Joy Sharrock-Melrose                        CJ1001 – Crime and Society

Why is it so difficult to ‘measure crime’?  Your answer must address official statistics and the various surveys (Such as British Crime, Victim, and Self-Report) that are routinely used.  In what way do surveys enhance our knowledge and understanding of patterns of crime?

In attempting to give an evaluation of the difficulty of measuring crime it is necessary to look at the surveys and official statistics from reference books, text books and websites that record them.  The essay will look at ways of recording crime through the victim or police records.  It will also examine surveys in which the public have participated to weigh up the types of crimes people have committed without being caught.  The essay will then conclude in how these surveys enhance our knowledge and understanding of patterns of crime.

Crime statistics are recorded in many different ways.  ‘The Official Crime Statistics’ are those recorded by the police, prisons and courts.  Those statistics hold information on crime recorded by the Criminal Justice System.  Statistics show that offences recorded by the police have risen from 3,706 in 1989 to 5,301 in 1999.  This increase of 1,595 crimes in ten years is recorded in the Home Office Criminal Statistics, (1989 p17, 1999 p21.)  The difficulty of using these Official Crime Statistics as accurate figures is that they do not show an increase in crime but just an increase in the discovery of crime.  For example, one of the problems in a major city may be prostitution.  The police will make prostitution one of their targets to crack down on, which will result in discoveries of more prostitutes, but not necessarily an increase in prostitution in the city.  Quinney and Wildeman (1977), depict this interpretation of statistics in crime rates in Muncie, J. and McLaughlin, E. (1996, p21) “crime merely reflects what, where and when the law-enforcement agencies decide to target.  In this respect, crime rates are not accurate measures, but only reflect the activities, priorities and labelling processes of official agencies.

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An increase in crime may also be due to an increase in those reporting crime and not an increase in crime itself.  Muncie & McLaughlin (1996 p23) explain how this can be seen in the 1992 publication British Crime Statistics, which show reported crimes as well as recorded crimes and victim statistics.  The British Crime Surveys showed an increase in the reporting of burglary and car theft between 1981 and 1991, equating it with an increase in telephones in homes and insurance on the house and car.  This shows that telephone ownership makes it easier to report crimes.  Insurance claims ...

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