measuring crime

Graham and bowling

conducted an SRS of 2,400 people ages 14-25.

interviewed in their own home face to face

completed a self completion questionnaire which used 23 offences and asked which ones they’d committed

crime rates for blacks and whites were almost equal

44% for whites and 43% for blacks

Helpful in providing a more valid account of patterns of offending regarding ethnicity.

Dobash and dobash

Used two female researchers to carry out 109 unstructured interviews with women who had experienced domestic violence - 42 of the women were or had been living in women’s refuge

23% of the sample experienced violence before marriage but felt it would cease once they were married

77% only experienced it after

violence became routine and normal

Felt men had the right to punish them

Allows us to see how crime impacts individuals, gives us better validity

Farrington and painter

Used a victim survey to test whether improved street lighting reduced crime rates

Send victimisation surveys to households (1,000) before and after the new street lighting was installed

Respondents reported they felt safer, and it led to safer spaces because criminals feared being spotted.

Victimhood fell by 43%

importance of using victimisation survey to reveal crimes such as receiving drugs that the police are unaware of.

shows the importance of victim surveys rather than police statistics to reveal crime and fear of crime

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