Forensic psychology

Crime- An act that breaks the law and therefore results in some form of punishment by a court of law

Historical issues- Definitions of crime change over time

E.g. Homosexuality was considered a crime in the UK until 1967

Cultural issues- what may be considered a crime in one culture may not be in another culture

E.g. Marriage laws (in the U.K. Having more than one wife's is a crime, however in other cultures it is practised

Official statistics-Government records of the total number of crimes reported to by the police and recorded
Published by the home office annually
Useful snapshot of the number of crimes occurring in different regions
Allows for crime prevention strategies to be developed

Victim surveys- Record people's experience of crime over a specific period
50,000 households randomly selected to be a part of the survey- allows ONS to produce crime figures
Crime survey for E & W asks people to document crimes they have been victim to in the past year
Offender surveys- Involves individuals volunteering details of the number and types of crimes they have committed
Tend to target 'likely' groups of people based on previous convictions, age, social background etc.
Was the first self report survey in England and Wales
Looked at indicators of repeat offending, trends in prevalence of offending, drug and alcohol use, the role of co-offenders and the relationship between perpetrators and victims