Reporting Crime

Question 1

Victim Surveys

Answer 1

Sample of population asked whether they have been victims of crime and if they have reported it to the police

Question 2

What is the most important study of crime?

Answer 2

Crime survey for England and Wales conducted annually by home office

Question 3

What methods does the crime survey for England and Wales use?

Answer 3

Asks people resident in households about their experience of crime in face to face interviews

• structured interview with closed questions
• random sampling
• laptops allow respondents to feel more at ease when answering questions on sensitive issues, anonymous, self completion

Question 4

Strengths of victim surveys

Answer 4

Understanding of unreported crime

• overcomes police not recording significant number of offences
• gives a good picture on patterns of victimisation

Question 5

Weaknesses of victim surveys

Answer 5

Relies on people’s memory - recollections may be false or biased

• victims may categorise crime incorrectly
• omits range of crime (corporate crime) - become invisible crimes
• victimless crimes not reported
• victim surveys are anonymous but sexual offence remain underreported

Question 6

Self report studies

Answer 6

Surveys conducted to ask people if they have committed a crime
- sometimes carried out by governments or sociologists

Question 7

Strengths of self report studies

Answer 7

Useful for revealing the sorts of people who commit crime

• can reveal ‘hidden offenders’ who haven’t been caught by police
• useful for understanding victimless crimes

Question 8

Weaknesses of self report studies

Answer 8

• Validity: relies on truthfulness of respondents, they may lie
• Representativeness: mostly conducted on young people as they are easy to study - not professional criminals
• Relevance - most crimes uncovered are trivial
• may not realise they have committed a crime

Question 9

What do self report studies help uncover?

Answer 9

Determine whether there is systematic bias in the criminal Justice system
- some offenders more likely to get categorised as criminals while others get away with it