Official Crime Statistics Essay Example for Free

Official Crime Statistics EssayWhat argon the briny strengths and weaknesses of decreed curse statistics and victimisation surveys? In this essay I al pathetic be discussing the main strengths and weaknesses of official criminal offence statistics and victimization surveys. I get hold of done tremendous research to back up my work, I have also used famous criminologists and other bodies who understand criminalization to help re-enforce my points. Most experts and sure-fire authors, such as Tim Newburn, Brent E. Turvey and Clive Coleman have attempted, through their literature to show how discourtesy has evolved and how surveys have influenced the customarys views about it. The first ever national crime statistics were published in France, 1827. Adolphe Quetelet, a disciple and previous astronomer was the first item-by-item to take a serious approach and interest in criminal statistics. He then went on to become a in the lead body in criminology and fond sciences for his work. Official crime statistics are placed under the ideology of crime rates in the UK and Wales. come that the BCS, sanctioned philosophy and other law aboding bodies can gather together from the every(prenominal)day, their research and other lines to help grant the most stainless rate of crime they can.Victimisation surveys are generally random samples of the macrocosm asked whether they have been a victim to crime inwardly a specific outcome of time. The reasons why these two antithetic types of surveys must be taken are so that crime statistics can attempt to be much solid, although the argument is always made that there exiting never be an accurate percentage of crime and I will also be touching on why this statement has and always will be made. Crime statistics and Victimisation surveys are polls taken and received by victims of crime or the criminals and individuals who commit them. There has been much controversy amongst crime statistics of how accurate an d precise they really are. I will be discussing these issues, but overall revolve abouting my main points onto the strengths and weaknesses of official crimes statistics and victimisation surveys. Without crime statistics there would be no base grounds on the numbers of crimes mediocrely committed, by what sex and by what age group. However, without victimization surveys crimes may stay hidden crimes such as domestic violence, burglary and intimidation.Why I mention these 3 in particular are because statistics show that most common repeat victims of crime are deep down these types of offences. Other offences also include other household theft and vandalism. One example of a contribute victimization survey is the British Crime Survey. The British Crime Survey or BCS for short is a nationally represented survey with a successful sample of approximately 47,000 adults living in confidential households in England and wales every year. The BCS started its surveys in 1981 and it beca me a fluent survey database until 2001/2002. This survey is a face to face interview where the respondents or victims are asked about their experiences and feelings of crime that may have happened to them or mountain they know in the last 12 months, the BCS also ask them about their opinions of crime and crime related topics such as anti-social behaviour. These types of people would also be asked about the effectiveness of the police and how they demand with these issues of crime.The British crime survey is a very important key piece of information and source of data on the background of respondents and the overall circumstances of victimization. A public, accurate crime statistic is most ordinarily the police, a much community based, less national and less accurate version as its range of scope does non cover the nation however both sources limit themselves to a coiffe of offences. Making it easier to gain a more accurate percentage. One main difference between the BCS and th e police is that the BCS move outs victimless crimes, drug dealing and murder. The reason for this is the victims are no longer available to discuss the pointts that happened. Other crimes they exclude are sexual offences this is generally due to the small number reported and the unwillingness of respondents to come forward. some other main difference between the two is that BCS thefts including personal property and other household items, because with the police they would pick out everything included in the theft, jewellery, personal belongings, with the BCS it would all fall into a similar category making it a difficult task to achieve. A weakness of official crime statistics and victimisation surveys is that an argument could be bought up are they actually official? Just because theyre published doesnt make them correct. What about the crimes that arent reported, Because of victims being afraid, intimidated or not having trust in the police. These events being called Hidden C rimes or as they are often referred to Dark Figures. In addition to this, modern day statistics are now more enclosed, for example in Tim Newburns Criminology he discusses how crimes such as violence against the person accounts to events such as murder, assault, however not reckless driving which could be considered to focus fully on physical damage.So as statistics are not as open to as m some(prenominal) crimes as they wish, some will slip through and possibly go into a much minor category. Obviously a harm being that individual may feel neglected and reluctant to detail the events. Due to the declining of main account book crimes in the recent age, beliefs about crime are still quite high. A third of the population from 2003 still believed that crime was a high rated problem. Advantages of Statistics such as these are that they tend to give the public a clear understanding of what crime rates are at. This table shows beliefs about crime, public guardianship that possibly the tabloids could have caused. This is discussed a weakness to crime statistics and the public, in a way the media are creating crimes, victuals on crime fear.As I mentioned earlier Crime statistics are never fully accurate and power is always an important federal agent when determining crime. Smaller crimes such as robbery are associated with the Underclass Theory by Charles Murray. These