CRIME STATISTICS

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

• Identify the problems of using official statistics

• Outline the problems or reporting and recording crimes

What are the criminal trends are here?

Crimes recorded by the police, 1876–2000. Source: Maguire, 1997, p. 158;

Crime statistics

Crime that has been reported to the police and recorded by them. It is in the official statistics

Crime that has been not been reported or recorded. This is the ‘dark figure’ of crime

THE PROBLEM WITH STATISTICS

• They only count the number of acts rather than the number of criminals

• Some people aren’t aware that they are victims and therefore don’t report it

• Victims do not report crime for a variety of reasons. Why not?

write down as many reasons you can think of

TO REPORT OR NOT REPORT? That is the question

Your house was burgled Your brother has taken £5 from your wallet

You see people beating someone up on the street

You discover a dead body in the park

Someone has scratched your car door

You see some 13yr olds buying alcohol

You think you have seen an old lady shoplifting in the supermarket

Your bike is stolen You witness a car driving down a one way street, drive up the kerb and go through a red light

•There are some crimes that are not reported to the police

•There are some crimes that are reported but not recorded by police

• Fear of reprisals

• Lack of faith in the police

• No access to the police

• Embarrassment

• No gain

• Protection of the perpetrator

• trivial

OFFICIAL STATISTICS

• The Office for National Statistics (ONS)– Crime figures collected by police

– Show annual crime patterns

– Show trends over time

– Show patterns of reporting and recording convictions

– Give us a base line from which to work

BRITISH CRIME SURVEY (BCS)

• Based on an interview every two years with 15,000 adults (over 16yrs) about their experiences of crime.

• Sample is drawn from the postcode address file

• ¾ agree to be interviewed.

BRITISH CRIME SURVEY (BCS)

• The statistically average person aged 16 or over can expect

–  a robbery once every five centuries (not attempts)

– an assault resulting in injury (even if slight) once every century

– a family car to be stolen or taken by once every 60 years

– a burglary in the home once every forty years

This glosses over the fact that some people are considerably more at risk than others.

HANDLE WITH CARE

• Statistics appear to be facts• Recorded crime does not

mirror actual crime• Not reliable as they are

socially constructed• Statistics are affected by the

way they are classified and counted

The difference between actual and recorded crime is called the ‘dark side’

ACTIVITY

1. Read pg 190 – 191 – true or false?2. Summarise in 50 words the problems with

recording and reporting crimes