measuring crime, victim surveys, police recorded crime Flashcards
official crime statistics contain stats from which 4 key area
1) police
2) courts
3)prison records
4)CSEW
what three things must happen for a crime to be recorded by the police
1) awareness that crime is being committed
2) crime reported
3) crime recorded
how many police forces does police recorded crime cover
over 43
what can police recorded stats give an official account of
the volume of crime
trends in relation to e.g gender and age
in 2015, out of 100 crimes committed what percentage of those were reported to police
47% are reported to police
how many criminal offences have been recorded by the police to date
4.4M
what is the dark figure of crime
refers to crime that is unrecorded
give three examples of the dark figure of crime
fraud
scams
speeding
domestic violence
pickpocketing
one reason there might be a dark figure of crime is due to police recorded malpractices- explain further
some crimes arent serious enough; too trivial and little to no evidence for e.g littering
what is coughing, cuffing, skewing (related to dark figure of crime)
coughing: encouraged to admit to crime early on to get lesser charges - leading to police getting higher clear-up rate
cuffing: crime initially reported and recorded but removed coz data changed
skewing: police concentrating resources in certain areas and not others so data skewed
5 reasons police are bad (dark figure of crime)
-corrupt police
-lazy police
-police are racist
-greedy police
-busy police
6 advantages of police recorded crime
-stats is cheap and readily available
-temporal vailidity and reliable
-quantitative data can analyse patterns
-consistency measured
-less ethical issues compared to victim surveys
-supported by functionalists
6 disadvantages of police recorded crime
-some crime not seen as crimes by victim so not reported eg identity fraud
-depends on perception of individual (you THINK your neighbour stole gnomes from ur garden so do u report it?)
-some over report crimes such as car theft due to insurance
-some crime doesn’t get recorded (white collar crime)
-governed by social constructs
-marxists say its used to control WC and justify over policing
what is the CSEW
complements police recorded stats but doesnt include things like theft, fraud, drug possession
what does the CSEW suggest
crime is higher than PRC suggests