Methods and Trends - Crime

Question 1

What are police recorded statistics (OCS)?

Answer 1

Crime statistics are drawn fro the records that are kept by the police and other official agencies, these records are published every 6 months by the Home Office.

Question 2

What are the strengths of OCS?

Answer 2

1) Can discover trends in time
2) Measure police efficiency by looking at clear-up rate
3) Show where police should concentrate resources
4) Provide public with info
5) Provided a basis for sociologists to explain crime
6) Reveal police assumptions and stereotyping
7) Allow us to understand macro crime patterns

Question 3

How are not all crimes reported on OCS?

Answer 3

Crimes cannot be recored if they are not reported in the first place. A high proportion of crimes are not reported to the police at all

Question 4

Why are not all crimes reported?

Answer 4

• Too trivial to bother police with
• A private matter between family and friends
• Too embarrassing
• Victim may not be in a position to give info (child suffering abuse)
• May fear reprisals

Question 5

When may people be more likely to report a crime?

Answer 5

• They see some benefit to themselves

- They have faith in the police to achieve results

Question 6

How are not all crimes recorded on OCS?

Answer 6

Not all crimes make it into the OCS, in one year 57% of all crime reported is not recorded

Question 7

What is the dark figure of crime?

Answer 7

Crime that is not recorded or reported

Question 8

What are the 5 factors that may affect the police’s decision to record the crime?

Answer 8

1) Seriousness: offence is too trivial
2) Social status: may view ss of the person as not high enough to regard as an issue worth pursuing
3) Classifying: police opinon ditermins the category and seriousness of the crime
4) Discretion: chances of being arrested for an offence increase markedly depending upon the ‘demeanour’ of the person being challenged
5) Promotion: police officers try to impress senior officers but also need to get on with colleagues who do not like those who are too keen

Question 9

What does Anderson et al suggested about discretion?

Answer 9

Youths who cooperate and were police are less likely to be arrested

Question 10

What does Collison suggest about promotion?

Answer 10

Arrests reflect a balance between comradeship and desire for promotion

Question 11

How does the role of the courts effect OCS?

Answer 11

OCS reflect the decision of the court
- Courts work on the assumption many people will plead guilty and then the defence will try to get them the lightest sentence

Question 12

How does the role of the government effect OCS?

Answer 12

The government is always changing laws in response to cultural changes and the influence of powerful groups = difficult to compare crime rates over time as the definition of crimes change

Question 13

What are Victim Surveys?

Answer 13

A sample of the population, either locally or nationally, is asked which offences have been committed against them over a period of time

Question 14

What are 4 strengths of victim surveys?

Answer 14

1) Overcomes the fact that many crimes are not reported to police
2) Gives an excellent picture of the extent of patterns of victimisation
3) Detailed info about a specific location
4) Provide specific info about local problems (Islington Crime Surveys)

Question 15

What are 5 weaknesses of victim surveys?

Answer 15

1) Recollections can be faulty of biased
2) Categorisation of the crimes is left to the person filling out the survey
3) Leave out crimes that victims are not aware they were part off
4) Appear to under report sexual offences
5) Media often sensitise the public towards activity that can be seen as a crime worth reporting

Question 16

What are self-report studies?

Answer 16

A sample of the population are selected and asked what offences they have committed

Question 17

What does Maguire suggest?

Answer 17

Since the 1970s there has been a huge increase in the amount of statistics gathered on crime. Self report studies are a useful way of gaining access to info about hidden crimes.

Question 18

What does Garland suggest?

Answer 18

• In late modernity there is a greater sense of uncertainty and risk and governments are no longer believed to catch and punish all criminals
• ‘responsibilisation’ - shift towards blaming people for becoming victims of crime, by suggesting they have not taken adequate precautions

Question 19

What is the Positivist view of crime statistics?

Answer 19

Have an uncritical acceptance of the accuracy of OCS

Question 20

What is the Interpretivist view of crime statistics?

Answer 20

The labelling view rejects the accuracy of crime statics. Instead it concentrates on understanding the way they are socially constructed.

Question 21

What is the Marxist view of crime?

Answer 21

Believe law and its enforcement reflects the interests of r/c. The crimes of the poor are strictly enforced but those of the rich are either ignored or not defined as criminal. Statistics reflect these inequalities and scapegoating.

Question 22

What is the Feminist view of crime?

Answer 22

Crime statistics do not reflect the amount of crime against women, such as domestic violence. These often occur in a private setting where police are reluctant to get involved. Many women do not feel that they can report these crimes.

Question 23

What is the Functionalist view of crime?

Answer 23

Believe crime statistics are accurate and useful, help to maintain the status quo by checking for tends, and dealing with any increases what arise e.g. may suggests the need for change in law and punishment

Question 24

What is the Left Realists view of crime?

Answer 24

Accept crime is a genuine problem, especially for the poorer groups in society. Crime statistics cannot simply be rejected as inaccurate. Favour detailed victim surveys in local areas as can relate the basis for many people genuine fear of crime.