Which way of measuring crime is recorded by the police?
Official Statistics
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Who annually publishes them?
The Home Office
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According to a report by ..... in 2007/08, what percentage of crime were not reported?
BCS- 58%
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Unreported crime leads to the...
... dark figure of crime
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Give 2 positives of Official Statistics
Can spot patterns/trends; can compare between locations
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Give 2 negatives of Official Statistics
Leads to the dark figure of crime; Not all crimes are reported/recorded detected
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Give 2 reasons why a crime might not be reported
If there are multiple witnesses, they may not feel responsible for reporting it and thus nobody reports it; They don't view what they're seeing as criminal; Scared to report it; Not enough evidence; No witness
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Official Statistics can be considered to be what, as they are a result of a series of decisions made by individuals?
Socially constructed
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Why might the police decide not to record a crime?
Too trivial; doubt the honesty of the reporter; not enough evidence
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Give 2 reasons why crime statistics can be considered socially constructed
People must decide whether or not to report it (BCS 58% unreported); the police must decide whether to record it; people have different perceptions of crime
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Give two examples of either a victim survey or a self-report study
British Crime Survey (BCS) and Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW)
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How is a victim survey carried out?
People are interviewed and asked what crimes have been committed against them
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Give 3 advantages of Victim Surveys
Anonymous; help to erase the 'dark figure of crime'; tells us people's judgements on what is a crime; focuses on people's experiences
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Give 3 disadvantages of victim surveys
Participants may lie; not all crimes are reported/detected; doesn't include all crimes (can't ask a murder victim); relies on memory; not all ages included
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As not all crimes are recorded in victim surveys, what remains?
The dark figure of crime
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How are self-report studies conducted?
Asks individuals if they have committed crime and, if so, how often.
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Give 3 advantages of self-report studies
Anonymous; highlights police errors; no bias as no interviewer; helps lessen the Dark Figure of Crime
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Give 3 disadvantages of self-report studies
Can't see trends/patterns; doesn't include all crimes; participants may lie (not compulsory to tell the truth); feel ashamed
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Who devised the Broken Windows Theory and in what year?
Wilson and Kelling (2003)
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What does the Broken Windows Theory entail?
That if a community has a house with a broken window and it is not fixed/there's antisocial behaviour, respectable members leave and undesirables move in, leaving the community crime prone
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Give 3 reasons why we use crime statistics
Gain an understanding of who commits crime; see people's perception of crime; identify trends/compare; cheap/easily available
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Give 3 problems with crime statistics
They're socially constructed (individuals decide whether to report/record); not all crime is reported; not all crime is detected; not all crime is recorded
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Other cards in this set
Card 2
Front
Who annually publishes them?
Back
The Home Office
Card 3
Front
According to a report by ..... in 2007/08, what percentage of crime were not reported?
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