Forensics - ways of measuring crime Flashcards

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1
Q

what is crime

A

any act that breaks the law and warrants a punishment

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2
Q

what are the cultural issues

A

what is considered a crime in once culture may not be one in another

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3
Q

what are historical issues

A

definitions of crime change over time

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4
Q

what are the ways of measuring crimes

A
  • official statistics
  • victim surveys
  • offender surveys
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5
Q

what are official statistics

A
  • governments records of the total number of crimes reported to the police and recorded in the official figures
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6
Q

what is the evaluation of official statistics

A

Walker et al
- only 42% of crimes were reported

-dark figure of crime - only represent part of criminal activity
- high number of crimes reported is a bad reflection of a political party

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7
Q

what are victim surveys

A
  • records people’s experiences of crime over a specific period
  • crime survey of England and Wales asks people to document the crimes they have been a victim of in the past year
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8
Q

what is the evaluation of victim surveys

A
  • not all institutions were covered
  • include details of crimes not reported to the police
  • less likely to conceal dark figures
  • rely on respondents to have active recall
  • telescoping = victims may misremember events
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9
Q

what are offender surveys

A
  • question offenders about the crimes they have committed
  • offending crime and justice survey used to increase knowledge about young people and criminal behaviour
  • questions produced information about the extent of offending, anti-social behaviour and drug use
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10
Q

what is the evaluation of offenders surveys

A
  • self reports are unreliable
  • individuals could underplay or exaggerate their involvement
  • some crimes are overrepresented
  • can deploy resources to drug and alcohol programmes
  • recidivism rates reduced
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