Measuring crime- Victim surveys

Question 1

What are victim surveys?

Answer 1

• Surveys of people who are asked to report all cases where they have been a victim of crime recently
• E.g: Islington Crime Survery/ Crime Survery for England and Wales (CSEW)
• Give a clear idea of the extent of crime, who is likely to be a victim, and people’s fear of crime

Question 2

What is the CSEW?

Answer 2

• Crime Survery for England and Wales
• Large sample of 38,000 interviewees
• Sample based on people living in private households
• Random but representative sample
• Interviews last 50 mins
• Asked about experience and perception of crime
• (Now includes section for domestic violence, ignores corporate/white collar crime)

Question 3

What is the BCS?

Answer 3

• British Crime Survery
• Found that crime is more than 2x police recorded crime rates

Question 4

What are the strengths of victim surveys?

Answer 4

• Provides an accurate picture of the extent of crime
• Includes unreported and unrecorded crime
• Trends identified are not affected by changes in recording practice

Question 5

What are the limitations of victim surveys?

Answer 5

• Only 3/4 of CSEW/BCS crime can be compared to police recorded crime
• Does not cover all crime that appears in police stats (e.g: corporate/victimless crime)
• Underestimates assaults against women- underreporting
• National survery- not spread evenly across the country
• Relies on memory- biased or incorrect

Question 6

What did Croall say are the 4 main problems with BCS data?

Answer 6

1- Crime may only be reported if victims are aware of them
2- Results are limited by memory and respondent’s definition of events
3- Resticted to households
4- Sample does ot include under 16s (until recently)

Question 7

What is the Islington crime survey and what are some example stats?

Local victim survey

Answer 7

• Used to assess extent of crime, gain public evaluation of police performance, and reduce underreporting
• 1/3 of households impacted by serious crime in 1 year
• 46% worry about mugging
• 40% knew a victim of mugging

Question 8

What did the BCS find in terms of victmisation?

Answer 8

• Underreport of higher levels of victimisation and repeat victmisation of minority ethnic groups and of domestic violence

Question 9

How do Left Realists use BCS data?

Answer 9

• Jones, McLean and Young:
• Evidence to show that crime is a real issue for the working class, and is still underreported due to a lack of faith in the police

Question 10

What do feminists think of victim surveys?

Answer 10

• Hanmer and Saunders suggest:
• levels of sexual crime against women are far higher than those revealed by national victim surverys, and infinitely higher than police recorded crime

Question 11

What do findings from the Islington crime survey suggest about victims of crime?

Answer 11

• Young males most likely to be victims of crime= 88% of the time, they know the attacker
• Deprived inner city areas/sink housing estates have highest crime rates and victims stand a high chance of repeat victimisation