Sociology - C&D - Measuring Crime - Official Crime Statistics - Police Recorded Crime Flashcards
Official Crime Statistics consist of statistics from which 4 key areas?
The Police, The courts, Prison records, Crime survery for england and Wales
Which three things need to happen in order for a crime to be recorded by the police?
Awareness of crime, Needs to be reported, Recorded by authorities
What does police recorded crime cover?
All of the crime statistics that the police collect in England and Wales from over 43 police forces
How much has homicides recorded by police risen from 2020 to 2022?
0.02
How much has domestic violence increased from 2020 to 2022?
0.14
How has fraud rates changed between 2020 and 2022
It has stayed at 3.8million cases
Why does police recorded crime not represent the total number or volume of crime that actually occurs?
There is a dark figure of crime
What is the dark figure of crime?
Crime that is unrecorded and might not be known
Why may there be a dark figure of crime?
- Failure in police recorded practices - Police Discretion
In which ways do the police recording practices fail and therefore produce a dark figure of crime?
perceived importance, counting rules, coughing, cuffing, skewing
How does the perceived importance of crime affect police recording practices?
Crimes need to be serious enough in order to gain police’s attention in the first place, sometimes crimes may be labelled as too trivial or not having enough evidence so won’t be recorded
How do counting rules of crime affect police recording practices?
Statistics should indicate the number of victims of crime rather that the number of criminal acts
How does “coughing” affect police recording practices?
When an offender is encouraged to admit to committing many offences in return for a lesser sentence. Sometimes criminals lie to achieve this.
How does the cuffing affect police recording practices?
Refers to crimes that have been recorded or reported but then removed for statistics, “no crime”
How does skewing affect police recording practices?
When police forces put resources into some areas over others due to a high crime rate of being measured by performance indicators.
Police discretion
Decisions made by the police might affect whether they actually record the crime or not.
In which ways does police discretion produce a dark figure of crime?
Corruption, Personal responsibility, Stereotypes, Priorities
What are the advantages of police recorded crime?
- Annual statistics can be easily compared with previous statistics from years ago and their quantitative nature can show trends. Supported by positivists - Functionalists support the use of police recorded crime because statistics are social data that measure behaviour scientifically
What are the disadvantages of police recorded crime?
- Whether a crime has been committed depends on the individuals perception (Interactionist theory by Becker) - Marxists criticise as this is a tool used to control the working class and justify their control and oppression.
