Used to be every 2 years but since 2000 has been an annual survey
Records crimes committed against people by asking victims
Valid due to peoples willingness to do it because there is no police records involved and its annoymous.
Maguire (2002) said the BCS is no more accurate or less accruate than Police Records, it simply gives another viewpoint.
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Police Recorded Crime
The second of the 2 main measures of crime in UK
Records kept by the police and other agencies of the criminal justica system
Results published by the Home Office every 6 months
Not all crime is reported to the police
1998 BCS recorded a number of reasons for the public not reporting inc. The trivial nature of the crime, embarrassment and fear etc.
The BCS is more valid because there is no stigma attatched when your annoymous
Until 2002 it wasnt compulosry for the police to record all crime reported to them so you cannot compare anything from before that against anything before that
57% of reported crime still doesnt make it onto police official statistics!
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Self Report Studies
Cross section of the population
Asked what crimes THEY have committed
Reveals who hasn't been caught/processed by the Police
Reliability is low because poeple can exaggerate or even lie
Also un-valid
Problems also with its representativeness because no such studies are done into drug traffickers for example
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Conclusion
When used correctly all 3 build the bigger picture of crime
However there still remains a dark figure of crime
This lies in the weakness of all 3
Victims are going to be most fearful and unlikely to tell anything even if a study is annoymous
The true figures of crime will proberly never surface due to the dark side of crime eg. domestic violence, child abuse etc.
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