Evaluate methods of collecting statistics about crime

What's the source of information for the home office statistics?

The police

Reliability

Whether the same result is reached when the same question is asked

Validity

Whether the results give a realistic representation of the amount of crime

How many people are interviewed in the CSEW?

50,000

What does the CSEW do?

It asks people whether they have been a victim of crime in the last 12 months

How are people interviewed in the CSEW?

Face-to-face

Why might the CSEW be seen are more reliable than the OCS?

This is because the questions are structured

A limitation of the CSEW

The gender of the interviewer might affect the answers of the interviewers

Advantages (validity) of the CSEW

Finds out that a lot of crimes are under-reported

2 reasons why the CSEW may be inaccurate -

• It relies on someone's memory

• They may not know they're a victim

The dark figure of crime

The unreported crimes and the crimes that are reported but the police don't record

Reason for under-reporting of crime

Stolen item is of low value

Usefulness of home office statistics is affected by

Counting rules

Purpose of the home office statistics

A measure of police activity

Usefulness of home office statistics is affected by…

Changes in the law

Purpose of the home office statistics

An indicator of crime trends

Reason for under-reporting of crime

No faith in the police

Reason for under-reporting of crime

Fear of reprisals

Which source consistently records more crimes

The CSEW

Why do the two sources of statistics not agree on the amount of crime?

Differences are mainly due to differences in reporting

How many marks is this AC worth in the controlled assessment?

6

According to the CSEW people only report what % of crime?

40%

Police only record what % of the crimes that people report to them?

60%

What is the most serious disadvantage of using police statistics?

The dark figure of crime