Transcript PowerPoint on Deviance Chapter 1: Introduction

WJEC A2 Unit 4, Crime
and Deviance Week 2:
Measuring Crime
How to navigate this Slide Show:
Either: Click the screen icon below far right for the ‘Slide Show’ option.
Use the left mouse button to enter each new bullet point and to move on to the next page
[Press Esc to exit Slide Show at any time].
Or: use the arrows below to navigate from one screen to the next
Or click on the words on the left to go to the appropriate slide of your choice.
Accessibility Statement

This slide show has been designed to be user friendly
to people with dyslexia and visual impairment.

The accessible font Arial is used.

Black font on a white background is avoided.

Instead, font colour and background have been chosen
to complement each other in order to avoid stark
contrasts which dyslexic readers find hinders reading.

All text is left-justified to avoid ‘rivers of white’.
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
2
Objectives of Chapter 2
Following this slide show you should be aware:

That crime statistics are a social construction.

That the official crime rate rose steadily for the past 100
years and peaked in mid-1990s.

That the official rate significantly underestimates the real
rate of crime.

That victim and self-report studies show that there is
significant under-reporting and under-recording of crime.

A fear of crime is disproportionate to the likelihood of
being a victim of crime.
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
3
Crime Trend in the UK Over Time
This growth in
crime is generally
reflected globally.
However, rates
are still low in
Japan, Singapore,
and Scandinavian
countries.
Totalitarian states
tend to have lower
crime rates.
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
4
Reasons For The Rise in Crime
More state action: as policing
gets better more crimes are
detected.
More laws: Because of more
legislation on the statute book,
there are more possible crimes
(traffic offences, financial fraud,
computer related crimes, etc.)
More sensitivity: People are
more sensitive to reporting
crimes physical and sexual
violence to the police.
21/07/2015
More victims: Because of
increased affluence there are
more things to steal. As
opportunities have risen, so
have crimes.
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
5
The Official Crime Rate (OCR)
In 1998, common assault, possession of a weapon, assault on
a constable and harassment, were added to recorded crime.
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
6
British Crime Survey (BCS)
The BCS measures the amount of crime
in England and Wales by asking people
about crimes they have experienced in
the last year.
The BCS includes crimes which are not reported to the police,
so it is an important alternative to the Official Crime Rate.
Victims do not report crime for various reasons. Without the
BCS the government would have no information on these
unreported crimes.
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
7
British Crime Survey Crime Trend
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
8
Trends of Reported Crime,
Recorded Crime and the BCS
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
9
Recent Crime Rates
In 2004/05 the Official
Crime Rate (OCR) (crimes
recorded by the police)
was 5,6 million offences in
England and Wales.
In 2004/05 the British Crime
Survey (BCS) recorded 10.9
million crimes on adults in
private households in
England and Wales.
This represents a fall of
6% over the previous year.
In 2004/05 nearly 24% of
the population were the
victim of some type of crime
compared to 44% in 1995
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
10
Official Crime Rate Figures By Crime 2004-05
Type of Crime
Theft and handling stolen property
2,027,516
Total violent crime
1,184,702
Burglary
679,973
Criminal damage
1,185,388
Fraud and forgery
278,902
Drug offences
142,338
Robbery
121,200
Sex offences
60,946
Other notifiable offences
63,872
Total all offences
21/07/2015
5,562,691
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
11
Criminal Characteristics
The Official Crime Rate (OCR) is
compiled annually by the police for
the Home Office.
They show criminals are typically:
• Male;
• Working-class;
• Youthful;
• Disproportionately black.
In addition they are likely to have a poor educational record,
and come from a broken home.
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
12
Dark Figure of Crime Statistics
Sociologists argue that the Official
Crime Rate of crime seriously
underestimates the real or true rate
of crime.
The British Crime Survey suggests
that the true level of crime is at
least twice the Official Crime Rate.
The difference between the official crime rate and the real
crime rate is referred to as the ‘dark-side’ of crime statistics
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
13
