) as to what constitutes a crime so it doesn’t matter which officer records the crime it should be the same

Question 8

reliability and the crime survey for England and Wales?

Answer 8

trained interviewers ask the same questions to their participants in the same way so should get the same results

Question 9

reality:
reliability and the home office?

Answer 9

different police forces will categorise crimes differently- some officers may record all scratches/ bruises in a report whereas others may not

some may class theft as anything over £20 some over £40

Question 10

reality:
reliability and the crime survey for England and Wales?

Answer 10

with different participants each time, you may end up with more representation of victims or offenders than is representative of the whole population

participants may also lie if they’re not comfortable with the researcher