MEASURING CRIME Flashcards
What is the OCS
the official crime statics
explain the OCS
the OCS included statics produced from the police, court and prison records as we
What are police recorded crimes
Supplied by 43 territorial police forces and home office which then the police record
What are the benefits of the police recorded crime
- Easy to access - already compiled
- Up to date and standardised
- Cover the whole population and go back many years - identify patterns and trends
- Provide whole counts instead of estimates
What are the limitations of police recorded crime figures.
- Dark figure of crime - unreported and unrecorded crime
- Not complete picture
- Accuracy may vary from place to place
- Coughing and cuffing
Statistics on dark figure of crime
- mumsnet 2012 83% of those who had been raped or sexually assaulted did not report to the police. Embarrassed /ashamed
-70% say media is less sympathetic to women who report rape - kier starmer 2012 9/10 rapes and other sexual attacks are never reported to the police because victimisation do not believe the CJS
- Lindsey Armstrong(14) victim of rape was put into second ordeal by defence lawyer - underwear-next morning she overdosed and died
Functionalists view on police recorded crime
Believe in existence of so I’ll facts
Trust quantitative data - reliable and representative
Value consensus
Working class males
New rights and right realists view on PRCS
Accept full picture = believe that laws are made for the benefit of the whole society + applied equally
Underclass
Left realists view on PRCS
Not perfect but not dismissed it should be added with victim surveys
Feminists view on PRCS
Accept females commit less crime
High levels of social control
Male crimes against females is underrepresented
Marxists view on PRCS
Tool to control capitalist society and working class to oppress them and justify their control
Used to scare us
Interactionionsits view on PCRS
Agree to an extend with Marxists
Focus on social construction
Police labelling
Radical criminologists view PRCS
Combine Marxists and interactionists
Focus on power of police to label for political reasons
Used to challenge the over representation of certain ethnic minority
What are victim surveys
Surveying people about which crimes they have been victims to in a given period
Example of victim surveys
CSEW
Age range of CSEW
OVER 18
OVER 16
2009 10-15
Representation of CSEW
35,000 adults and 30,000 children
Response rate in 2013-14 75% and 68% respectively
What does CSEW show
Underrepresent crimes 4x higher - violence stalking and sexual
Limitation of CSEW
- no victimless crimes
- Only over 16
- small sample
- 75% respond so could be missing potential important data
Other victim survey
Islington crime survery 1986
What did the Islington survery find?
3rd of all households touched by serious crimes in last 12 months
1/4 always avoided going out after dark due to fear of crime 28% felt unsafe in their home
What did young argue about the Islington survery
Shows fear of crime is real and rational
Dobash and Dobash
In-depth interview about DV for refugees women
Limitations of Victim surveys
Dark figure of crime still
Relies too much on memory and honesty
Threshold of crime may differ
Response late is low
Non victimis may not respond
