AC 1.6-Evaluate methods of collecting statistics about crime.
[6 marks]
POLICE RECORDED CRIME
Introduction
Police-recorded crime (PRC) is the number of notifiable crimes reported to and
recorded by police forces. The police utilise these data to analyse crime trends as
well as create and assess policing methods. Each month, police forces submit reports
to the home office, who then go onto sending the data to the Office for National
Statistics (ONS) for publication.
Reliability
Police reported crime statistics are generally regarded as reliable because it would be
expected that different officers and police forces reporting an incident would follow
the same processes and utilize the same definitions of crimes. However, it is likely
that various officers from various forces will assign different classifications to the
same incident. The definition of a crime may vary depending on the force involved.
For instance, one force's policy of not documenting thefts under £10 may differ from
another's, who do not record thefts under £20. Reliability may also refer to accuracy.
For instance, mistakes can occur when recording information on a victim or a crime.
Validity
The ability of a piece of research to precisely measure what it is designed to assess is
known as validity. Since not all crimes have been reported to the PRC, there may be a
"dark figure" of crime, which undermines the validity of the official statistics. One
reason for this could be the fact that not all crimes are reported to the police,
sometimes out of shame or fear. Another factor could be that not all crimes are
recorded by the police because they may not view it as serious or important enough
to document. PRC lacks validity since it does not provide an exact or truthful account
of the crime rate.
Ethics of research methods
The concept of "ethics" refers to morals, or issues of right or wrong. Individual
offenders and victims are protected as the home office of statistics do not identify
them, thus there are no moral concerns about violating their privacy as only the total
number of incidents is known.
General strengths and weaknesses
[6 marks]
POLICE RECORDED CRIME
Introduction
Police-recorded crime (PRC) is the number of notifiable crimes reported to and
recorded by police forces. The police utilise these data to analyse crime trends as
well as create and assess policing methods. Each month, police forces submit reports
to the home office, who then go onto sending the data to the Office for National
Statistics (ONS) for publication.
Reliability
Police reported crime statistics are generally regarded as reliable because it would be
expected that different officers and police forces reporting an incident would follow
the same processes and utilize the same definitions of crimes. However, it is likely
that various officers from various forces will assign different classifications to the
same incident. The definition of a crime may vary depending on the force involved.
For instance, one force's policy of not documenting thefts under £10 may differ from
another's, who do not record thefts under £20. Reliability may also refer to accuracy.
For instance, mistakes can occur when recording information on a victim or a crime.
Validity
The ability of a piece of research to precisely measure what it is designed to assess is
known as validity. Since not all crimes have been reported to the PRC, there may be a
"dark figure" of crime, which undermines the validity of the official statistics. One
reason for this could be the fact that not all crimes are reported to the police,
sometimes out of shame or fear. Another factor could be that not all crimes are
recorded by the police because they may not view it as serious or important enough
to document. PRC lacks validity since it does not provide an exact or truthful account
of the crime rate.
Ethics of research methods
The concept of "ethics" refers to morals, or issues of right or wrong. Individual
offenders and victims are protected as the home office of statistics do not identify
them, thus there are no moral concerns about violating their privacy as only the total
number of incidents is known.
General strengths and weaknesses
