Measuring & Defining Crime

Question 1

What are official statistics?

Answer 1

figures based on the numbers of crimes that are reported/recorded by the police which are often used by the government to inform crime presentation strategies

Question 2

AO3 official statistics

Answer 2

Farrington & Dowds: only about 25% crime reported, Nottingham police more likely to report theft below 10 pounds hence spike
- police priories may distort figures

Question 3

What are victim surveys?

Answer 3

a questionnaire which asks a sample of 50,000 households what crimes have been committed against them over the period of a year (CSEW)

Question 4

AO3 victim surveys

Answer 4

include crimes not reported by police (2006/7) OS 2% crime decrease but VS 3% increase
- rely on respondents to be accurate

Question 5

What are offender surveys?

Answer 5

a self-report measure that requires people to record the number and types of crimes that have committed over a specific period

Question 6

AO3 offender surverys

Answer 6

despite anonymity, offenders may not be honest - concealing crimes or over exaggerating

Question 7

AO3 multidisciplinary approach

Answer 7

each method has issues in terms of reliability/validity of data they produce, so all figures should be carefully scrutinised/interpreted
researchers advocate combining all for best insight into true extent of offending

Question 8

What is the top-down approach?

Answer 8

profiles start with a pre-established typology and decide whether offenders are organised or disorganised based on eyewitness accounts and evidence from the crime scene

Question 9

What is an organised offender?

Answer 9

evidence of planning, targets the victim and tends to be socially/sexually competent with higher than average intelligence

Question 10

What is an disorganised offender?

Answer 10

an offender who shows little evidence of planning, leave clues and tends to be socially and sexually incompetent with lower than average intelligence

Question 11

How is an FBI profile contructed?

Answer 11

• data assimilation (review evidence - photos, pathology reports)
• crime scene classification - organised VS disorganised
• crime reconstruction - hypothesis about behaviour/events
• profile generation - hypothesis about offender e.g. background

Question 12

AO3 top-down - limited approach

Answer 12

-crimes that reveal improtant details about suspect (rape, murder) limited approach as common offences e.g burglary don’t lend themselves to profiling as they reveal little about the offender

Question 13

AO3 top-down - based on outdated models of personality

Answer 13

• typology based on idea pattern of behaviour is consistent across situations and contexts Alison et al: see behaviour as driven by dispositional traits rather than constantly changing external factors - may have poor validity when it comes to identifying suspects/prediticting next move

Question 14

AO3 top-down - evidence does not support disorganised offender

Answer 14

• Canter et al: smallest space analysis 100 murders - each case compared against 39 characteristics typical of organised/disorgansied killers - evidence for organised type but not disorganised - undermines classification system

Question 15

AO3 top-down - original sample from which typologies were constructed

Answer 15

interviews 36 killers in US (small, unrepresentative sample) - Canter argued not sensible to rely on self-report of convince killers to construct a classification system - questions validity of the approach

Question 16

What is the bottom-up approach?

Answer 16

when profilers work up from evidence collected from the crime scene to develop hypothesis about the likelihood;y characteristics, motivations and social background of the offender

Question 17

What is investigative psychology?

Answer 17

form of bottom-up that matches details from the crime scene with statistical analysis of typical offender behaviour patterns based on psychological theory - statistical database for comparison - try to figure out whether a series of offences are linked to one person

Question 18

What is interpersonal coherence?

Answer 18

the idea that the way an offender behaves at the crime scene may reflect their behaviour in everyday situations

Question 19

What is geographical profiling?

Answer 19

a form on bottom-up based on the idea of spatial consistency - offenders operational base and possible future offences revealed by geographical location of previous crimes

Question 20

Explain Canter’s circle theory

Answer 20

the marauder: operates close to home base
the commuter: likely to travelled a distance away from usual residence
- Canter&Larkin suggest pattern of offending locations likely to form a circle around offender’s usual residence, becomes more apparent the more offences there are
- offenders spatial decision making can provide insight into nature of the offence

Question 21

AO3 bottom-up approach - support for investigative psychology

Answer 21

Canter&Heritage: content analysis 66 sexual assault cases using smallest space analysis - several characteristics commonly identified leading to understanding of how an offenders behaviour may change across series of offences or establishing whether 2+ offences were committed by the same person - usefulness and how statistical techniques can be applied

Question 22

AO3 bottom-up approach - supports geographical profiling

Answer 22

120 murder cases in US - smallest space analysis revealed spatial consistency in behaviour of killers - location of each body disposal sight identified ‘centre of gravity’ - noticeable for marauders - supports idea spatial information is a key factor in determining base of an offender

Question 23

AO3 bottom-up approach - scientific basis

Answer 23

geographical, biographical, psychological data used to quickly produce data to assist investigation - more objective and scientific than top-down

Question 24

AO3 bottom-up approach - use in judicial process

Answer 24

investigative psychology expanded to include suspect interviewing and examination of material presented in court

Question 25

AO3 bottom-up approach - wider application

Answer 25

techniques such as smallest space analysis also used for burglary/theft as well as rape/murder - more valuable than top-down

Question 26

AO3 bottom-up approach - mixed results for profiling

Answer 26

Copson: surveyed 48 police forces - b-d described as ‘useful’ for 83% cases but only led to accurate identification of an offender 3% of cases - question effectiveness