What can be learned about the extent of crime from official

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What can be learned about the extent of crime from official statistics?

In order to enlighten the general public and policy makers about the extent of crime, the crime dilemma itself must first be measured. Therefore it can be seen, that the research carried out towards crime is a fundamental subject in itself. There are a diversity of methods used in order to study the extent of crime, such methods include; statistics, surveys, questionnaires, biographies, interviews etc… The research methods used can be both quantitative and qualitative. There are two primary sources of data used in order to assist the general public in learning about the extent of crime; these are generally termed ‘official’ and ‘unofficial statistics’. However, the objectives of these methods are similar but the findings from them are generally not.

Official statistics are those published by the central Government. This source of statistical information informs the general public about the extent of ‘notifiable offences’. Official statistics are easy and cheap to access as you can observe them on the Home Office web page. The second source of statistical information comes from the British Crime Survey (BCS). These statistics are ‘unofficial’ and the procedures used to gather information are completely different to the first, as the statistical data comes from surveys carried out by the public themselves. The statistics given are based on a large representative sample of the general public about their experiences as victims of household and personal crime. The BCS endeavours to provide a count of crime that consists of episodes not reported to the police, therefore examining the "dark figure" of crime which is not recorded in official statistics.

The rest of this paper will endeavour to look deeper in to the concept of ‘official’ crime statistics, taking into account their validity and reliability. It will also go on to scrutinize what can actually be learned about the extent of crime from ‘official statistics’.

As mentioned above official statistics are those published by the central Government. They are constructed by the ‘Government statistical service (GSS)’ (McLaughlin and Muncie, 2001; 194). Official statistics originate from the police force and are published by the Home Office in the: ‘half yearly statistical bulletin (HOSB), annually in Criminal Statistics and in Digest of Information on the Criminal Justice System’ (Walker, 1995; 4).The Sage Dictionary of criminology defines official crime statistics as:

“Statistical data complied by the police and the courts and routinely published by governments as n indices of the extent of crime”. (McLaughlin and Muncie, 2001; 194)

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These statistics are used by sociologist in order to receive information about the numbers of crimes reported to the police. Official statistics have many purposes but there foremost aims are to supply policy makers with an indication of the extent of crime, in order for them to introduce effective policies to try and reduce such crime, and to assess the performances of the criminal justices system. The data gathered to form official statistics is provided to the public by form of the internet and through the media. The media often use official crime statistics and portray them as an ...

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