The Dark Figure of Crime

Question 1

Dark Figure of Crime:

Answer 1

all unrecorded crime including crimes that aren’t even known about. Some crimes are more likely to be in the dark Figure than others.

Question 2

Mumsnet (2012)

Answer 2

found that 83% of those who had been raped/sexually assaulted didn’t report it to the police due to being too ashamed.

Question 3

Manipulation techniques of Police Recorded Crime Statistics:

Answer 3

Coughing

Cuffing

Skewing

Question 4

Coughing:

Answer 4

an offender might be encouraged to admit to numerous offences in return for being charged for less serious offences and thus a shorter sentence. This improves the ‘clear-up rate’ for the police force.

Question 5

Cuffing: (No-Criming)

Answer 5

refers to crimes that have been reported and initially recorded being removed from statistics later on. This may be due to police forces trying to improve figures.

Question 6

Skewing:

Answer 6

involves forces putting resources into those areas measured by performance indicators to the detriment of other areas, thus ‘skewing’ the figures.