Evaluate Methods Of Collecting Statistics
About Crime
*include an introduction: what are Home Office statistics and the CSEW
Home Office Statistics: Reliability
• reliability: refers to how consistent a method is at producing the same results
even if the people who are conducting the method are different
• strengths: generally, police officers all receive the same training which means
they all follow the same procedures (mostly)
weaknesses: however, this may still result in different police forces may result in
one force handling a crime differently to another
*Examples:
• weakness: a victim that has received a minor injury like a bruise or cut during a
physical attack may be determined to be assault with injury by one police force,
whereas another might argue that this an assault without injury due to the
wound being minor
• strength: the definition of drug-dealing and what it entails is the same for all
police forces
Home Office Statistics: Validity:
• refers to how accurate something is
• crime statistics created by police (Home Office statistics) do not include
unreported crime, crimes going unreported and unrecorded means that the
reality of how many crimes are being committed is unknown (the dark figure of
crime) and thus can mislead police in relation to which crimes they should aim
their focus on which harms validity
*Examples:
• a victim of sexual assault may be ashamed or experiencing trauma from what
has happened to them and will not want to make a report to police in order to
avoid having to relive their ordeal, which leads to more unreported crime that
affects the validity of the police’s crime statistics
• sometimes the profile may decide against recording a report of sexual assault
because there is not enough evidence to convict anyone
*Statistics:
• 25% of rapes and sexual offences are unrecorded, which may cause a ripple
effect - these crimes might become normalised
• around 800,000 crimes go unreported each year
Home Office Statistics: Ethics Of Research:
• refers to whether or not the research being conducted follows the moral code
of conduct
• when being researched, both victims and offenders can be assured that they
have full rights to confidentiality and anonymity
Crime Survey For England And Wales:
• compiles intel regarding the crimes the public are most concerned about
• paints a more realistic picture of crime rates
• can be involved in crime reduction programmes
About Crime
*include an introduction: what are Home Office statistics and the CSEW
Home Office Statistics: Reliability
• reliability: refers to how consistent a method is at producing the same results
even if the people who are conducting the method are different
• strengths: generally, police officers all receive the same training which means
they all follow the same procedures (mostly)
weaknesses: however, this may still result in different police forces may result in
one force handling a crime differently to another
*Examples:
• weakness: a victim that has received a minor injury like a bruise or cut during a
physical attack may be determined to be assault with injury by one police force,
whereas another might argue that this an assault without injury due to the
wound being minor
• strength: the definition of drug-dealing and what it entails is the same for all
police forces
Home Office Statistics: Validity:
• refers to how accurate something is
• crime statistics created by police (Home Office statistics) do not include
unreported crime, crimes going unreported and unrecorded means that the
reality of how many crimes are being committed is unknown (the dark figure of
crime) and thus can mislead police in relation to which crimes they should aim
their focus on which harms validity
*Examples:
• a victim of sexual assault may be ashamed or experiencing trauma from what
has happened to them and will not want to make a report to police in order to
avoid having to relive their ordeal, which leads to more unreported crime that
affects the validity of the police’s crime statistics
• sometimes the profile may decide against recording a report of sexual assault
because there is not enough evidence to convict anyone
*Statistics:
• 25% of rapes and sexual offences are unrecorded, which may cause a ripple
effect - these crimes might become normalised
• around 800,000 crimes go unreported each year
Home Office Statistics: Ethics Of Research:
• refers to whether or not the research being conducted follows the moral code
of conduct
• when being researched, both victims and offenders can be assured that they
have full rights to confidentiality and anonymity
Crime Survey For England And Wales:
• compiles intel regarding the crimes the public are most concerned about
• paints a more realistic picture of crime rates
• can be involved in crime reduction programmes
