A Comparative Analysis Of Official Crime Statistics And Unofficial Measures Essay

Crime measurement and statistics for police departments are very important when it comes to money allotment, staffing needs or termination and it is also used to determine the effectiveness of new laws and programs. There are three tools used to measure major crime in the United States: Uniform Crime Reports, National Crime Victimization Survey and the National Incident Based Reporting System- which is currently being tested to replace the Uniform Crime Reports. Although there different tools used to measure crime, crime rates can be deceiving. Each different tool reports a different type of rate, crime rates, arrest

Measuring crime is based on three main measurements; criminal justice system data, crime experience surveys and other sources called administrative data (Hayes & Makkai, 2015). Firstly, crime first needs to be categorised into types of crime that is classified under the Australian and New Zealand Standard Offence Classification (Hayes & Makkai, 2015). Only the main and select few offences are reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in collecting annual reported crimes (Hayes & Makkai, 2015). Through ABS, it collects crime data in different ways such as crime reports, victimisations surveys, administrative data (higher courts, magistrates and policing agendas etc.,) and self-reports (Hayes & Makkai, 2015). Crime reports measure crimes such as homicide, robbery, rape, assault and more but is collected through police jurisdictions (Reid, 2012). The strength of crime reports provides additional information such as arrests, charges, officers assaults and characteristics of homicide victims (Reid, 2012). This helps to measure crime more effectively through gaining descriptions and knowledge of identifying crime and criminal behaviour more accurately (Reid, 2012). Administrative data is often helpful in collating data of sentences and jail sentences but fails to collect the ‘dark figure’ of crime (Hayes & Makkai, 2015). National Crime Victimisation Surveys (NCVS)

Why does the essay “What Causes Crime” offer a different analysis of crime? What is wrong, in the author’s view, of the standard explanation of crime? How does the case in New Zealand (discussed in the chapter) offer an alternative explanation?

Although crime has been around for ages, we only started collecting crime data around the 1930’s. Crime statistics show a lot about a country, state, county, etc. Crime can be linked to the environment, behavior of others, and personal experiences, it all depends on how the person deals with the hand they are dealt. Crime data is collected from three sources, which are uniform crime reports (UCR), national incident based reporting system (NIBRS), and national crime victimization survey (NCVS).

Unfortunately, the actual trend for crime is not consistent with what is portrayed in the media due to several factors such as not all crimes are reported according to the chart The Crime Funnel

The Extent to Which Sociologists Agree that Official Criminal Statistics Do Not Give an Accurate Picture of the Extent in Terms of Crime

Theorist Surette (1998), looks at ‘the law of opposites’, this is the opposite view of the official statistics. It shows that: Property crime is underrepresented, fictional police officers catch the criminal and fictional sex crimes are committed by strangers rather than acquaintances. Looking at the theory we can relate to popular TV Shows such as Dexter (2013), in which portrays the police officers as incompetent. This glamourizes the crime as criminals begin to believe they are able to get away with the deviance / criminal act.

To increase the validity, the alternative measure of Victim surveys (VS), are used to eliminate the dark figures of OCS. This is used to provide a fuller picture of crimes. VS data is collected quantitatively so it is easily recorded, and be easily put into a graph to find trends and patterns. As not all crimes are reported or recorded, it is difficult to get an accurate figure. Some crimes may not be reported as the victim feels the police may not be able to do anything about the crime committed, or possible fear of reprisals. As VS give the opportunity to ask people if they have been the victim of crime within the past 12 months. This gives a gateway for unreported crimes to be recorded and included within the OCS. Problems may arise with the use of

There are many acts to cover like; The Anti- Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, Police Reform act 2002, Antisocial Behaviour Act 2003 and a Crime and Disorder Act 1998. But the first one that I will be covering is the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. This is an act which was put into power to cover a range of topics from giving people information about harm in relationships, violence, forced marriages and guns. This will help to protect the victims who were involved in harmful relationships. With the act introducing new powers it gives the

The figures for assault fluctuated over the period. The number of assaults was about 2,250 in 2003, it then fluctuated until reaching around 2,500 in 2010. From this year, it increased gradually to reach 2,750 in 2012. Murders displayed a more stable trend. Cases of murder stood at 500 in 2003 and then fluctuated in the following years to reach 1,000 in 2005. This was followed by a stabilization at 500 for the rest of the given

Crime has always been a shadow upon societies image, these learned behaviors can be seen in all shapes and sizes, in the cities, in the streets and even in homes. The media has controlled the image of what is perceived as crime. But what truly stalks the streets at night, is it the sadistic men who care so little about human dignity they travel from coast to coast sexually assaulting women?

Firstly, recorded crime statistics are collated through the collection of data by law enforcement agencies, such as the police in England and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in America. It focuses on the crime that is reported by the public and then what is chosen to be recorded by the police. During the mid-late 19th century, these statistics formed the basis of information about crime, however, although they still provide raw data for publications such as the Offenders Index, they are now viewed critically. This is because, according to Mayhew and Hough (1988), the recorded crime statistics are “adequate as a measure of police workload, but because of unreported and unrecorded crime – deficient as an index of crime”.

Data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) from 2013/2014 have been used. The CSEW is a face-to-face survey asking households about their perception and experience of crime in the 12 months preceding the interview. The information at my disposal are part of a special unrestricted access teaching dataset produced by the UK Data Archive. Out of a sample of 35,371 households chosen in England and Wales for the actual survey, I had access to a 25% sample of 8,843 households. Representative of households were chosen through the Postcode Address File which excludes aggregative accommodation such as residential halls and prisons.

In my essay I will first talk about crime and what it means, I will

The importance given to certain crimes in the daily newspapers and other media sources shows us proof to the fact that crime is a topic that has the public’s interest and is a focus of their worries (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2001). It goes on to discuss the fact that crime as reported on by the media increases the public’s levels of fears and that there is little or no correlation to actual levels of violent crime in our society today.