To What Extent to Victimization Surveys Give a Clear Measurement of Crime

The topic of this essay is based on victimization surveys and how accurate the measurement of crime is produced and collected from the surveys. Through-out the reading of this essay, explanations will be given about the surveys and how they are used by the public. Facts and opinions will also be provided on the measurement of crime. I will also provide background information, for example, first publishing details of the surveys etc..

In my opinion the extent of crime proven by the victimization surveys doesn’t show an accurate measurement of the actual crimes which are committed, this will be shown through-out the essay.

Criminal Activities today are measured by statistics. Criminal statistics in England and Wales are produced annually by the Home Office these are compiled from Police and Court Records. These figures have been compiled since 1856.

A lot of crime does not appear in the official statistics an there would also appear to

be a lot of lenience in determining what constitutes a recordable offence, for example, some crimes which have been reported were seen as trivial or un-important enough to record and investigate , such as, littering and vandalism.

There is also the fact that the person reporting such crime may not have been seen as credible such as children or elderly.

Analysing this brings across the point that some crimes may not appear in the final figures, and these figures do therefore not take into account the crimes which are not reported. Figures for the courts are drawn from indictable offences, the people tried at the Crown Court, summary offences tried at Magistrates Court, which are double indictable offences, are not included in the official crime figures.

These problems were seen as a deficiency, in order to try and combat this deficiency in recorded and actual crime, The British Crime Survey was implemented in 1982.

The survey was initiated by the Home Office and through-out the years has incorporated a sample of 40,000 households also using a self-reported form to collect the amount of crimes which have been committed against them to try to highlight this dark or hidden crime figure. (Maguire, 2002)

The British crime survey has now become an annual survey in order to attempt to give a more accurate image of crime levels; it is being used in specific policing areas to help improve performance. However, even this has its limitations as not all crime is included in the survey and some crime seen as victimless, such as drug offences meaning that these offences are also not measured by the survey. There is also a reluctance to report certain types of crime, such as, sexual offences this then makes the comparisons with the Police and Court figures impossible.

Crime statistics can also be manipulated to reduce crime figures to give the appearance that a new offensive against crime is working or that a particular crime is being dealt with more efficiently, for example the decriminalization of cannabis, once decriminalized the figures would disappear from the statistics.

The findings shown from the National British Crime Survey were that:

There is a more realistic image to the amount of crime than indicated by official statistics alone.

There is also a highlight in ‘fear of crime’ for example young men (16-24yrs) are most at risk from violent crime but are least likely to express fear, but women and elderly are more likely to express fear but less likely to be victims.

Crime which is reported to police reflects only a small amount of actual crime this is because victims saw the event too trivial, and thought police could do nothing, that police wouldn’t be interested or the victim dealt with the matter themselves.

Chance of being a victim of minor offence is high but chance of being a victim of a serious offence low. For many types of crimes BME groups are more at risk than whites.

Critique of British Crime Survey:

Is sample representative?

Only the public willing to report themselves as victims will appear on reports.

Corporate/environmental crimes omitted.

The finding shown from the Local British Crime Survey was that:

Narrow their geographical focus

More sensitive than national survey

Greater success in revealing patterns of ‘different victimisation’

Key point

Led to uncovering areas of hidden crime but