If a crime is observed and identified as a crime, the police may be informed
However, if a crime has not been detected, it cannot be reported to the police and cannot be counted in official statistics
Many crimes therefore go undetected and are not included in official crime statistics eg. a thief taking £5 from a wallet may go undetected by the owner and would not be detected as a crime
1 of 3
Reporting
Someone reports to the police that a crime has been committed or the police observe a crime
However, many crimes are not reported to the police so they can't record them
Some reasons for not reporting a crime are:
The victims may fear the consequences from the criminals if they report the crime
The victims may fear the police
The crime is considered too private eg. domestic violence
The victim suffered no loss
It is thought that the police will not be interested and will do nothing
It may be too sensitive or embarrassing eg. ****
Crime in the workplace may not be reported because the company may prefer to dismiss the person rather than involve the police
However, a reason for the increase in certain crimes being reported is that people are more willing to report the crime
Also, there are increased police sensitivity, specially trained police officers and change in attitudes have lead to an increase in reporting some crimes
2 of 3
Recording
The police decide to record the report of a crime - however, only about 40% of the offences reported to the police are actually recorded by them
The police may not be necessarily record an act as a crime for several reasons:
The reported crime is seen as too trivial
The reported crime was not actually a crime
The complainant may decide not to proceed with a complaint
The police may decide there is not enough evidence of an offence having been committed to justify a criminal investigation
Official statistics therefore lack validity
They do not measure all crime that occurs and therefore they obscure the true extent of crime
Sociologists argue that official statistics ignore the dark (or hidden) figure of crime
A very small proportion of actual crime is ever reported and recorded in official statistics
Comments
No comments have yet been made