The incidence of crime estimated by the BCS in England and Wales rose throughout the early 1990s and peaked in 1995, at nearly 20 million offences. There was than a steady decline and the level remained stable between 2004/05 and 2006/07. However, between 2006/07 and 2007/08 there was a decrease in the incidence of BCS crime and the level of crime in 2007/08 was almost half the level in the peak in 1995. (Table 2.)
BRITISH CRIME SURVEY (BCS)
• A large survey of a representative sample of people aged 16 and over
living in private households in England and Wales
• Asks about people’s experiences and perceptions of crime
• Includes questions on people’s attitudes towards crime-related topics
(e.g. anti-social behaviour, the police, and criminal justice system)
• Asks about people’s use of illicit drugs
• Provides the most reliable measure of the extent of victimisation and of
National trends over time
• Not affected by whether the public report crime or by changes to the way
In which the police record crime
POLICE RECORDED CRIME
• Based on figures supplied by the police to the Home Office
• Covers crimes which are reported to and recorded by the police
• A good measure of trends in well-reported crimes and also the less
Common but more serious crimes
• An important indicator of police workload
• Provides data for small geographic areas
Police-recorded crime and survey-measured crime have different coverage. Unlike crime data recorded by the police, surveys are generally restricted to crimes against adults living in private households and their property and do not include some types of crime such as fraud, murder, and victimless crimes such as drug use, were there is not a direct victim.
The number of crimes recorded by the police tends to be lower than that reported by household surveys, this is because the survey respondents identify a large number of offences that have not been reported to the police, reasons for this include the victim feeling the crime was too trivial, there was no loss or that in their view the police would not, or could not, do anything about it.
There are many reasons why using official statistics can be useful: they are cheap, easily available, and provide detailed quantitative data which is reliable and often representative. However, Official statistics also have deficiencies, there are many reasons why the police may not take action against all offences which are known to them, police cannot take action against all offences which they identify, and therefore have to prioritize their activities. The concept of police discretion implies that police officers have the power to turn a ‘blind eye’ to offences when they feel that an offence is too minor to bother taking further action, or perhaps when they feel that the probable outcome will not warrant the effort that will be required on their part. This can lead police officers to focus their activities on particular types of offences, e.g. violent crime at the expense of traffic offences, armed robbery rather than shoplifting.
The results of the BCS indicate that official crime statistics are unreliable. Researchers can compare the BCS data to official crime statistics to check the validity. BCS data may reveal either more or less offending in particular categories, implying that an offence is being either under reported or that it is being reported fairly accurately. Police statistics can exaggerate the extent of crime, and overall the BCS data indicates an under reporting of crime. This can be explained as being the outcome of police decisions to take action on particular types of offences. The BCS data seems to indicate that official statistics on crime do not provide a valid picture of the extent of crime, and overall they may underestimate the trend.
Self-report studies provide insight into the extent and nature of crime. Self-report studies indicate that offending is not confined to the lower classes. Various studies using self-reporting indicate that anything between 50% and 90% of the population have admitted to behaviour which if observed by the police, could see them brought before a court of law.
Official statistics have many pitfalls. They have been demonstrated to lack validity and reliability. Other methods, such as victim and self-report studies, whilst they may seem to boost validity, provide no guarantees of validity or reliability. However, comparing the results of data from different sources – official statistics, victim studies, and self-report studies, can provide important insights into both the nature and the extent of crime, and does challenge preconceived ideas.
These insights can lead to a reassessment of the validity of official statistics on crime; the criticisms above suggest that official crime statistics need to be interpreted much more carefully.
In some ways the BCS, give a better measure of many types of crime than police-recorded crime statistics. These surveys show the large number of offences that are not reported to the police and also give a more reliable picture of trends, as they are not affected by changes in levels of reporting to the police or by variations in police recording practice.
Table .1. Crimes recorded by the Police: by type of offence, 2007/2008
SOURCE: Home Office; Scottish Government; Police service of Northern Ireland
Table .2.
SOURCE: British Crime Survey; Home Office
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/about-us/news/crime-stats-2008
www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/statistics/statistics066.htm
www.justice.gov.uk/publications/docs/stats-prison-pop-aug07.pdf
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk
