measuring crime Flashcards
police recorded crime strengths
positivists - accurate and useful reflection
reliable - data collected in the same way
representative - all recorded crimes in the UK
easily accessible and cheap
show changes over time and shows national differences
reveal social characteristics of those who have been processed by the criminal justice system
police recorded crime limitations
interpretivists / interactionists - Cicourel - social construct - some groups more likely to be labelled
not all reported crimes are recorded - Simmens - 42% reported and 60% recorded - DFC
problems with comparisons between countries - difference in definitions, laws and recording procedures
don’t cover non-criminal forms of deviance
statistical differences between groups may not be real
pick up on public space crime - Reiner - women and older people spend more time in private space
marxist - reflect police bias - Chambliss - not all crimes are reported - domestic violence and white collar crime
Maguire - PRC statistics do not include all crimes - some crimes eg dealt with highways agency or administratively rather than through prosecutions
- tax evasion and benefit fraud are not recorded by police forces and are not the responsibility of the home office - not included
crime survey of england and wales victim survey strengths
representative - large sample - more than 40,000 and high response rate of 75%
includes unreported crimes - asks about crimes that may not have bee reported
includes unrecorded crimes - asks about crimes that failed to be recorded
trends not affected by changes in recording practices
provides picture of victimisation
good for comparison over time - every year since 1982
crime survey limitations
problems with validity - memory, social desirability effect
non-cooperation - some may refuse so sample may not be representative
concealment - victims may conceal certain types of crime because of guilt ect
doesnt include all crimes eg victimless drug crimes
changes in attitudes may change figures
crimes where victims unaware they are victims
categorisation left to respondent - inaccuracies
only householders over 10
self report study strengths
reveal crime too minor to be reported / recorded
can reveal victimless crime
unaffected by biases in criminal justice process
validity - no social desirability effect
reliability - quantitative, can be administered by anyone and same results will be obtained
representative - quick to design and deliver
self report limitations
problems with validity - may lie or exaggerate - more likely to report involvement in minor crimes but less likely to report other crimes eg domestic violence
validity - relies on memory, relies on a checklist of criminal and deviant behaviour - imposes definitions on respondents
focuses on visible crimes
problems with representativeness - concentrate on more powerless, accessible groups - often suffer from low response rates
what is the purpose of crime statistics
- understand why people commit crime, we need to know who commits crime
- they can act as a good method of identifying where police need to focus their resources in forthcoming years
- they allow historical trends to be identified, such as rises in crimes at certain points in the year or at certain points in history eg economic recession
what is police recorded crime
statistics produced by the home office biannually
collected since 1857
provide an accurate picture of how criminal justice system processes offenders through arrests, trials, punishments
reporting crime issues - crimes cannot be recorded if they are not reported in the first instance
the role of the police in gathering statistics
police filter information given to them by the public according to a variety of factors:
seriousness - is it a police matter
social status - can class affect whether a crime is investigated
classifying crime - role of police in categorising crimes
discretion - 10% of crimes uncovered by police - Anderson et al - youths who cooperate and are polite have a greater chance of not being arrested
promotion and relationships at work - Collison - arrests reflect a balance between comradeship and a desire for promotion
dark figure of crime
the number of undetected crimes
crime dark figure includes all criminal acts which are not known to police or other governments
most common reason for the existence of dark figure is non-reporting of crimes
it is estimated that the dark figure of crimes makes up 66% of all committed crimes
invisible crime
- where victims aware
- white collar crime that’s hard to detect
- corporate crime = profits
- hidden by internal inquiry
PCR - left realists
Kingsley, Lee and Young
research based on victim surveys in Islington, North London - 3 key findings
inner city residents have little faith in the police
working class people will turn a blind eye and not get involved
fear of reprisal from criminals
official crime stats - theories
interpretivist / interactionist
- labelling rejects the view of accurate statistics
- more interested in the way that statistics are socially constructed
marxist
- law enforcement benefits the ruling class and therefore statistics cannot be representative of the whole population
- the crimes of the poor are highlighted and strictly enforced, while the crimes of the rich are not seen as criminal - statistics reflect these inequalities and reflect scapegoating
feminist
- statistics do not reflect the amount of crime against women
- sexual attacks ect are not reported due to a range of factors
- domestic violence is seen as a private matter
left realism
- crime is seen as a genuine problem, especially for the poorer groups in society
- crime statistics cannot be rejected as inaccurate - left realists like victim surveys as they reveal the real basis of many people’s genuine fear of crime
what a self-report studies
methodology - questionnaire
selected group or cross-section of the population are asked what offences they have committed in the previous 12 months
theoretical views on self-report
marxist
Petty crimes rather than white collar crime
Dominant ideology
Reinforcing the working class types of crime
interpretivism
No reason why
Snapshot
Quantitative data
Anyone could lie
feminism
not focusing on crimes against women eg domestic violence, sexual violence
