Defining and Measuring Crime Flashcards
What are the three main issues in measuring crime?
Age
Cultural
Historical
What is the reason for culture being an issue?
Laws differ in different cultures, in one culture something may be deemed acceptable which is not in another culture
Eg: laws on marriage
What is the problem of historical issues being a problem?
Definitions of crime change over time so behaviours judged to be criminal may be historically specific
Eg: parents right to smack their child was outlawed in 2004
State the three ways of measuring crime
Victim surveys
Offender surveys
Official statistics
Describe and evaluate official statistics
Number of crimes reported and recorded by police which is often used by government prevention teams
- does not take into consideration the ‘dark figures’ of crime not reported or recorded
- In Nottinghamshire people would record thefts under £10 and this explained the ‘spike’ of thefts in this area
Describe and evaluate victim surveys as a way of measuring crime
Definition-a questionnaires that ask victims of crime if the crime has been reported and recorded
+has more accuracy than official statistics as includes crimes not reported/recorded
-victims may experience telescoping where victims misremember an even
Describe and evaluate offender surveys as a way of measuring crime
Definition- a self-report method that requires people to record number and types of crime they have committed
+provides insight on how many people were involved in the crime
-responses may be unreliable as he may exaggerate for the reason if bravado
What is offender profiling
A behavioural and analytical tool that is intended to help investigators accurately predict and profile the characteristics of unknown criminals
What is the top-down approach
Profilers start with a pre-established typology and Work down in order to assign offenders to one of two categories based on evidence
Explain the two types of profilers
Organised-shows evidence of planning,socially and sexually contempt,little evidence,high intelligence
Disorganised-little evidence of planning,leaves clues,socially and sexually incompetent,lower IQ than average
Evaluate the top-down approach
- applies to only certain crimes(murder and rape etc) as more common crimes(burglary) reveals little info on offender
- categories are too simplistic
- evidence does not support ‘disorganised’ -/ canter used small space analysis and characteristics fit for organised but non for dis-organised
What is the bottom-up approach
Profilers Work up from the crime scene and the evidence to establish a hypothesis for the type of offender
describe and evaluate investigative psychology
Definition-form of bottom up that matches details from crime scene with statistical analysis of typical offender behaviour patterns based on psychological theory
+evidence support: canter+heritage conduced content analysis of 66 sexual assault cases and found patterns across behaviour; use of impersonal language, lack of reaction to victim which supports the usefulness
+canter argues it is more objective and scientific that Top-down approach as is based on psychological theory and analysis not predictions
Describe and evaluate geographical profiling
Definition-form if bottom-up based on principle of spacial consistency that an offenders operations base and possible future offence are revealed by geographical location of previous crime
+support evidence: lundrigan and canter- collected info from 120 murder cases and the smallest space analysis revealed spacial consistency in behaviour. The location of each body was in different direction to last creating a centre of gravity so the location of offender was in middle of pattern
-mixed evidence as profiling was judged to be ‘useful’ in 83% of cases but only 3% lead to accurate identification
What is the atavistic form?
Biological approach which suggests criminals are genetic throwbacks and I’ll-suited to conforming to the rules of society
These people are distinguishable by particular facial and cranial characteristics
