Crime Statistics
Criminology essay. 2500 words. Due 10/09/2010
Question 2: using research into street violence to illustrate your argument, identify dilemmas associated with relying on police statistics as a measure of crime.
When the annual crime statistics are reported, they can generate many emotions within society. These feelings can be conflicting depending on whether the crime statistics show an increase or decrease in crime fields. When crime rates are down the community feels relieved, protected and safe, restoring confidence in the legal system, however when crime rates are high, there is a sense of community fear, insecurity and a loss of confidence in the legal system is the result. However crime statistics are not one hundred percent reliable or a true or correct depiction of the crime rates within Australia or any other society. There are many reasons as to why the crime statistics are not truly dependable. Unreliable statistics can be the result of unreported crime, as criminologists and sociologists refer to it as the “dark figure”1 of crime, also when police are targeting or “blitzing”2 a particular crime within the community, this will see crimes in those field increase, as well as crimes not being recorded until they are reported and ever changing society can have various limitations on the reliability of crime statistics. Consequently official crime “statistics are an inaccurate reflection of our everyday experience of crime”3.
Crime statistics are crime figures that have been recorded by the police when a person makes a report that they have been wronged or a crime has been committed. Therefore crime statistics can only represent the crimes reported.
“Street crime is often the type of criminal activity that is used as a reference point for ‘crime talk’. It also has subtle influences, most notably being a metaphor for the state of a society. The most visible field of crime is street crime”4, the types of street crime that are most visible, for instance is
Question 2: using research into street violence to illustrate your argument, identify dilemmas associated with relying on police statistics as a measure of crime.
When the annual crime statistics are reported, they can generate many emotions within society. These feelings can be conflicting depending on whether the crime statistics show an increase or decrease in crime fields. When crime rates are down the community feels relieved, protected and safe, restoring confidence in the legal system, however when crime rates are high, there is a sense of community fear, insecurity and a loss of confidence in the legal system is the result. However crime statistics are not one hundred percent reliable or a true or correct depiction of the crime rates within Australia or any other society. There are many reasons as to why the crime statistics are not truly dependable. Unreliable statistics can be the result of unreported crime, as criminologists and sociologists refer to it as the “dark figure”1 of crime, also when police are targeting or “blitzing”2 a particular crime within the community, this will see crimes in those field increase, as well as crimes not being recorded until they are reported and ever changing society can have various limitations on the reliability of crime statistics. Consequently official crime “statistics are an inaccurate reflection of our everyday experience of crime”3.
Crime statistics are crime figures that have been recorded by the police when a person makes a report that they have been wronged or a crime has been committed. Therefore crime statistics can only represent the crimes reported.
“Street crime is often the type of criminal activity that is used as a reference point for ‘crime talk’. It also has subtle influences, most notably being a metaphor for the state of a society. The most visible field of crime is street crime”4, the types of street crime that are most visible, for instance is
References: 1. Official statistics and the dark figure, Timothy Manson, 1991 2 3. Crime in the streets. Goldsmith, Israel, Daley. 2003 4 9. “Knives scar lives” combating violence campaign, southern cross ten, 2010 10 11. Official statistics and the dark figure, Timothy Manson, 1991 12 13. Official statistics and the dark figure, Timothy Manson, 1991 14 23. Crime in the streets. Goldsmith, Israel, Daley. 2003 24