Measuring Crime

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Measuring Crime: Official Statistics

There are three different methods for measuring crime: official statistics, offender surveys and victim surveys. All three have advantages and disadvantages.

Official statistics

Official statistics on crime are published by various sources, including the UK government, the police, and the justice system.
These statistics have had a long history in the UK. They were first published in 1805.
This is useful as researchers, the government, and the general public can look at how crime has trended over time.

Limitations of official statistics

One disadvantage of these statistics is that they are not always accurate.
This is because they rely on crime that is actually reported and recorded by these official bodies.
There are many crimes that go undetected, unreported and unrecorded.
These crimes are collectively referred to as the dark figure of crime.

Farrington and Dowds (1985)

Farrington and Dowds (1985) compared statistics between Nottingham and two nearby counties.
They found that crime rates were higher in Nottingham, though the reason was that the police recorded all crimes, including petty (vandalism, theft, etc.).
Other counties did not record these petty crimes, so their crime rates appeared much lower.

Measuring Crime: Offender Surveys

There are three different methods for measuring crime: official statistics, offender surveys and victim surveys. All three have advantages and disadvantages.

Offender surveys

Offender surveys look at the offender of the crime: the actual people who committed the crimes themselves.
By doing these sort of surveys, police and governments can have a better understanding of victimless crime.

Victimless crime

Victimless crime is where there is no other victim to the crime besides the offender.
- E.g. underage drinking and illegal drug consumption.
These offenders are not often caught by the police, so the crimes go unreported.

Offending, Crime and Justice Survey

The Offending, Crime and Justice Survey is an example of an offender survey.
The survey asks 10 to 25 year olds in the UK whether or not they have participated in illicit activities such as shoplifting, underage drinking, or theft.
The survey also looks at other issues such as domestic violence and bullying.

Limitations of offender surveys

Offender surveys are self-reported, which can lead to exaggeration or minimisation of crimes.
They can be biased if they only look at only certain types of crime and people.
People may also only disclose certain types of crime they have committed.
- For example, they may feel comfortable saying they committed a victimless crime like underage drinking but not report that they have committed theft.

Measuring Crime: Victim Surveys

There are three different methods for measuring crime: official statistics, offender surveys and victim surveys. All three have advantages and disadvantages.

Victim surveys

Victim surveys ask questions of the victims of crimes.
But as Farrington and Dowds (1985) discovered, not all crimes go reported.

Strengths of victim surveys

Sometimes, the police do not report crime they deem unworthy of reporting.
So victim surveys can give a more accurate picture of crime that is committed.
This is a strength of victim surveys.

Example victim survey

The primary survey of this type is the Crime Survey for England and Wales.

Limitations of victim surveys

There are two weaknesses of victim surveys.
Just like offender surveys, victim surveys can be biased, exaggerated or minimised because they are self-reported.
As well, our memory is not perfect, so this can also lead to faulty or biased reporting.
The survey does not look at impersonal crimes which affect more than one individual, such as fraud or other ‘white-collar’ crimes.