For a crime to be recorded it must first be reported to a relevant agency who must except that a law has been broken. However some crimes may not be investigated others may not result in a court case. Crime statistics can also represent the way in witch crimes are recorded for example if six items are stolen by one person this could be recorded as only one offence or six separate offences. Official statistics probably underestimate the incidence of white-collar crime and corporate crime far more than crime in general. Consequently, official statistics portray crime as predominately working class behaviour. Social class is the key to many sociological explanations of crime (e.g.. Merton Cohen, Cloward and Ohlin, and miller) although this may not be justified or even dangerous.
Victimisation and self-reporting surveys do not rely on police records and attempt to overcome the limitations of the official statistics.
Victimisation surveys involve asking individuals if they have been the victim of a crime and if so if the were reported or recorded by the police. Victimisation studies such The national British crime surveys (1982, 84, 88) provide an indication of the level of crime and estimate the incidence of unreported crime. The British Crime survey (1982) found that: Crime may not be reported There may be as many as fifteen or twenty times as many crimes committed as reported. Most of the unreported crimes are of the less serious type.
However, this method of collecting data is not totally reliable experts such as Jock Young, (1988) pointed to three main reasons for this. Firstly, around 20-30 percent of people asked refuse to co-operate with researchers. Thus data is based on typical respondents and the absence of those who are likely to be untypical of the population may lead to distorted figures. Secondly, victims may conceal certain crimes because of feelings of guilt or embarrassment. Therefore crimes such as rape, domestic violence, sexual crimes are likely to be underreported. Lastly Definitions and of crime cannot help but reflect the views and opinion of the day. Changes in public perception may mean that people are more willing to report some crimes than others are.
Therefore statistics or trends produced by these surveys are not entirely reliable and should be considered with caution. Importantly victimisation surveys allude to the underreporting and recording of crime for this reason they are possibly more reliable than the official statistics.
Self-report studies e.g. Campbell "Delinquent Girls", attempt to provide a more realistic picture of the characteristics of those who commit crime. Using questionnaires and interviews to collect information self-report studies ask the participant to admit to the number of crimes they have committed. This data can then be compared to the official statistics to show which offenders and offences are more likely to lead to a conviction. Studies such as that of Steven box, (1981) have added validity to this method of recording. Box rejects theories that some groups’ particularly young working class men are more likely to commit crime than any others are. Different classes may commit different types of crime but this dose not necessarily mean the working classes are more prone than other groups to crime. These studies also suggest that the is a considerable amount of police bias against some sections of society. However, participants may not be truthful about the crimes they have committed or may not perceive some acts as crimes. Various tests such as lie detector tests have been carried out to check the accuracy of self reported studies. It has been found that approximately 80% of those questioned tell the truth. Self reported studies are there for not total reliable, although the do locate many more offenders placed in different sectors of society than those who are convicted and appear in the official statistics or victimisation surveys.
In summary it would seem that all crime statistics it would appaer are based on data, none of which is 100 percent reliable. Crime recording depends on: status of complainant, differential law enforcement polices, police and public perceptions / socialisation, moral panics. Crime reporting depends on Nature of offence (serious/ trivial), embarrassment, fear of reprisal, no faith in police, and awareness of victimisation. Thus, Crime Statistics broadly reflect crime distribution but also police/public perceptions and official concerns.
Official Crime Statistics are not valid or reliable as they largely Underestimate some crime (especially middle class / female) and Overestimating other crime (especially working class / male) and are reliant on the Reporting to and recording of crimes by the police.
Given the limitations of the official statistics, there is validity in the existence other methods such as victim surveys and self report studies that seek to overcome them. For example, victimisation surveys uncover some crimes not reported to the police such as vandalism and self-reported studies uncover the types of offences and offenders likely to be convicted. On balance, both victimisation surveys and self-report studies are likely to be more useful than official statistics, self-report studies in particular suggest that both official statistics and victim statistics largely under report some crimes. However, there are two general limitations with crime statistics whether provided by criminal justice agencies, victims or offenders. Firstly only a certain type of criminal event can be researched and secondly only a certain type of participant is interviewed. For example, victimisation surveys and self report studies only focus on the personal crimes of the people who are prepared to participate, thereby excluding for example business crimes, and crimes against children. Whereas official statistics gather a wide range of data on a wide range of criminal events from a wider pool of participants, but do not include data on crimes where there is no immediate victim or they do not come forward.
Reference:
Deviancy, Reality and society, Steven Box, 1981, Macmillan press, London.
Risk of crime and fear of crime: a realist critique of survey based assumptions, Jock young 1988, in Maguire, Morgan and pointing.
