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Sociology Paper 3: Section B > Measuring crime > Flashcards

Measuring crime Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the three ways crime is measured?

A

Police recorded crimes
Victim surveys
Self-report surveys/studies

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2
Q

What is Police recorded crime?

A

Official crime statistics produced by the police, courts, and prison records.

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3
Q

What are the positives of Police recorded crime?

A
  • They are easy to access
  • Up to date, show emerging trends
  • Cover the whole population
  • They are ethical (recorded and identified through legal means)
  • Provide ‘whole counts’ not just estimates
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4
Q

What are the negatives of Police recorded crime?

A
  • Do not include ‘the dark figure of crime’.
  • Do not provide a complete picture about each crime (family background/employment status).
  • Changes in public perception may influence them as a certain crime may be noticed more if it has recently been publicised.
  • Accuracy may vary depending on targets police may have to meet in areas.
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5
Q

What makes up ‘The dark figure of crime’?

A

Undetected, unreported, or unrecorded crime

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6
Q

What sociologists like Police recorded crime statistics?

A

Functionalists
The New Right
Left Realists
Some feminists

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7
Q

What sociologists dislike Police recorded crime statistics?

A

Marxists
Interactionalists
Radical Criminologists
Feminists

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8
Q

What did Keir Starmer say about sexual attacks?

A

9 out of 10 rapes go unreported to the police as victims feel the criminal justice system won’t help.

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9
Q

What are Victim Surveys?

A

Surveying people on what crimes they’ve been victims of.

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10
Q

What are examples of Victim Surveys?

A
  • Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW)
  • The Islington Crime Survey by Jones & Young/ left realists
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11
Q

How often are Victim Surveys by the CSEW carried out?

A

Annually, since 1982

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12
Q

How large is the CSEW’s nationally representative sample?

A

around 25,000 adults, and 3,000 children per year

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13
Q

How are respondents interviewed through the CSEW?

A

In their own homes using a structured questionnaire.

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14
Q

What do the CSEW tend to show about crime rates compared to police recorded crime?

A

Crime is much higher than the police figures suggest, some up to 4x.

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15
Q

What three things does the CSEW collect information on?

A
  • information about the victims
  • circumstances in which incidents occur
  • behaviour of offenders
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16
Q

What has the CSEW been successful in developing special measures to estimate the extent of?

A
  • Domestic violence
  • Stalking
    (Least reported to the police but have most serious impact on victims.)
17
Q

What are some limitations of the CSEW?

A
  • Victimless crimes (where the victim is a corporation), will not appear.
  • Only survey a sample, so overall trends are only an estimate, so may not be representative.
  • The response rate potentially misses data.
18
Q

Who says ‘surveys and police statistics combined enable the outlines of crime to be mapped far better than police statistics alone’?

A

Hough & Mayhew

19
Q

What did Jones & Young’s (left realist) second Islington Crime Survey find?

A
  • Researched into the impact crime has on individual lives.
  • 1/3 of all households had been touched by serious crime in the last 12 months.
  • Also found 80.5% of people saw crime as a problem effecting their lives. Women were found to be particularly effected by not going out after dark.
  • Also found higher rates of female victimisation by using carefully trained researchers who were able to sympathetically conduct interviews.
20
Q

What are the limitations of victim surveys according to Young?

A
  • Dark figure is still present as the accuracy of victim surveys relies on the memory and honesty of the victim.
  • People’s threshold of “crime” may differ. e.g., some may be unaware they have been a victim, whilst others may include things which aren’t technically crimes.
  • If response rate is low, it will affect the representativeness.
21
Q

What are self-report studies?

A

Asking people what crimes they have committed themselves.

22
Q

What are some examples of self-report studies?

A
  • Campbell’s study
  • Cambridge’s study
  • The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime
23
Q

Are self-report studies mainly qualitative or quantitative?

A

Quantitative (involve a list of offences requiring the respondent to tick the ones they have committed)

24
Q

What was the Campbell study, and what did it show?

A

It was conducted on both young men and women and found that crimes committed by men and women were a lot closer than police recorded crime figures suggested.

25
Q

What do Self report studies often challenge?

A

the picture of a typical criminal (e.g., male, working class)

26
Q

What was the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime?

A
  • A study which followed over 4000 youths who had offended. It looked at gender differences and covered a continuous account of their lives.
  • Gained consent from parents through letters and children were fully informed about the purpose of the study and were free to refuse to take part.
  • After 4 sweeps, the response rate was at 94%
27
Q

What are the three things to consider when discussing the usefulness of self-report surveys.

A
  • Validity
  • Attrition (how strong something is)
  • Ethics
28
Q

What three point show the issue with self-report surveys being valid?

A
  • They may lie.
  • West & Farrington found 19% of convicted boys admitted they had been convicted.
29
Q

What points show an issue with self-report studies having attrition?

A
  • Farrington said those who are difficult to find/interview tend to commit most offences
  • Cambridge study suggested than cooperation was an issue
30
Q

What was the participation rate of the Edinburgh study after 4 sweeps?

A

94%

31
Q

What were some ethical elements of the Edinburgh study?

A
  • Gained consent from parents through letters.
  • Children were fully informed about the purpose of the study and were free to refuse.
32
Q

What was the response rate for the CSEW in June 2022?

A

41%

Sociology Paper 3: Section B (18 decks)

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