Flashcards
Defining and Measuring Crime: definitions and statistics
Cards in this deck (20)
- 1Defining and Measuring Crime (legalistic/normative definition of crime)Legalistic definition: breaking the laws of society.
Normative definition: acts that cause offense to moral norms or values held by society such as religious beliefs. - 2Problems in Defining CrimeProblems in Defining Crime
- 3Historical ContextWhat was once defined as a crime at one point in time might not be considered as a crime nowadays. For example homosexuality was a crime in the UK before 1967.
- 4CultureWhat is considered as a crime in one culture may not be in another. For example it is acceptable to have more than one wife in some countries, but in the UK it's illegal.
- 5AgeAge is an important factor in determining whether someone is a criminal. A child stealing sweets from a shop isn't classed as a 'criminal'.
- 6Specific CircumstancesIndividual circumstances may determine whether a particular behaviour is defined as a crime.
- 7Measuring CrimeMeasuring Crime
- 8Official StatisticsThe official crime rate is based on crimes that are reported to the police and recorded, but this is not always accurate. Criminologists refer to a 'dark figure' of crime, which is all of the offences that have not been recorded.
- 9Reasons why crimes are not reported:- the victim is too afraid
- mistrust in the police force - 10Reason why crimes are not recorded:- lack of evidence
- not a priority - 11Research evidence for 'Official Statistics' (Farrington and Dowds, 1985)Investigated differences in official statistics between Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and Leicestershire. They found that Nottinghamshire police were more likely to record thefts of less than £10 than Staffordshire and Leicestershire, explaining why the crime rate in Staffordshire was higher.
- 12Research evidence for 'Official Statistics' from Farrington and Dowds 1985 study (evaluation)The NSL study shows how police recording procedures can distort the official statistics, suggesting other measures of crime are needed.
- 13Evaluation point for 'Official Statistics' (hint: police recording rules)Police recording rules determine whether or not a crime is recorded and can vary according to the priority of the government/the police force at the time.
- 14Evaluation point for 'Official Statistics' (hint: Hollin)Hollin suggested that official statistics only account for 25% of actual crime, and this suggests that the statistics only give a limited view of the amount of actual crime.
- 15Self-Report Victim SurveysSelf-Report Victim Surveys
- 16Victim Surveys (hint: the BCS, every two years, interviews)The British Crime Survey (BCS) is carried out every 2 years and involves structured interviews with a huge sample. The interview involves asking whether people have been a victim of crime, and whether or not they have reported it to the police.
- 17Commercial Victimisation Survey (hint: England and Wales)This is a survey of small/medium retail and manufacturing businesses in England and Wales.
- 18Evaluation point for 'Self-Report Victim Surveys' (hint: accuracy, comparison, crimes, reported to the police)More accurate in comparison to official statistics as it includes crimes that haven't been reported to the police.
- 19Evaluation point for 'Self-Report Victim Surveys' (hint: consistently lower, crimes aren't reported, OS not representative)Official statistics of recorded crime are consistently lower than the BCS figures, demonstrating that a lot of crimes are not reported. This suggests that OS are not the most representative.
- 20Evaluation point for 'Self-Report Victim Surveys'
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- Flashcards on Untitled, created by Teigan Twigg on 07/03/2016.
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- Teigan Twigg
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