Social Construction
of Official Crime
Statistics
Criminal statistics are a social
construction because they are the
product of social processes.
They involve not only offenders
but reporting and the behaviour of
the police.
It is estimated by the BCS that
only 31% of crimes are reported
and recorded.
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
14
Functionalist View on Statistics
Functionalists share the view of
positivists and tend to accept
crime statistics uncritically.
The functionalist-inspired
subcultural theory for example
started with the view that crime
is a young, working-class, male
phenomenon.
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
15
Marxist View on Statistics
Marxists recognise the systematic
bias in favour of the powerful in the
application of the law.
As a general rule, the higher people
are in the social system the less likely
they are to be arrested, charged,
prosecuted and found guilty.
Marxists stress the significant ‘dark-side’ of white-collar and
corporate crime that is largely invisible and absent from crime
statistics.
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
16
Interactionist/Labelling Theory View
of Statistics
This interpretive approach sees
crime statistics as largely useless
and a distortion of reality.
They argue statistics are a social
construction and tell us nothing
about the real level of crime, only
who compiled them and how.
Labelling theory is more interested in questions such as why
some acts are viewed as more deviant than others and why
some groups become labelled as deviant.
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
17
Left Realist View on Statistics
Left Realists are almost unique (apart
from Functionalists) in accepting that
official statistics have some value and
should not be rejected out of hand.
They accept the statistical view that
typical offenders are young, male,
working-class and disproportionately
black.
Using victim studies, they highlight
how people (especially the poor and
vulnerable) have real fears of crime.
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
18
Feminist View on Statistics
Feminists argue that crime statistic
underplay the extent of females as
victims: personal attack; domestic
violence, etc.
Until recently the police viewed attacks
in the home as “domestics” and were
reluctant to get involved.
Many female victims of physical and sexual attack are
reluctant to report offences. (See Chapter 8 for more detail).
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
19
Underreporting of Crime
The British Crime Survey found that:
44% of crime victims felt the incident was
not sufficiently serious to report.
33% claimed the police would be
unsuccessful in solving the crime, so felt it
was not worth reporting it.
22% did not report the crime as they felt the
police would not be interested.
4% did not report crimes because they were fearful of
reprisals. 4% did not report crimes because of inconvenience.
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
20
Underreporting (Continued)
Some crimes are not reported because
they are victimless, e.g. drug-taking,
smuggling, prostitution, etc.
Some crimes are not reported because
of the humiliation felt by the victim
such as rape, domestic violence, etc.
Corporate and white-collar crime is
extremely difficult to detect and thus
report.
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
21
Under-recording: Police as ‘Filters’
Moore, Aiken and Chapman (2000)
see the police as filters, only recording
some of crimes reported to them.
Seriousness: the offence may be
regarded as too trivial.
‘Social status’ of the victim: important
people tend to get a more favoured
response than the poor, down and
outs and homeless.
Classifying the crime: (minor ‘assaults’ may not be
investigated but ‘aggravated assaults’ usually are).
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
22
Police as Filters (continued)
Discretion: each police officer has the discretion to press
charges or let the individual off – even if they are known to
be ‘guilty’.
(Those whose demeanour is deferential, co-operative and
polite are more likely to be let off for minor offences.
Consider here Aaron Ciçourel’s ‘negotiation’, Howard
Becker’s labelling theory and Skolnick’s ‘canteen culture’).
Promotion and relations at work: Police officers have to
tread a tightrope between trying to impress senior officers
and not appearing too keen (as this makes more work for
their colleagues).
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
23
The ‘Cuffing’ of Crime
The dishonest practice of not
recording crimes is known inside
the police as ‘cuffing’ or
‘Spanish practices’.
It is suggested by some that
the fall in crime in the 1990s
was manipulated by police
‘cuffing’ rather than a real fall in
crime rates.
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
24
Victim Studies
