Forensics

Question 1

Define crime

Answer 1

An act committed in violation of the law where the consequence of conviction by a court is punishment eg. imprisonment

Question 2

State 6 issues in defining crime

Answer 2

1) Cultural
2) Historical
3) Not all crime is culturally relative eg. killing is universal
4) How do you know if a crime was intended?
5) Age affects crime due to legal responsibility
6) The law might be broken and the court judges it to be for a good reason

Question 3

State the three ways of defining crime

Answer 3

1) Official statistics
2) Victim surveys
3) Offender surveys

Question 4

Define official statistics

Answer 4

Figures based on the numbers of crime that are reported and recorded by the police, sometimes used to make crime prevention strategies and target resources to specific areas

Question 5

Name 2 problems with official statistics

Answer 5

• Police recording rules differ eg. Nottinghamshire recorded thefts under £10 meaning resources may target wrong areas
• Underestimates the true extent of crime, 75% of crime remains unreported (dark figure)

Question 6

Define victim surveys

Answer 6

A questionnaire that asks a sample of people which crimes have been committed against them and if they’ve been reported over a certain period

Question 7

Outline victim surveys

Answer 7

• The Crime Survey for England and Wales
• 5000 houses are randomly asked annually about which crimes have been committed against them over a certain period
• In 2009 a new survey was introduced recorded experiences of young people aged 10-15 years