Forensics - ways of measuring crime

Question 1

what is crime

Answer 1

any act that breaks the law and warrants a punishment

Question 2

what are the cultural issues

Answer 2

what is considered a crime in once culture may not be one in another

Question 3

what are historical issues

Answer 3

definitions of crime change over time

Question 4

what are the ways of measuring crimes

Answer 4

• official statistics
• victim surveys
• offender surveys

Question 5

what are official statistics

Answer 5

• governments records of the total number of crimes reported to the police and recorded in the official figures

Question 6

what is the evaluation of official statistics

Answer 6

Walker et al
- only 42% of crimes were reported

-dark figure of crime - only represent part of criminal activity
- high number of crimes reported is a bad reflection of a political party

Question 7

what are victim surveys

Answer 7

• records people’s experiences of crime over a specific period
• crime survey of England and Wales asks people to document the crimes they have been a victim of in the past year

Question 8

what is the evaluation of victim surveys

Answer 8

• not all institutions were covered
• include details of crimes not reported to the police
• less likely to conceal dark figures
• rely on respondents to have active recall
• telescoping = victims may misremember events

Question 9

what are offender surveys

Answer 9

• question offenders about the crimes they have committed
• offending crime and justice survey used to increase knowledge about young people and criminal behaviour
• questions produced information about the extent of offending, anti-social behaviour and drug use

Question 10

what is the evaluation of offenders surveys

Answer 10

• self reports are unreliable
• individuals could underplay or exaggerate their involvement
• some crimes are overrepresented
• can deploy resources to drug and alcohol programmes
• recidivism rates reduced