Measuring crime Flashcards
What is police recorded crime?
Crime reported to the police that they record
What is the CSEW?
- An annual victim survey conducted on behalf of the gov
- Done on 30,000 homes
- Aim = to reassure the public that they are unlikely to be a victim of crime
What are self report surveys?
- Anonymous questionnaires where people are asked to own up to committing crime
- e.g. the Home Office’s Offending, Crime, and Justice Survey
What are court and prison records and police caution records?
- Reveals data on criminals who have been caught committing ctimr
- Can reveal types of crime committed and CAGE factors
What are the general trends in crime?
- Theft, criminal damages, and violence are the most commonly recorded types of crime
- 1930s to the 1950s there a gradual increase
- 1950s to the 1980s there was a steeper rise
- Mid 1980s to mid 1990s there was a rapid increase
- Mid 1990s to present day there has been a gradual decline
How are crime statistics socially constructed?
- 60% of crimes are unreported
- Statistics are only based on recorded crimes but not all crimes are reported and even less are recorded
- This hidden figure means what we really know about crime is socially constructed
Why might crime go unreported?
The CSEW state three main reasons why people choose not to report a crime to the police:
- It was too trivial, or involved no loss - the police wouldn’t have been interested or couldn’t have done anything anyways
- It was a private matter that they dealt with themselves
- It was inconvenient to report or dangerous e.g. domestic abuse
- Maguire 2012: only 3% of crimes reported to police end with a conviction - public lack trust in the system
How did childline impact crime statistics?
AO3
- Set up in 1976
- Caused child abuse rates to increase not because it was happening more but because it was being investigated more
- Children now had someone to advocate for them
What are the issues with the CSEW?
- Ignores certain groups e.g. homeless, young people
- Ignores victimless crimes e.g. vagrancy, drug taking
- People can lie/exaggerate
How can crime be reported but not recorded?
- The police are more likely to record crimes committed by certain groups e.g. ethnic minorities, working class
- Police choose how to categorise crime e.g. is it domestic abuse or just disturbing the peace
- Police can choose where to be - typically in the inner city where the WC and ethnic minorities are
What did the documentary ‘Dispatches’ find?
AO2
- Rape wasn’t taken seriously
- Rape was often categorised as petty crime
- 2 colleagues even said that they wouldn’t have reported it if they were really raped
What is the functionalist view of crime statistics?
AO2/3
- They are reliable and representative
- The findings can be treated as social facts - not affected by researcher bias
- Merton and Cohen show this view as they study WC boys specifically as statistics show they commit more crime
What is the realist view of crime statistics?
AO2/3
- These stats inform policy
- Right realists: justifies 0 tolerance policing
- Left realists: justifies measures to reduce poverty
- Reliable, representative, and provide useful trends and patterns
- Lea and Young: this is why they know that crime is a real and growing issue (can use any realist theorist)
What is the interactionist view of crime statistics?
AO2/3
- Crime statistics are socially constructed - reflect changes in law and attitudes
- Highlight institutional racism and police typification
- Becker: certain groups are overepresented in statistics due to police prejudice
What is the marxist view of crime statistics?
AO2/3
- Support use of statistics but NOT official gov statistics
- Box: official crime statistics are used to target WC and present them as morally inferior
- They are manipulated to justify police targetting the WC to erradicate the social problem
- Hall: they are used to hide the failings of capitalism by scapegoating certain groups e.g. the myth of the black mugger
