Measuring crime Flashcards
What are the three ways crime is measured?
Police recorded crimes
Victim surveys
Self-report surveys/studies
What is Police recorded crime?
Official crime statistics produced by the police, courts, and prison records.
What are the positives of Police recorded crime?
- 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
What are the negatives of Police recorded crime?
- 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.
What makes up ‘The dark figure of crime’?
Undetected, unreported, or unrecorded crime
What sociologists like Police recorded crime statistics?
Functionalists
The New Right
Left Realists
Some feminists
What sociologists dislike Police recorded crime statistics?
Marxists
Interactionalists
Radical Criminologists
Feminists
What did Keir Starmer say about sexual attacks?
9 out of 10 rapes go unreported to the police as victims feel the criminal justice system won’t help.
What are Victim Surveys?
Surveying people on what crimes they’ve been victims of.
What are examples of Victim Surveys?
- Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW)
- The Islington Crime Survey by Jones & Young/ left realists
How often are Victim Surveys by the CSEW carried out?
Annually, since 1982
How large is the CSEW’s nationally representative sample?
around 25,000 adults, and 3,000 children per year
How are respondents interviewed through the CSEW?
In their own homes using a structured questionnaire.
What do the CSEW tend to show about crime rates compared to police recorded crime?
Crime is much higher than the police figures suggest, some up to 4x.
What three things does the CSEW collect information on?
- information about the victims
- circumstances in which incidents occur
- behaviour of offenders
What has the CSEW been successful in developing special measures to estimate the extent of?
- Domestic violence
- Stalking
(Least reported to the police but have most serious impact on victims.)
What are some limitations of the CSEW?
- 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.
Who says ‘surveys and police statistics combined enable the outlines of crime to be mapped far better than police statistics alone’?
Hough & Mayhew
What did Jones & Young’s (left realist) second Islington Crime Survey find?
- 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.
What are the limitations of victim surveys according to Young?
- 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.
What are self-report studies?
Asking people what crimes they have committed themselves.
What are some examples of self-report studies?
- Campbell’s study
- Cambridge’s study
- The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime
Are self-report studies mainly qualitative or quantitative?
Quantitative (involve a list of offences requiring the respondent to tick the ones they have committed)
What was the Campbell study, and what did it show?
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.
What do Self report studies often challenge?
the picture of a typical criminal (e.g., male, working class)
What was the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime?
- 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%
What are the three things to consider when discussing the usefulness of self-report surveys.
- Validity
- Attrition (how strong something is)
- Ethics
What three point show the issue with self-report surveys being valid?
- They may lie.
- West & Farrington found 19% of convicted boys admitted they had been convicted.
What points show an issue with self-report studies having attrition?
- Farrington said those who are difficult to find/interview tend to commit most offences
- Cambridge study suggested than cooperation was an issue
What was the participation rate of the Edinburgh study after 4 sweeps?
94%
What were some ethical elements of the Edinburgh study?
- Gained consent from parents through letters.
- Children were fully informed about the purpose of the study and were free to refuse.
What was the response rate for the CSEW in June 2022?
41%
