Assess the extent to which we can uncover the true figure of crime.
Official crime statistics report crime levels have been reported to be steadily falling since 1995, although showing a slight increase in burglaries. These official statistics are released by the Home Office, and are collected from police records in the UK, these statistics are widely regarded to be a true and accurate measure of crime, despite evidence suggesting otherwise. Another way of recording crime is through self report studies, which although does give out some indication of crime levels, it is considered to be inaccurate due to the anonymity of those surveyed meaning there is a chance of exaggeration or lying. A more reliable source would perhaps be a victim survey such as the BCS, a large scale survey conducted in the UK, which enables victims to report crime. Criminologists have used these to try to decrease the amount of unknown or unrecorded crime. Yet again this gives those surveyed the cover of anonymity, which could result in exaggeration, underplaying the crime, or just lying. Not only is this but it is open to mistakes due to relying on the memories of its participants, which may mean the results are wrong. Also there is a problem in that victims are categorising the crimes themselves, and so it may exaggerate some forms of crime, making them out to be more or less serious. Studies found too that types of corporate crime tended to be ignored; due to there it is seen as ‘minor’ compared to assault for example. Sexual crimes also tend not to be reported; due to the stigma’s attached to them. Young people are too excluded from this survey, as only over 18’s participate, and so a large majority of the population is ignored, and this means that victims of on-going child abuse can’t report being a victim. This obviously is one explanation as to how these statistics cannot be relied on to be wholly reliable.