Flashcards on Statistics and Patterns of Crime (1.5)

What are the three methods used by sociologists to build up a picture of crime patterns?

What are police-recorded statistics?

What are victim studies?

What are self-report studies?

How are police-recorded statistics sometimes seen?

Police-recorded statistics are based on information collected by criminal justice agencies. However, what problem arises here?

According to the CSEW, why might an individual be less likely to report a crime?

On the other hand, what might persuade a person to report a crime?

How many crimes reported to the police in 2014 that should have been recorded were not included in the statistics?

There are large numbers of crimes of which people believe they have been victims but that are not reported or recorded. How is the total number of unrecorded crimes referred to?

The dark figure can be estimated but cannot be measured precisely. What discrepancy does the existence of the dark figure cause?

Both victim survey statistics and police-recorded statistics indicate that, in the very long term, crime has increased. They also agree that crime rates have recently dropped somewhat. However, what do they disagree on?

Although the general trends revealed are similar in the police figures and the CSEW, numbers of violent crimes recorded by the police have increased in recent years, while they have declined according to the CSEW. What may be the reason for this, according to Tim Newburn?

It can be argued that the police filter the information supplied to them by the public according to factors that they deem important. What are the four factors they refer to?

What is meant by 'seriousness'?

What is meant by 'classification'?

What is meant by 'social status'?

What is meant by 'discretion'?

Official statistics of crimes committed and punished also reflect what?

British courts work on the assumption that people will plead guilty. What percentage of people do enter a guilty plea?

Why do so many people plead guilty?

While plea bargaining results in an overwhelming majority of guilty pleas, what are these pleas sometimes for?

What impact will this have on the statistics?

What is considered to be a crime changes over time, as a result of governments changing the law in response to cultural changes and the influence of powerful groups. What impact does this have on the exploration of crime over a period of time?

What are statistics also influenced by?

Additionally, changing social attitudes can influence the behaviour of the police too. Give a case example:

Another way of estimating the extent and patterns of crime is by using victim surveys. How are these conducted?

What are the strengths of using victim surveys?

However, there are several disadvantages to victim surveys. Give examples:

Despite their limitations, victim surveys have produced some interesting findings on the victims of crime. For example, the CSEW found that which group of individuals are most likely to be victims of violence?

Although victim surveys show that there is much more crime committed than that reported to the police, how can much of this crime be described?

The third way in which data may be collected is through self-report studies. Why are these particularly useful?

However, self-report studies have been criticised for lacking validity. Why?

Self-report surveys also have a problem of representativeness. Discuss:

Finally, there is a problem of relevance when using self-report surveys. What is meant by this?

Despite their weaknesses, self-report surveys have one significant strength. What is it?

Self-report surveys are very useful in proving the existence of what?