Patterns of crime and statistics

Official crime statistics

Examining police and court records, produced on a yearly basis by Home Office

What do official statistics tell us?

The total number of crimes known to the police and the social characteristics of offenders

According to official statistics offenders are…

16-24 years old

Male (80%)

Poor home backgrounds

Lack educational qualifications

Positives of official statistics

Show how crimes have changed over time

Help identify priority areas to focus police on (especially important given budget cuts)

Identify cause and effect relationships

Example evaluating official statistics- issues recording crime

2017- police are unlikely to pursue shoplifting valued under £200 in response to stretched resources, lower record of shoplifting than true

Example evaluating official statistics issues of reporting crime

2020 Greater Manchester Police had failed to record 80,000 crimes in a year

Issues with reporting crime: evaluating official statistics

People may not report petty crimes like minor theft- however now people report without speaking to the police like on Facebook

People report crimes that have an advantage: 98% of car thefts are reported But this makes it seem like car theft is a disproportionate problem

Some crimes are private

Victims too embarrassed to come forward eg sexual offences or male domestic abuse victims (1 in 6 men experience domestic abuse by a female partner but this is by no means reflected in recorded crime)

Unable to inform police eg dead

Little faith in the police eg ethnic minorities may not trust the police- however change in stop and search so police have to wear cameras

Fear of reprisals eg gang or drug related crimes

Don’t realise victims eg fraud or child sexual abuse victims

Issues of recording crime: evaluating official statistics

Laws change: 2012 stalking became an official offence causing an artificial rise in crime

40% of crimes reported to the police end up being recorded by them

1997 offences including criminal damage under the value of £20 had to be recorded causing an artificial increase in crime

Counting crimes is problematic

Police deciding what category a crime falls into- subjective- however after police found institutionally racist (Stephen Lawrence) ethnic minority background decides that the offence against them was racially motivated

Inner city have greater police presence giving an artificial increase in crime

Police officers have different attitudes and priorities for crime

The crime victim survey

Representative sample of 46,000 over 16s are used, asked whether they have been a victim of crime in last year, whether they reported it and whether the police recorded it

Findings from the crime victim survey

Less than 1 in 4 crimes are reported to the police

Twice as much crime exists compared to police data

Evaluating crime victim surveys

Not all crimes can be directly compared to police data as business crimes are not included as it is a household survey

Crimes not included: corporate crimes and fraud and sex offences

Doesn’t account for crimes under the age of 10

Household survey so excludes homeless people, those living in hostels, prisoners which are groups more likely to be victims

People are required to remember events

Gives the impression that everyone is just as likely to fall victim to crime

Self report study

Cross section of society is asked what offences they have committed in the past year

Advantages of self report studies

Social characteristics of offenders- age, social class, gender, ethnicity

Shed light on motivations for committing crime

Expose middle class crime

Problems with self report studies

Respondents may lie, exaggerate or be mistaken

Most use young people and students as they are easily accessed

Focus on street crime