Measuring crime- Official crime statistics

Question 1

What are the 2 ways in which sociologists measure crime?

Answer 1

1- Analyse secondary data, including official stats, police reported crime, victim surverys
2- Collect primary data by conducting local victim surverys or self-report studies

Question 2

What are official crime statistics?

Answer 2

• Consist of police reported crime
• Generated by police recorded crime

Question 3

What are the 2 main sources of official crime statistics?

Answer 3

1- Police recorded crime
2- Court records of convictions/cautions of offenders

Question 4

Who uses official crime statistics?

Answer 4

• Politicians
• Media
• Police forces
• Prison services

Question 5

What are the key 5 things crime statistics are used for?

Answer 5

1- To compare crime rates with previous years and give a picture of trends
2- To reveal police efficiency
3- To help the police concentrate their resources
4- To provide the public with information about criminal activity
5- To inform government policy

Question 6

What is the difference between unreported and unrecorded crime?

Answer 6

Unreported= reported (told) to the police
Unrecorded= recorded (noted down) by the police

Question 7

What is the dark figure of crime?

Answer 7

• Wiles: describes all unrecorded crime
• (CSEW- the true level of crime is 2x the official crime rate)

Question 8

What 3 things must happen before a crime is recorded?

Answer 8

1- The crime must be brought to somebody’s attention
2- The crime must be reported to the police
3- The police must be willing to accept that the law has been broken

Question 9

What are some reasons for underreporting?

Answer 9

• Fear
• Seen as ‘petty’
• Seriousness of crime
• Distrut the police
• Only report if beneficial
• Blackmail/manipulation
• ‘Private matter’
• Unable to report
• Embarassment
• Do not want to harm the offender
• Crime is victimless (drug-taking, etc)
• Difficult to detect (corporate/white collar crime)

Question 10

What did Kinsey, Lea and Young find about underreporting?

Answer 10

• Inner city residents have little faith in the police
• Street crime mainly affects the w/c
• w/c turn a blind eye to crime
• Fear of reprisal from criminals
• Crime arises from feelings of relative deprivation

Question 11

What did Moore, Aiken and Chapman find about underreporting of crime?

Answer 11

• See police as ‘filters’= only record some crime that has been reported to them
• Due to: seriousness, social status of victim, classifying the crime (e.g: minor vs aggravated assault), discretion (officer has the discretion to press charges/let them off)
• Those whose demenour is defernetial, co-operative and polite are more likely to be let off for minor crime

Question 12

What did Gill find about underreporting?

Answer 12

• Police in Liverpool treated the w/c less favourably
• E.g: met investigation in the murder of Stephen Lawrence

Question 13

What is the ‘cuffing of crime’?

Answer 13

• Dishonest practice of not recording crime
• The fall of crime in the 1990s may be due to manipulation by the police (cuffing)

Question 14

What is plea bargaining?

Answer 14

• Receiving guilty pleas in exchange for downgrading the seriousness of the crime (skews the statistics)

Question 15

What are the disadvantages of official crime statistics?

Answer 15

• More crime may be reported (less willing to tolerate certain crime- Maguire- 1991-2001= reports of theft, rape and robbery doubled + break up of clsoe-knit communities)
• New crimes are emerging and open up new opportunities for crime (interent crime- fraud, child porn)
• Changes in legislation and law enforcement may result in more crime (2002- national crime recording standard- to reduce police discretion)