crime statistics Flashcards

1
Q

what are crime stats?

A

collection of numerical data based on various methods of measuring the amount of crime in society

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2
Q

what is the iceberg of crime?

A
  • hidden/dark figure of crime that doesnt appear in statistics
  • only figures shown is police recorded crime
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3
Q

reasons for the iceberg of crime?

A
  • choose not to report
  • cannot report
  • unaware of crime
  • crime not recorded
  • complaint referred
  • complaint not taken seriously
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4
Q

3 methods crime stats come from?

A
  1. police recorded stats (hard)
  2. self report studies (soft)
  3. victim surveys (soft)
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5
Q

what are police recorded stats?

A
  • stats drawn from records kept by police and other official agencies
  • rely on detecting crime and reporting and recording
  • collected since 1857 so have historical overview of changes
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6
Q

6 factors that influence the validity of police recorded stats?

A
  1. reporting crime
  2. recording crime
  3. role of police
  4. dark figure
  5. role of court
  6. role of government
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7
Q

how does reporting of crime influence the validity of P.R.S?

A

people less likely to report if regard it as too trivial, embarrassing, a private matter and more likely to report it if it benefits them eg insurance (property crime)

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8
Q

how does recording of crime influence the validity of P.R.S?

A

1/5 reported crimes are not in stats
there appears to be significant fall in crime- it doesnt capture real changes

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9
Q

how does the role of the police influence the validity of P.R.S?

A

filter info supplied due to seriousness, classifying, social status, discretion
police can be ordered a crackdown thereby ignoring other crimes like theft

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10
Q

how does the dark figure influence the validity of P.R.S?

A

not all crime is reported, dont appear in police stats so cant be precise about proportions of crime

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11
Q

how does the role of the court influence the validity of P.R.S?

A

stats reflect decisions and sentences and reflection of social processes
british courts work on assumption that many will plead guilty- result of unspoken agreement where defendent try get lightest possible punishment - ‘plea bargain’

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12
Q

how does the role of the government influence the validity of P.R.S?

A

what is considered a crime changes over time so any rise/fall in crime may just reflect changes in the law

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13
Q

what are victim surveys?

A
  • intended to reveal dark figure
  • based on surveys asking sample of population whether they have been victims of crime and if so was it reported
  • used by governments and provide comparison to police stats
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14
Q

what is the Crime Survey for England and Wales?

A

survey that tries to maximise representiveness through large sample size (40k) and includes unreported crimes. households randomly selected using Postcode address file

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