Strengths And Limitation Of Crime Statistics

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The measurement of crime has developed over time ever since the first national statistics on crime were published in 1826 by Quelet. There are a number of different indicators to measure crime but the ones that are frequently used to measure crime are the official statistics which are collect by the police service and surveys. However, both of these two measurements can have strengths which can help enhance the measurement of levels of crime but each of them also have their limitations which can hinder the measurement of crime. In this piece, I will outline the strengths and limitations of Official Crime Statistics and Victim Surveys before coming to a conclusion on the topic.

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“The survey is carried out annually by interviewing approximately 45’000 adults about their first hand experiences with crime and also their attitudes towards crime. The survey also asks individuals if they have been subject to a crime within the last year”, Hale et al. (2013, p 46) However, in ways there are limitations to the Victim Surveys as they reply on persons honesty. A person my not answer the interview questions with accuracy as the encounter with crime may have been some time ago if the person is being a victim of ‘Hidden Crimes’ such a domestic violence indicated by Newburn (2013, p 69) which in consequence they may not wish to disclose this information to the interview either because they do not know the person or out of fear discovered by their abuser. The ‘Memory Decay’ mentioned by Farrall et al (1997) believed that a persons memory could also hinder the accuracy of victimisation surveys as the crime may have been committed some time ago and they may not remember the crime in exact amount of

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