Learning About Crime From Official Statistics
In order to enlighten the general public and policy makers about the
extent of crime, the crime dilemma itself must first be measured.
Therefore it can be seen, that the research carried out towards crime
is a fundamental subject in itself. There are a diversity of methods
used in order to study the extent of crime, such methods include;
statistics, surveys, questionnaires, biographies, interviews etc… The
research methods used can be both quantitative and qualitative. There
are two primary sources of data used in order to assist the general
public in learning about the extent of crime; these are generally
termed ‘official’ and ‘unofficial statistics’. However, the objectives
of these methods are similar but the findings from them are generally
not.
Official statistics are those published by the central Government.
This source of statistical information informs the general public
about the extent of ‘notifiable offences’. Official statistics are
easy and cheap to access as you can observe them on the Home Office
web page. The second source of statistical information comes from the
British Crime Survey (BCS). These statistics are ‘unofficial’ and the
procedures used to gather information are completely different to the
first, as the statistical data comes from surveys carried out by the
public themselves. The statistics given are based on a large
representative sample of the general public about their experiences as
victims of household and personal crime. The BCS endeavours to provide
a count of crime that consists of episodes not reported to the police,
therefore examining the "dark...
... middle of paper ...
... totally ‘useless’. However in comparison to
other forms of crime research methods, it seems to be that they all
have there uses and drawbacks. In order to balance the probabilities
of such research methods being more accurate, maybe one must consider
using all the research methods in a grouping format.
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Crime data is a resource being used to help understand who the victims are, their age, race, what type of crime they have committed. The more information someone has about crime the more prepared they can be to deal with the victim, evaluate programs that help prevent crime. There are several official sources used UCR, NCVS, NIBRS that are used. There are pros and cons to each source and the following information will include some of the positive and some of the negatives points of each report. This is not inclusive by any means, there are many different various pros and cons of each report.
Exploring Why a Large Number of Crimes Aren't Reported. For the large number of crimes that are committed, the biggest. percentage of them is not reported to the police or authorities. This could be due to several reasons.
As Nils Christie argued, crime is a property of the state (2004). As such, it can be defined by the same systems of ideals which influence the state. Crime statistics, which refer to a category of human acts that society view as deviant, can consequently be argued to be without objectivity (Dorling and Simpson, 1999). The statistics they provide are thus arguably not exact. To a certain extent one could infer they are reflections of society, of those who present the data and most importantly of those who accumulate it. The facts themselves become a socially constructed foundation for social knowledge, which inevitably become subjective. This essay aims to discuss how ideological biases within the Police and to a certain extent the media are reflected in the crime statistics.
think that people in society do not feel they can trust or rely on the
Chapt6 [2] Haralambos and Holborn 2002 [3] Merton. R 1968 [4] Hagedorn 1996 new perspective in criminology, chapter 13
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Crime and Everyday Life chapter two, The Chemistry for Crime outlines the various components of a crime. Noting that offenders are just one small element to any crime. In all honesty offenders are a variable waiting for time that all the elements are in place. Violent, predatory crimes only occur while an absence of guardians around a target. Clarke named the check list for a target or hot product as, concealable, removable, available, valuable, enjoyable, and disposable. Equally, fights develop in the absence of peacemakers and a present crowd. Illegal sales crime all depend on the setting that offers coverage and removed management. The Chemistry for Crime argues that everyday life tempts as well as diminishes the potential for crime, influencing
...es. The article discusses further into the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) that was created to partially correct the issues presented in the UCR. The NIBRS was even created to partially correct some of the unanticipated trends regarding race and crime that has been revealed. Scientific research will continue to increase in order to learn more about the nature of UCR data until the errors start to show signs that it is decreasing. I intend to use this article for my research project to describe what criminologists think about the criminal statistics collected by the UCR, and why would criminologists still use the UCR if there are flaws that could make it inaccurate. I also intend to use this article to discover the value of data collected by the UCR that would provide new ways of doing research that address incidents of crime in the United States.
Maguire, M., Morgan, R., and Reiner, R. (2012) The Oxford Handbook of Criminology. 5th ed. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
During the 1970’s to the early 1990’s there had emerged two new approaches to the study of crime and deviance. The discipline of criminology had expanded further introducing right and left realism, both believe in different areas and came together in order to try and get a better understanding on crime and prevention. There were many theorists that had influenced the realism approaches such as; Jock Young (Left Wing) and James Wilson (Right Wing).
...T., Reiner, R. (2012) ‘Policing the Police’ in The Official Handbook of Criminology. Ed. By Maguire, M., Morgan, R., Reiner, R. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 806- 838
Winslow, R. W., & Zhang, S. (2008). Contemporary Theories of Crime. Criminology: a global perspective (). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
...ifferent crime patterns and thought processes of criminals. The reasons can only come from these theories and will help the justice systems become more prepared to react towards different crimes. However, with adding some enhancements, projects and experiments these two theories have the potential to change the criminology realm forever.
Morgan, R., Maguire, M. And Reiner, R. (2012). The Oxford Handbook of Criminology. 5th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.