What Are the Major Problems with Regard to the Collection of Crime Statistics
What are the major problems with regard to the collection of crime statistics?
There are two main sources for published crime statistics; the British Crime Survey, a face to face victimization survey, covering experiences of crime in the previous twelve months, and police recorded crime which is supplied by 43 different territorial police forces on a monthly basis (Home Office, 2011). Both sources have different strengths and weaknesses such as police discretion for recording certain crimes or the time period covered in the British Crime Survey (Walker et al 2006). Also, both sources cover different areas of crime in greater depths, for example, police recorded crime provides a more fuller picture for the levels of indictable offences such as homicides. The British Crime Survey can provide a more accurate image of summary offences that may be unrecorded or unreported to the police. Solely, the sources fail to provide an accurate image for crime statistics, but when used collectively, it is possible to gain a fuller picture for crime statistics. On a monthly basis, 43 national police forces provide data that make up the official police recorded crime statistics. The data provided by the police contain major pitfalls and so cannot be taken at face value to form an accurate number of crimes reported in the official statistics. There are three significant factors which shape the statistics published; formal recording rules, the recording behaviour of the police and the reporting behaviour of the public (Maguire, 2006). Firstly, the recorded crime statistics do not include all offence categories, being heavily weighted by indictable offences such as homicide, which are triable in the Crown Court only. This means that a vast majority of summary offences, such as minor assaults which are tried in a Magistrates Court, are not reported in the official statistics published by the Home Office. Further to this, the recorded crime statistics do not include high levels of tax
There are two main sources for published crime statistics; the British Crime Survey, a face to face victimization survey, covering experiences of crime in the previous twelve months, and police recorded crime which is supplied by 43 different territorial police forces on a monthly basis (Home Office, 2011). Both sources have different strengths and weaknesses such as police discretion for recording certain crimes or the time period covered in the British Crime Survey (Walker et al 2006). Also, both sources cover different areas of crime in greater depths, for example, police recorded crime provides a more fuller picture for the levels of indictable offences such as homicides. The British Crime Survey can provide a more accurate image of summary offences that may be unrecorded or unreported to the police. Solely, the sources fail to provide an accurate image for crime statistics, but when used collectively, it is possible to gain a fuller picture for crime statistics. On a monthly basis, 43 national police forces provide data that make up the official police recorded crime statistics. The data provided by the police contain major pitfalls and so cannot be taken at face value to form an accurate number of crimes reported in the official statistics. There are three significant factors which shape the statistics published; formal recording rules, the recording behaviour of the police and the reporting behaviour of the public (Maguire, 2006). Firstly, the recorded crime statistics do not include all offence categories, being heavily weighted by indictable offences such as homicide, which are triable in the Crown Court only. This means that a vast majority of summary offences, such as minor assaults which are tried in a Magistrates Court, are not reported in the official statistics published by the Home Office. Further to this, the recorded crime statistics do not include high levels of tax