(1) official crime statistics

By which organisations are official crime statistics for England and Wales produced?

(Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate court and police systems)

• Office for National Statistics (ONS)

• the Home Office

• Her Majesty’s Inspectorate Constabulary

etc.

What are the 2 principal sources of info. about crime in England and Wales?

• police recorded crime (PRC)

• the Crime Survey for England and Wales (formerly, British Crime Survey)

—> headline figures are widely reported in news media

How has crime recorded by the police in England and Wales changed from 1898-2010?

• rate remained low until 1950s

• increased rapidly in 2nd half of 20th century

• some falls during 1990s

How have stats on police-recorded crime (PRC) differed from the results of the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) for the beginning of the 21st century?

• PRC fell slightly before 2011, but remained at around 5 million reports annually

• CSEW also fell but remained at around 2x figures of PRC

• PRC rose slightly from 2014-2017 while CSEW continued falling

Why do PRC statistics provide an invalid account of crime?

• exclude less serious offences known as “summary offences” eg. most motoring offences, minor criminal damage, being drunk + disorderly ~ police not required to inform Home Office about these

• exclude crimes that haven’t been reported to/ detected by the police

• police don’t record all reported crime

• HM Inspectorate of Constabulary 2014 report estimated 1 in 5 reported offences not recorded

• some crimes more likely to be recorded eg. people must provide insurers with proof they have reported domestic burglaries in order to claim

Why do PRC statistics provide an unreliable account of crime?

• 2014 assessment by the UK Statistics Authority: PRC data insufficiently reliable for designation as “National Statistics”

• unreliable because of:

  • changes in recording practices

  • changes in police activity ie. focusing efforts on dif. crimes

  • changes in public’s willingness to report dif. types of crimes

• ONS: apparent increases in PRC (2014-2016) “may reflect a number of factors” eg. tightening recording practice, increased reporting etc. ~ not just genuine crime increases

What is the Crime Survey for England and Wales?

• established 1981

• originally “British Crime Survey”

• today involves representative sample of around 35,000 adults living in private households who are interviewed at home about experience of being crime victim over past year

• asked whether they have reported any crime

• carried out annually

• since 2009, includes additional sample (of around 3,000) of 10-15 yr-olds

• adults 16-59 given self-completion element asking about domestic abuse + sexual violence ~ these results reported separately

What are the strengths of the Crime Survey for England and Wales?

• picks up on crimes not reported to the police/ not recorded

• high response rate (consistently >70%) —> valid

• responsibility transferred from Home Office to independent Office for National Statistics in 2012 ~ gov. can’t manipulate figures

What limitations of the Crime Survey for England and Wales does Newburn (2007) point out?

• victim surveys don’t include all crimes eg. murder or “victimless crimes” eg. certain drug offences

• most types of corporate crime, environmental crime etc. are regulated by organisations other than the police eg. the Inland Revenue

• people living outside households (homeless, prisoners etc.) not part of survey & they are likely to have high rates of victimisation ~ unrepresentative

• crimes against businesses not covered

Who identified key limitations of the Crime Survey for England and Wales?

Newburn (2007)

What are the disadvantages of the Crime Survey for England and Wales as a result of it involving face-to-face interviews?

• respondents may deliberately withhold info. eg. to protect family members

• may forget incidents

• may not know when incidents occurred

• interview conditions may influence responses

For which key reason is the CSEW more reliable than PRC data?

methodology employed in the main court of crime has remained broadly consistent since the survey began & is not subject to fluctuations in levels of reporting by the public/ recording by the police

How has the CSEW changed to accommodate for the increase in cybercrime and online fraud?

• Qs on fraud + computer misuse added in 2015

• results indicated 3.5 mil. cases of fraud + 1.9 mil. computer misuse offences from 2015-2016

• almost doubled total no. of crimes

Why might it be argued that even fairly valid and reliable forms of official statistics (CSEW) cannot offer an objective picture of crime?

• interpretivist/phenomenological sociologists: interpretations of the world held by members of society are inevitably subjective

• sociological accounts = interpretations of sociologists

• crime stats = record of occasions when police, victims etc. have interpreted actions as crimes

• Tim Hope: the CSEW conceals as much as it reveals ~ fails to draw attention to significant inequalities in crime victims eg. 20% of population suffer from over ¾ of all household property crime; there is a need to “rebalance” the CSEW by selecting samples including those facing high probability of victimisation

  • critical of fact that CSEW places arbitrary cap on no. of incidents that victims can report to ensure estimates aren’t skewed by small no. reporting high no. of crimes

  • when cap is removed, there’s 70% increase in violent crimes against women & significant increases in other types of crime

Why might it be argued that fairly valid and reliable forms of official statistics (CSEW) can offer an objective picture of crime?

• positivist/realist sociologists (functionalists, Marxists etc.): society exists as objective reality

• individuals doing things for dif. reasons/ having dif. interpretations does not change the fact they have committed crimes

What are the political and policy implications of official crime statistics?

• CSEW + PRC generally seen (by general public, politicians + mainstream media) as providing accurate + reliable picture of crime

• politicians adopt narrow focus on just those crimes covered in these data sets when discussing “crime” policies eg. if data suggests that “total” crime is falling, crime is unlikely to feature on political agenda (almost absent from 2017 General Election campaign)

What 3 categories are offences in England and Wales divided into?

• summary ~ least serious

• triable

• indictable ~ most serious; tried in Crown Court rather than Magistrates’ Court