Measuring Crime
Sociology: AQA GCSE, topic 4.4.1
Official Crime Statistics
Crime in measured through official crime statistics, victim surveys, and self-report studies.
Official crime statistics
- Crime statistics are collected by the police and published by the government four times a year.
- They depict patterns and trends.
- They are quantitative data.
- They are secondary sources.
Reasons for sociological use
- They are a secondary source of data which means that they are cheap and easily available, i.e. save time.
- Patterns and trends can be easily identified.
- They cover large number of people, areas, etc.
- When they are combined with self-report studies and victim surveys they can almost cover every crime committed.
Problems with official statistics on crime
- Crimes can go undetected if they are not reported to the police because they are considered trivial.
- Crimes can go unreported as the victim might be embarrassed or because they are afraid of the consequences, or the crime may be seen as a sensitive/personal matter or petty.
- Crimes can go unrecorded as even if the crime is reported, the police might think it’s trivial, or that not enough evidence was presented.
Evaluating official statistics of crime
- All in all, official statistics ignore the dark figure of crime, i.e. the number of crimes that have been committed but haven’t been reported and recorded by the police.
Iceberg
- Official statistics are compared to an iceberg:
- Only a small fraction of total crime is reported to the police (the visible tip of the iceberg)
- The real number is far greater (this is hidden below the water but is still there.)
Victim Surveys
Crime is measured through official crime statistics, victim surveys, and self-report studies.
Victim surveys
- Victim surveys are surveys where people are interviewed about the crimes that have been committed against them over a specific period, usually over the last year.
UK victim surveys
- This survey is conducted with 50,000 people.
- It has been happening since 1981 by the government.
- E.g. British Crime Survey (BCS), now called Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW).
- It includes crimes that aren’t reported to the police and helps make up for the dark figure of crime.
Strengths
- They uncover the dark figure of crime, i.e. crimes that haven’t been recorded by the police.
- It gives a more accurate number of the crimes committed as it includes the ones that haven’t been reported.
Weaknesses
- People still may not disclose crimes because they are either embarrassed or they aren’t aware they have been the victim of a crime.
- It doesn’t include every type of crime, e.g. victimless crimes.
- Victims’ memories may be blurred making them inaccurate and invalid.
Self-Report Studies
Crime in measured through official crime statistics, victim surveys, and self-report studies.
Self-report studies
- They ask people to reveal crimes they have committed and their frequency.
- They have a list of deviant and criminal acts where the respondent needs to tick the box.
- They are anonymous.
- They are an alternative to official statistics, ensuring that all crime is recorded and contributing to reveal hidden crime.
Strengths
- They contribute towards revealing victimless crimes, e.g. drug use.
- They might uncover the hidden figure of crime.
- It reveals information about the perpetrators, e.g. age, gender, social class.
Weaknesses
- People may not tell the truth or exaggerate.
- Most of the crimes that are uncovered tend to be petty as people don’t want to admit to committing any serious ones.
- They don’t necessarily reveal the true level and extent of crime as the surveys are conducted mainly with young offenders and not the professional criminals such as drug traffickers.
Test yourself on Measuring Crime
Which offenders are usually used in self report surveys of crime?
What format do self-report studies of crime usually take?