Official Statistics and Victimology Flashcards
What did Cicourel argue about statistics?
They are social constructions, dependent on whose job it is to deal with law breaking.
In 2014 how much reported crime was it estimated was not reported?
1 in 5, 19%
What did Maguire estimate?
Only 3% of crime in England and Wales ends in a conviction.
How has mass media led to a change in reporting in crime?
Crimes are now brought to the attention of police by the public, for example GMP having a twitter account.
How has changing police attitudes effected the recording of crime?
A strong desire from police to prosecute certain offenders, such as cracking down on knife crime, leads to more allocation of recourses on policing that issue.
What does McGuire argue about lack of tolerance for anti social behaviour?
Growing privatization and breakdown of community life means that people are now reporting issues that they would have one time dealt with themselves.
How have changes in the law effected how crime is reported?
In 2012, 292 new criminal offences were added and 188 were abolished.
How does community policing effect how crime is reported?
Things like policing schemes and neighbourhood watch mean that people are more likely to be caught.
Why has an increase in consumerism effected crime statistics?
People have more to lose, they have things like home content insurance. Insurance claims need a crime reference number for criminal damage so therefore more crime is reported.
What does the dark figure of crime statistics mean?
The amount of unreported on undiscovered crime.
What do functionalists and subcultural theorists tend to argue about crime statistics?
They are fact and valid, they base their theories around them.
What do interactionalists and Marxists argue about crime statistics?
They are more interested in how crime statistics are produced and view them as a social construct.
What is the British Crime survey?
Its a way of measuring crimes, asking 50,000 people about the crimes they have experienced in the last year. This addresses issues such as unreported and unrecorded crime statistics, (the dark figure.)
What does Croall argue about the BCS?
It is not reliable and there are 4 main problems. 1. Crimes can only be reported if the victim is aware of them. 2. The results are limited to the memory and definition of the event. 3. The survey only looks at households and neglects business. 4. The sample does not include those whoa re under 16.
What does Box argue?
He rejected the picture painted by statistics that working class youths were more likely to commit crimes, class had no influence over whether a person admits to commiting a crime.
