Measuring Crime

Question 1

Official Statistics

Answer 1

for comp to discover trends
to look at police efficiency
show where police should concentrate resources to dec crime
provide public info about crime patterns & socios basis to explain crime
to reveal police assumps & stereotyping

Question 2

Sources of Stats

Answer 2

1. police recorded crime (PRC)
2. victim Surveys
3. Self Report Studies
4. Court & Prison Records & Records on Police Causation

Question 3

Victim Surveys

Answer 3

give m accurate pic than PRC - eg Crime Survey for Eng & Ws (CSEW) - face to face study

Question 4

Self Report Surveys

Answer 4

anonymous questionaires eg Home Office’s Offending Crime & Justice Survey - annually 2003-6

Question 5

Court & Prison Records & Records on Police Causation

Answer 5

reveal some of the charas of offenders who are caught

Question 6

1930-50

Trends in Crime

Answer 6

gradual rise - end of war - soldiers = frustrated - inc standard of living - leads to relative dep

Question 7

1950-80

Trends in Crime

Answer 7

steeper rise = econ growth & soc anomie - w/ changes in the role of women & wider soc

Question 8

1980 - mid 1990s

Trends in Crime

Answer 8

rapid inc - econ recession - higher rela dep & unemploy

Question 9

Mid 1990 - 2016

Trends in Crime

Answer 9

grad annual decline - could be due to changes in reporting - new types of crime not included - cyber crime

Question 10

The Official Crime Rate

Answer 10

stats collected using police, court & prison recs

Question 11

British Crime Survey

Answer 11

stats collected through vic surveys & self reports - 50,000 ppl over 16 asked annually if vic of crime
VS - speak to ppl to get stats - m than just PRC
SRS - completed by prisoners in custody

Question 12

Official Crime Statistics are a Social Construction

Answer 12

dif to measure
= wide agreement w/in a given cul over what = crime
= disagree w/in same cul when it comes to aspects of the term esp periphery issues
crim stats = soc construction -product of soc process
= fund difs between culs w/ what constitutes as a crime

Question 13

Social Construction of Crime

Answer 13

m approach crime stats w/ caution
are they reliable, how can we be sure they are classified correctly, what happens if m than one crime at same time, what about validity
police officers have some discretion over crime classifi
2014 = calc 1 in 5 crimes rep to police = not recorded
only 27% = detected/cleared up 2014/15

Question 14

Maguire (2002)

Answer 14

estimates only 3% of all crime ends up w/ conviction

Question 15

Functionalist View on Statistics

Answer 15

share view of positivists & tend to accept stats uncrit
inspired sub cul theory - started w/ view that crime = young WC & male
accept official stats at face value - see them as reliable & valid

Question 16

Marxist View on Statistics

Answer 16

recog the systematic bias in fav of powerful in app of law
gen higher in soc system less likely they are to = arrested & convicted
stress sig dark side of white collar & corp cime = invisible & not in stats
show biased view = constructed by RC ignores white collar crime - suggests = WC

Question 17

Interactionist View on Statistics

Answer 17

sees crime stats as largely useless & distortion of reality
argue stats = soc construc & tell nothing about real level of crime only who compiled them
stats = soc construc & only useful for iden stereos & assumps
labelling

Question 18

Labelling Theory View on Statistics

Answer 18

interested in questions - why some acts are viewed as m dev than others & why some groups = labelled dev

Question 19

Left Realist View on Statistics

Answer 19

accept official stats have some values & shouldn’t be rejected
accept view typ offen = young, male WC & dispropor Black
using vic studies show ppl (poor & vul) have real fears of crime
stats = broadly correct but under rep white collar & corp crime exag WC crime participants by ethn min

Question 20

Feminist View on Statistics

Answer 20

crime stats underplay extent of female vics - personal attack dv
prev police saw home attacks as doms = reluc to get involv
many female vics of physical & sexual attack = reluc to rep
stats underrep female crimes & crimes against women - dv/rape