These are surveys of people who
are asked to report all cases
where they have been a victim of
crime recently.
Examples can be local like the
Islington Crime Survey (1986
and 1995) or national like the
British Crime Survey (annually).
Victim surveys give a clearer idea of the extent of crime, who
is likely to be a victim and people’s fears about crime.
They also highlight the risk of repeat victimisation of victims.
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
25
British Crime Survey
An annual survey conducted by the Home
Office of 40,000 households with data fed
into laptops.
Now includes a section on domestic
violence, but interviews are usually with
male head of household.
Does not include corporate or workplace crime, victimless
crime or crimes against people under age of 16.
So it still underestimates the real rate of crime.
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
26
Weaknesses of Victim Studies
Relying on people's memory is a problem as recollections
may be incorrect or biased.
Sometimes people put crimes into the wrong categories.
Surveys exclude white-collar crimes such as fraud and
corporate crime: these become effectively 'invisible crimes'.
People will not report 'victimless crimes' such as drug taking,
or prostitution.
There is an under-reporting of personal attack, domestic
violence and sexual crimes, despite anonymity. (Note: the
media sensitising issues can encourage people to report).
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
27
Self-Report Studies
These ask people to honestly
confess to crimes they have
committed over a period of time.
They can be an important way
of getting a better picture of
some crimes like drug-use.
Anne Campbell gave a self-report study to young females
and found they had almost as high a crime rate as young
males.
However, Steven Box argued that if petty crime was removed
then the male-female ratio was closer to the official one: 5:1.
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
28
Weaknesses of Self-Report Studies
Steven Box (1971) argues self-report studies suffer from
issues of validity, representativeness and relevance:
‘Validity’: are they true to life? Respondents can forget, playdown or exaggerate the extent of criminal activity they have
been involved in.
‘Representativeness’. Since most self-report studies are on
young people, they rarely include professional or managerial
adults.
‘Relevance': the majority of crimes reported are trivial.
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
29
Statistical Explosion in a Risk Society
Ulrich Beck (1995, pictured left) coined the term
‘risk society’ to refer to the shared knowledge of
contemporary risks, including rising crime.
Mike Maguire (2002) notes how we are bombarded with data
not just from the Home Office but researchers, agencies and
even victims. This adds to our knowledge and fear of crime.
Garland (2001) argues in late modernity we have lost
confidence in governments. This explains why when officially
the crime rate is falling, many people believe it is still rising.
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
30
Fear of Crime
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
31
Fear of Crime
Age: Not only do elderly people fear
crime but both males and females under
25 report the highest levels of fear for
most types of crime.
Gender: Women are almost 3 times as
likely to fear physical attack than men.
Ethnicity: People from minority ethnic
backgrounds fear crime more than the
majority White population.
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
32
Fear of Crime of the Over-60s
Percentage aged 60 or over feeling 'very' unsafe when walking alone at night,
2004/05 (Source: ONS website www.statistics.gov.uk/)
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
33
Fear of Crime
Finding by the Islington Crime
Survey (1995) and shared by Left
Realism is that there is a real fear
of crime amongst the public.
The group most likely to be a
victim of violence is young males.
In 88% of cases they know their
attacker.
Ironically, deprived inner-city areas and sink housing estates
have the highest levels of crime. Such people who are
victims of burglary stand a high risk of repeat victimisation.
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
34
Reflective Questions
In Chapter 1 we saw how crime is a social construction
stemming from Governments changing laws in response to
cultural changes and influence of powerful groups.
1. Why does this make comparing crime rates and trends
difficult over time?
Most judicial systems reward people if they plead guilty. In
the USA this is quite open and known as plea bargaining.
2. What impact might this have on the seriousness of
crimes admitted to and solved?
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
35
End of Presentation
21/07/2015
Crime and Deviance Chapter 2:
Measuring Crime
36