social constructionism

Question 1

dark figure of crime

Answer 1

• number of undetected crimes
• crime dark figure includes all criminal acts which are not known to the police or other government agencies
• most common reason for the existence of dark figure is non-reporting of crimes - estimated that the dark figure of crime makes up 60% of committed crime

eg - too petty, only reported if beneficial for victim, distrust in police, private matter

Question 2

the media

Answer 2

85% of all crime known to police is brought to attention from the public

whether member of public reports crime also influenced by reporting within the media

media often exaggerates events, sensationalise criminality and generate moral panics of certain groups which can lead to an increase in fear of crime

Question 3

the role of police in gathering crime statistics

Answer 3

police filter information - seriousness, social status, classifying crimes, discretion, promotion and relationships at work

social constructionism and police recorded crime
- things that make people less likely to report a crime:
too trivial, dont want to bother the police, private matter, too embarrassing

more likely to see some benefit in doing so, they have faith in the police to deal with the crime

factors affecting the validity of police recorded crime
- dark figure of crime
- type of crime
- location of incident
- the way the police categorise the incident
- social constructionism
- chances to the way certain crimes are counted

Question 4

the role of the judiciary

Answer 4

official statistics also reflect the decisions within courts eg sentencing

statistics are reflection of social processes eg social class, racism, labelling, people often plead guilty

Question 5

the role of the government

Answer 5

crime changes over periods of time and governments change the law to reflect the cultural changes that are occurring

trends in crime over a long period of time is difficult to gain comparisons due to changes in the law and government initiatives

Question 6

interactionism

Answer 6

social construction

• labelling rejects the view of accurate statistics
• more interested in the way statistics are socially constructed and are only useful for revealing the stereotypes, labelling and assumptions of the public

stat patterns further fuel stereotypes with generates a self fulfilling prophecy which then provides a typical delinquent image for the police to base their work upon

Question 7

marxism

Answer 7

social constructionism

law enforcement benefits the ruling class and therefore statistics cannot be representative of the whole population

the crimes of the poor highlighted while crimes of rich are not seen as criminal

reflects these inequalities and scapegoating

Question 8

feminism

Answer 8

social construction

stats do not reflect the amount of crime against women

sexual attacks ect not reported

domestic violence seen as a private matter

Question 9

left realism

Answer 9

broadly accurate

crime is seen as a genuine problem, especially for the poorer groups in society

crime statistics cannot be rejected as inaccurate - broadly accurate

left realists like victim surveys as they reveal the real basis of many people’s genuine fear of crime

Question 10

functionalism / new right / right realism

Answer 10

accurate

statistics are accurate and representative of most crime

they are useful for gaining trends and patterns and creating a base for forming hypotheses and building theories