Crime and deviance - key words + stats

what are the 3 types of criminal statistics

• police recorded statistics (official statistics)

• victim surveys (british crime survey)

• self-report studies

what are official statistics

based on crime reported to and recorded by the police

they provide historical overview

what % of crime is recorded

43% of crime reported to the police is recorded

what are problems with official statistics

not all crime filters through to being recorded for lots of reasons

changes in the law lead to implications making comparisons over time

it is in the governments interest to have crime stats show low levels of crime

what are victim surveys

asking a sample of the british population if they’ve been a victim of crime

British Crime Survey

why are victim surveys good

picks up crime missed by official statistics

what are the problems with victim surveys

validity - relies on accurate and honest memory of participants

the media desensitises us to some crimes

what are self-report studies

asking people if they have committed a crime

brings attention to victimless crime such as drug use

what % of all sentenced crime is violence against a person

30%

what is the most significant crime in the UK

fraud

accounts for over 3x as many crimes as violent crime

what is the proportion of males to females who experience violence with injury

violence with injury

females = 48%

males = 52%

what proportion of males to females are victims of sexual offences

victims of sexual offence

females = 84%

males = 16%