Term
| What are the three ways crime of measured? |
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Definition
-Official Statistics (police recorded crime)
-British Crime Survey
-Offender Self Reports |
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Term
| How does Official Statistics measure crime? |
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Definition
| Crimes that are reported and recorded are measured. |
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Term
What are the strengths of using official statistics to measure crime?
(3 things) |
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Definition
-A good measure of trends in well reported crimes and less common but more serious crimes
-an important indicator of police workload
-provides data for small geographic areas |
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Term
| What is the weakness of using official statistics to measure crime? |
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Definition
| -The official statistics account for only 25% of crime (Holin) |
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Term
Why may a crime go unreported?
(8 reasons) |
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Definition
-victim unwilling to report crime
-victim may not press charges
-may have no clear victim
-not worth reporting (crime is petty)
-victim has no faith on justice system
-victim afraid of being prosecuted
-Criminal is known |
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Term
Why may a crime go unrecorded?
(5 reasons) |
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Definition
-lack of evidence
-police corruption
-not worth reporting (petty crime)
-victim backtracks (eg domestic abuse)
-lots of similar crime |
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Term
| How does the British Crime Survey measure crime? |
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Definition
-50,000 people aged 16 and over living in England and Wales are asked about their experiences and perceptions of crime
-includes questions on people's attitudes towards crime related topics |
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Term
What are the strengths of using the BCS to measure crime?
(four things) |
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Definition
-Provides the most reliable measure of the extent of victimisation and of national trends over time
-Victims are more confident reporting crime
-large, representative sample
-more realistic because unrecorded and unreported crimes as well as reported and recorded crimes are measured |
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Term
What ere the weaknesses of using the BCS to measure crime?
(7 things) |
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Definition
-may not be representative
-people can be influenced by media (deviance amplification)
-less important crimes are reported
-subjective
-under 16s not included
-telescoping, event seen as more recent than it is
-sources aren't reliable |
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Term
| How do Offender self reports measure crime? |
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Definition
Longitudinal self report survey of 5,000 10-15 year olds in England and Wales asking them about their attitudes towards and experiences of offending.
-participants contacted and interviewed oin each year |
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Term
What are the strengths of using offender self reports to measure crime?
(six things) |
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Definition
-Longitudinal data allows the examination of pathways into and out of delinquency and the impact various risks and protective factors have on these pathways
-covers mainstream offences such as burglary, shoplifting, assult, fraud.
it is a direct response from offenders
-computer questioning so increased validity
-greater accuracy of number of offenders rather than number of crimes |
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Term
What are the weaknesses of using offender self reports to measure crime?
(three things) |
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Definition
-unrepresentative sample (young people and people in institutions or homeless aren't covered)
-risk of dishonest responses
-biased representation of crimes (homocide, sexual offences and other serious crimes are omitted) |
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