Crime Statistics

1. Crime Statistics Their Strengths and Limitations

2. Crime trends since 1981

4. Advantages of Police Recorded Crime • Practically – available for free • More detail as there are more categories of crime than with the British Crime Survey • Includes crimes committed against under 16s • Easy to make comparisons • Enables us to assess the efficiency of the police

5. Disadvantages of Police Recorded Crime

7. Possible reasons for differential reporting rates • Theft of vehicle – high reporting rate • Assault with minor or no injury – low reporting rate • Vandalism – very low reporting rate

8. Two ways in which the police manipulate statistics • Downgrading crimes – from ‘attempted burglary’ to ‘criminal damage’ • Disappearing crimes – from ‘theft’ to ‘lost property’ – the later is not a crime • NB – The Police are now less able to do this since the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standards in 2002

9. Advantages of the British Crime Survey • Reveals the extent of the dark figure of crime for each type of crime. • Asks questions about perceptions of crime and fear of crime • It provides a picture of the extent and patterns of victimization, i.e, we can find out about the ethnicity and gender of the victims of crime.

10. Disadvantages of the BCS • It asks about a much more limited range of crimes than Police Recorded Crime – people are not asked if they have been victims of Health and Safety breaches by Corporations for example. • It is a survey of private individuals – crimes against corporate organisations such as businesses (theft from work for example) are not included. • It omits certain sections of the population – the under 16s and homeless people are excluded for example.

11. The BCS interviews one person to talk about the experience of the household…. and the person interviewed may not know whether other members of the household have been victims of crime. • There are various reasons why the respondent may not tell the respondent about a crime or crimes experienced…. • –domestic violence if the abuser is present, • ‘fatigue’ – the person may have experienced so much crime they are unwilling • Interview conditions will affect the reporting rate – matching interviews according to gender, ethnicity and age should enhance trust and increase the reporting rate.

12. Self report studies Complete the self report questionnaire

13. Self-report study answers – you bunch of crooks • See separate document…

14. Advantages of Self Report Studies • Researchers are able to ask about a wider range of offences than either the BCS or Police recorded crime • Useful for asking about ‘non criminal’ but anti-social behaviour type offences • Useful for finding out about younger offenders – missing from the British Crime Survey

15. Disadvantages • Obviously there will be pressure for the respondents to be dishonest • Especially not useful for more serious offences

16. Gaining a more accurate picture of crime • Authorities are increasingly looking to other sources of information to collect valid data on the level of offending • For example - using Accident and Emergency figures to collect statistics on ‘more serious wounding’ for example