types of offences are more down to the individual rather than a group. Dr Ziggy MacDonald of the University of Leicester wrote a piece in the Economic Journal about Hidden Crimes, one of the things his research showed was that forecasts of crime trends recrudesce to take proper account of what drives unreported crime. For example, someone who is currently unemployed is 7% less in all likelihood to report a burglary than someone who is currently in work, while someone on a relatively high income is 8% more likely to report a burglary than someone on less than average income He discussed how the d ecrease in employment could eventually lead to the higher rate of theft from peoples properties, and resulting in victims not reporting it, maybe thinking it wont matter as their income isnt high enough to replace the item anyway. Even though the difference between low income individuals and high income individuals is 1% which from my research closely is around 16% burglaries every year as a crime rate, 1% of those victims with a low income are subjected towards not reporting theft of their possessions. Certain individuals economic status (as shown in from MacDonalds work) can become a huge factor when determining Hidden Crimes.People could feel helpless as income is low, or they may live in a deprived area, with no way of being helped their behaviour could become broken referring to the broken ice rink theory a single building could have a shattered window for a period of time and the community around that area may feel unwanted, leaving a physical and aflame gap between this com munity and the open world. Because of this, other buildings may become trashed and broken, people would begin to neutralise the area it self, the idea of fear within these Hidden Crimes. This adds to the statistics the BCS and the police may not know about, little areas may not be expected to have high rates of crime and therefore focus is taken away from them. Bigger areas such as Birmingham would be a prime target for crime, the self-reliance is made. Another theory could that there could possibly be Marxist Criminology, Crime due to class divisions within a society or community, or perhaps crimes of the powerful, individuals or groups of people being treated otherwise in society, expelled from other physical and emotional contact, leaving them no choice but to turn to crime.Transference, to be precise. In August, 2011 the riots in the United Kingdom gave breach to a huge collaboration of crime sprees. oer 1000 people were arrested, yet possibly over 100,000 protested against this Marxist Criminology from politics, student fees and tax increases. Not every individual was caught, making statistics even scarcer. These significant changes within society set alight events that triggered this. This idea of neo Marxism relating to Dark Figures as not every individual in society has the same equal irritate as other fortunate people, be it financially, emotionally and they lash out because of it. Yet these crimes arent recorded, they go unnoticed and became a damaging part of a society. In relation to this is the Left Realism theory, a social democratic approach to the analysis of crime and the development of effective policies of crime control. At the snapper of all of this is a source of suffering for the poor and the vulnerable, this links from the ideology of smaller much little crimes. Bullying for example which as many of 44% of suicides by children from the ages of 10-14 are potentially linked.Data sources of the years have developed and grown onto thi s topic from the 1900s as society and trends begin to evolve. Children picked on because of their backgrounds or income, yet data sources still have a less accurate number to this topic than any other. Official crime statistics do not generally show crimes committed by corporations, if any results are shown, they arent ever big corporations. An example of corporations is Citibank, high profile data breaches, and even the business Sony. These duster Collar Crimes are not easily detected, distinguishing them from victimization surveys. They could be breaches of health and safety laws, not recognisable to the easiest detail. Linking to this could be an idea of a corporations being known as Mavericks people who are the exceptions rather than the rules, so society and governing bodies refuse to believe that they would commit corporate crimes, allowing them to get off easy. Or even reducing the expected costs.One of the biggest corporate crimes was an incident that occurred in 1984 Bhop al. Hundreds of people were killed in a chemical substance accident, by a company called Union Carbide. They owned a pesticide plant which was around 3 miles from Bhopal. The leading director of that company told the BBC that methyl isocyanate gas (MIC) had escaped when a valve in the plants underground storage storage tank broke under pressure As laws are different from the USA and India, payments have still not been made to the families, who deserve compensation, an American firm that is above the law and have been forced into no legal action whatsoever.Could this have future affects to India, How people live, fear foreign businesses, Should they have to live in fear. In conclusion to my research and the theories I have mentioned. I believe that crime statistics can define the crime rate in the UK every year, both types of surveys have their weaknesses and strengths, society as a whole helps figure out the body of crime, they can also be the reliable source to provide it, and st op it. My results and research from numerous sources have given an indication on the levels of crime in the UK.Bibliographyhttp//www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/crime-research/hosb1011/ http//www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/627523/victim-survey http//www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/crime-justice/crime/victims-of-crime/index.html http//webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110218135832/http//rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/crimeew0809.html http//www.res.org.uk/society/mediabriefings/pdfs/2002/february/macdonald1.pdf http//news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/3/newsid_2698000/2698709.stm http//www.civitas.org.uk/crime/factsheet-YouthOffending.pdf