Lecture 1: Measuring Crime
Ways of measuring crime:
Victim surveys
Offender surveys
Police recorded crime statistics
CSEW
Prison Statistics
Police Recorded Statistics:
Began in 1857
Only include notifiable offences
Late 90s- more offences were added such as assault and harassment causing a spike of
250,000 added offences to violence against the person (Maguire and McVie 2017)
Drug possession included for the first time in 1998 causing a 538% increase from the
previous year (Berman 2008)
The National Crime Recording Standard came into place in 2002 which meant that police had
to record everything which was reported to them and therefore included in their statistics
which caused an estimated 10% total rise in crime that year (Berman 2008)
Lack of trust in police
Some offences reported to the police are not recorded and are classed as an incident rather
than a crime
Large dark figure of crime
Paradoxes of enforcement action e.g. public campaigns to encourage more people to speak
out about domestic violence and sexual assault could mean that more people are reporting
these crimes, causing artificial spikes
Taken to be a true reflection of crime, especially by the media which can cause moral panics
People who are most likely to experience crime are the least likely to report e.g. homeless,
illegal immigrants
CSEW:
National survey of victimisation
Began in 1982 and is now done annually
Asks people about victimisation, their fear of crime, their lifestyle
Attempts to address the dark figure of crime
People may have issues with recall or may not want to disclose certain things
Helps to address the dark figure with sensitive topics such as sexual offences and domestic
abuse- 2001 self-interviewing on a computer to help participants feel more comfortable
New data on ‘rationality gap’- they found that the people who are most fearful of crime are
usually the least likely to be victimised e.g. women and the elderly show highest levels of
fear of crime but young males most likely
Focus on particular types of crime- do not include new crimes such as cybercrimes and fraud
Sampling issues- do not include those in halls, care homes, prisons, hospitals
Cap of 5 crime incidents- lifted the cap on domestic violence and abuse
Statistics are used to:
See if prevention strategies are working
See if rehabilitation strategies are working
Informing policy
Ways of measuring crime:
Victim surveys
Offender surveys
Police recorded crime statistics
CSEW
Prison Statistics
Police Recorded Statistics:
Began in 1857
Only include notifiable offences
Late 90s- more offences were added such as assault and harassment causing a spike of
250,000 added offences to violence against the person (Maguire and McVie 2017)
Drug possession included for the first time in 1998 causing a 538% increase from the
previous year (Berman 2008)
The National Crime Recording Standard came into place in 2002 which meant that police had
to record everything which was reported to them and therefore included in their statistics
which caused an estimated 10% total rise in crime that year (Berman 2008)
Lack of trust in police
Some offences reported to the police are not recorded and are classed as an incident rather
than a crime
Large dark figure of crime
Paradoxes of enforcement action e.g. public campaigns to encourage more people to speak
out about domestic violence and sexual assault could mean that more people are reporting
these crimes, causing artificial spikes
Taken to be a true reflection of crime, especially by the media which can cause moral panics
People who are most likely to experience crime are the least likely to report e.g. homeless,
illegal immigrants
CSEW:
National survey of victimisation
Began in 1982 and is now done annually
Asks people about victimisation, their fear of crime, their lifestyle
Attempts to address the dark figure of crime
People may have issues with recall or may not want to disclose certain things
Helps to address the dark figure with sensitive topics such as sexual offences and domestic
abuse- 2001 self-interviewing on a computer to help participants feel more comfortable
New data on ‘rationality gap’- they found that the people who are most fearful of crime are
usually the least likely to be victimised e.g. women and the elderly show highest levels of
fear of crime but young males most likely
Focus on particular types of crime- do not include new crimes such as cybercrimes and fraud
Sampling issues- do not include those in halls, care homes, prisons, hospitals
Cap of 5 crime incidents- lifted the cap on domestic violence and abuse
Statistics are used to:
See if prevention strategies are working
See if rehabilitation strategies are working
Informing policy
