Intro To Crime

Question 1

Define crime

Answer 1

An act that breaks the law

Question 2

Define deviance

Answer 2

An act that breaks social norms

Question 3

Give an example of a deviant act

Answer 3

• skipping queues
  -big age gap relationships

Question 4

NAME the 3 main methods used to measure crime

Answer 4

1) Police-recorded official crime statistics
2) Victim surveys
3) Self - report studies

Question 4

sociologists see deviance as relative. what does this mean?

Answer 4

has no fixed meaning. its relative to who + when you are. circumstantial

Question 4

how often are official crime statistics published?

Answer 4

every 6 months by the Home Office

Question 4

when did official crime statistics first begin to be collected UK?

Answer 4

1857

Question 5

give 2 advantages of official crime statistics

Answer 5

-useful for getting the bigger picture of crime (national stats)
-easy comparisons with previous years to determine trends
-shows where the police should focus their resources
-provides a basis for sociologists to explain crime.
-indicates issues with police stereotyping + assumptions

Question 6

give 2 disadvantages of official crime statistics

Answer 6

• not all crimes are reported to police
  -not all crimes are recorded by police. Approximately 50% of crimes reported to the police are not recorded.
• many factors influence the police decision to record crime:
  how serious the crime is, how the crime is categorised, police discretion, the social position of the person reporting the crime.

Question 7

are the patterns of recorded crime in England Wales increasing or decreasing?

Answer 7

increase in police recorded crimes. was decreasing from 2004-2013. Increasing from 2013 - now.

Question 8

summarise what victim surveys are / how they work

Answer 8

-interviews
-a sample of the population is asked which offences have been committed against them over a period of time.

Question 9

give an example of a victimisation study

Answer 9

British Crime Survey, now known as Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) - been collected yearly since 2000. 40,000 people interviewed annually.

Question 10

give 2 advantages of Victim Surveys

Answer 10

• can capture information on crimes that are not reported to the police
• provides an account of the victim + indicates patterns of victimisation
• provides patterns and trends overtime (2000–>)

Question 11

give 2 disadvantages of Victim Surveys

Answer 11

-relies on the memory of the victim, which may be faulty or biased
-relies on the way the victim would categorise a crime, rather than official categorisations
-not all surveys include victims under 16, possibly due to issues of consent, and they are a vulnerable group

Question 12

explain what self - report studies are and how they operate

Answer 12

• normally a small number of people in a focus group or via questionnaire
• asked to discuss crimes that they have committed
• a sample of the population is selected

Question 13

give 2 advantages of self report studies

Answer 13

-useful for gaining info about antisocial behaviour or hidden crimes
- can find out about ‘hidden offenders’ who may not have been caught by the police

Question 14

give 2 disadvantages of self report studies

Answer 14

-many are longitudinal (revisits same sample over time) which creates issues of studying the same group over time:
-> easy to lose contact
-> consent can be withdrawn
-> could die (sample attrition)
-participants may not be truthful (worry about the consequences)
-can be difficult to categorise crimes that offenders discuss
-representativeness is often an issue- as self report studies are often completed by young people

Question 15

what is meant by the ‘dark figure of crime’ ?

Answer 15

-refers to all the crimes that go undetected, unreported and unrecorded