The Extent to Which Official Crime Statistics Provides a Reliable Estimate of the Amount of Crime Committed in England and Wales

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)

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

Compare to patterns of criminal activity and violence in England during this period. Explain their effect on the development of constitutional law and political freedom in England. Finally, explain how English Common Law influenced the American criminal justice system. Provide an example.

The official statistics are particularly useful in that they have been collected since 1857 and so provide us with an excellent historical overview of changing trends over time. They also give us a completely accurate view of the way that the criminal justice system processes offenders through arrests, trials and punishments. However, official statistics cannot be taken simply at their face value. They only show crimes which are reported to and recorded by official agencies such as the police. They account for only those crimes which are recognised as such by victims and those detected by the police. Sociologists have argued that there exists a ‘dark figure’ of unrecorded crime. This may be due to social agencies ignoring crimes committed by the ruling class such as white-collar and corporate crime and their views and stereotypes that they have against certain individuals, such as the working-class and ethnic minorities. Arguably, another reason why police recorded may be seem as inaccurate is due to the increased problem of reporting issues. There is evidence that a number of individuals choose not to report a crime on the basis that they have little faith in social agencies or that they feel that the crime may not be serious enough. Positivists favour the official statistics as they believe that they are functional for society, whereas interactionists and Marxists go against the police the statistics as they argue that they are bias. In this essay, I will discuss the

Crime rates are shared on each major offense; however, “crime rates are often skewed because reports of crimes are based on volume of a particular crime” (Schmallager, 2011). For instance, if more crimes are committed in larceny theft, these rates overshadow more serious crimes such as murder, due to the low amount of murders committed. Moreover, crimes those are unreported, though in recent years the number of unreported crimes is lower than in past years, along with crimes unreported by local officials give a false sense of overall crimes

A third threat to validity is the possibility that results are caused by natural fluctuations in crime rates that would occur without any interference from crime prevention strategies. To combat this problem Ditton and Short have compared the crime rates of the areas under surveillance, to other places in the

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”.

The measurement of crime is an often overlooked fundamental subject in the field of criminal justice. There are various aspects to be considered when measuring crime; and almost as many questions. Why is measuring crime a fundamental subject? How is crime measured? How much crime is there? What is the purpose of measuring crime? What strategies are available for measuring crime? This paper explores these questions and more concerning crime measurement in the United States. Therefore, in this paper, the instruments used to measure crime are examined; major crime reporting programs and their purposes are discussed; crime, arrest, clearance, and recidivism rates are explained in detail; and what the crime and recidivism statistics tells humans

However, as mentioned earlier, Reiner’s main argument holds validity only to a certain extent because of the quality of the evidence that he presented. For example, the statistics that Reiner examined were from the 1990s and considering that this book was published in 2016, Reiner could have obtained more recent statistics especially since his main argument was strongly directed towards “modern” society. Moreover, since he argued that criminal statistics are already “notoriously riddled with pitfalls” (Reiner, 106), he should not have used statistical data from the 1990s, for the sake of preserving his argument and because the data are conceivably limited in their validity. Comparatively, the Office of National Statistics reported that the latest figures of crime for the year-end 2017 indicated that “levels of crime have continued to fall compared with the previous year” with the exception of certain types of offences that did not show falls as compared to others (Office for National Statistics, 2018). However, if Reiner’s argument is taken into account, that the statistics represent a small percentage of the overall population and that half of the number of offences committed are not recorded, then perhaps the “dark figures of crime” that go unreported should have been explained by him in further detail.

Crime Statistics come from the FBI’s uniform Crime Reporting Program as well as the National Crime Victimization Survey of the Bureau of Justice Statistics. These statistics are base mainly on reports made to police by victims of crimes. Crime statistics yield an analysis of criminal activities and when used correctly can provide a useful tool in creating social policy. Although these statistics can paint an influential picture of crime in America it is not fully reliable. Cultural and educational factors can affect the amount and type of crime that takes place in specific areas as well as many other factors. Additionally it is also important to remember that not all crimes are reported which leaves a margin for error. Statistics can be

This report aims to explain how the CRQ was answered. It will also critically analyse four pieces of literature used to help with the primary research and how the British crime survey (BCS) was used in comparison with the primary data.

In England and Wales, there are two main ways to measure crime, one is the official crime statistic and the other one is the local survey. First of all, we will look at the structure of the official crime statistic, which normally is the published statistic of crime renamed Crime in England and Wales; it involves two parts: the police records and BCS (British Crime Survey) data which was included in 2002. The structure of the official crime statistic is described clearly by Mike Maguire (Mike Maguire, Rod Morgan, and Robert Reiner, 2012) “The publication was divided into two main sections, one covering offences recorded by the police and the other ‘offenders cautioned or found guilty’. Most of the tables on recorded crime

In England, there's a rising rate in crime, but due to the recently discovered land, it gives England a new outlook to the crime punishment. For example, Document 1D4 states, “...these petty thieves might be condemned for certain years to the western parts…”The criminals would be sentenced to America in order to fulfill the punishment given by the government.Many people are able to be punished for their wrongdoings. If England settles in America, they are able to deal with the rising crime rate.

Crime statistics can sometimes feed into stereotyping certain people which ultimately causes many problems. For example, crime statistics show that there is more crime in poor urban areas, so more cops patrol this area. The problems that can occur from focusing on one area and not the other is missing potentially dangerous things in these unlooked areas. This is also true in looking at the younger generation instead of older people, looking at men instead of women, and even looking more at African Americans even though this is not even a proven crime statistic.