Defining and Measuring Crime

Question 1

crimes are acts

Answer 1

against the law

Question 2

definitions of crimes differ across cultures

Answer 2

what is concidered a crime in one culture may not be classed as a crime in another

Question 3

an example of crime and law differences across cultures

Answer 3

in 2014, forced marriage was made illigal in the UK but in other cultures its still regularly practiced.

Question 4

Definitions of crime change over time

Answer 4

at different historical times people define crimes differently

Question 5

an example of crime and law changing over time

Answer 5

homosexuality was concidered a crime in England until 1967 when the law was abolished

Question 6

Official statistics

Answer 6

official statistics are government records of the total number of times a crime has been reported

Question 7

official statistics are published on an annual basis to provide

Answer 7

a snapshot of the number of crimes recorded in the country and in different regions

Question 8

releasing official statistics allows

Answer 8

the government to develop crime preventing stratagies

Question 9

victim survays record peoples

Answer 9

experience of cime over a specific period

Question 10

offender survays involve individuals volunteering detials of

Answer 10

the number and types of crimes they have commited

Question 11

the survays tend to target groups of people like to offend on

Answer 11

risk factors

Question 12

what are the risk factors?

Answer 12

previous convictions
age
social background

Question 13

offender survays tend to look at indicators of

Answer 13

repeat offending

Question 14

what are the indicators?

Answer 14

drugs

alcohol

Question 15

one limitation of official statistics is that they may

Answer 15

underestimate crimes with some commentators saying that only 25% of crimes are reported. The remaining 75% are called the ‘dark figure’ of crime.

Question 16

crimes may not appear in official figures for many reasons

Answer 16

police mistrust
fear of reprisals
police recording rules

Question 17

Farrington and Dowds date

Answer 17

1985

Question 18

what did Farrington and Dowds find?

Answer 18

found Nottinghamshire police were far more likely to record thefts under £10 than any other counties, hense the spike in their figures

Question 19

Farrington and Dowds study shows that

Answer 19

police priorities distort official figures

Question 20

one strength is victim survays are throught to have a greater degree of

Answer 20

accuracy

Question 21

survays include

Answer 21

crimes not reported

Question 22

victim survays rely on respondants

Answer 22

accurately recalling crimes

Question 23

inaccurate victim recall may

Answer 23

distort the crime figures

Question 24

offender survays provide an insight into how many

Answer 24

people are responsible for certian offences

Question 25

despite anonymity, the offenders responces

Answer 25

may be unreliable as they may hide some crimes or exagerate the number of crimes that they’ve committed

Question 26

the sampling technique may mean that

Answer 26

‘middle class’ crimes such as fraud are underepresented