AC1.3 Consequences of unreported crime
Full marks (4)
•explain and include examples for the 8 consequences
•must include all 8 consequences
•explain and link to examples then to brief
The ripple effect
•more than one victim is affected
•ripples to other victims when crimes go unreported
•massive issue in the relation to online abuse
•if not reported, it seems acceptable behaviour and people believe this behaviour goes
unpunished
•can also affect family members, neighbours or witnesses of the crime
•e.g. honour crimes- spreads hate through the community even though the crime is
directed at an individual
Cultural consequence
•individuals from cultures may view behaviours and actions differently
•people may not understand UK laws
•these crimes are carried out in secret, so we are unaware of them happening
•not reported because some cultures accepting it
•e.g. FGM and forced marriage some cultures see this as normal however it is illegal in the
UK
•Human rights organisation estimate 66,000 women are victims of FGM in England and
Wales
•According to Haroon Siadique more than 20,000 girls are at risk of becoming victims of
FGM in the UK a year
Case study (cultural consequence)
•Bamu a 15 year old boy who was accused of using witchcraft was tortured and murdered
by members of his family
•he was tortured for several days
•Kristy was drowned in a bath in an exorcism
•the family were originally from the Dominican Republic of Congo
Decriminalisation and legal change
•some illegal actions are widespread in society eventually leading to behaviours and actions
being normalised
•organisations or members of society might campaign for laws to be changed
•these crimes are often seen as moral or victimless crimes
•they need the room in prisons for more serious crimes
•e.g. the US have legalised cannabis and homosexuality was once a crime
, Police prioritisation
•police ensure issues within the local area or crimes with higher prevalence are addressed
•the police have lack of resources due to governments spending cuts which leads to police
officers losing their jobs
•the media may focus on a particular crime and will call for action from the police
•the home office may want police to focus on certain types of crimes e.g. human trafficking
•some crimes are ignored this leads to society losing faith in the police
•e.g. underage drinking- not prioritised, offenders given a warning
•the police in County Durham have indicated that they will no longer actively pursue
smokers and small-scale growers of cannabis.
•Ron Hagg in 2015 stated that it is to keep costs down and to keep users out of the criminal
justice system
•In 2016 a new unit was created by London's metropolitan police to investigate hate speech
online
Unrecorded crime
•police must know a crime has occurred, but will not always record the crime, this affects
the statistics
•they often don’t have enough evidence, or the victim might not want to press charges
•unrecorded crime is known as the dark figure of crime which includes crime which no one
witnessed or crimes that were not reported
•e.g. sex offences, domestic abuse and rape
•studies have shown up to 60% of crimes go unreported
•over 50% of all crimes, reported fail to make it into the official statistics
•in greater Manchester, the police failed to record an estimated 80,100 crimes between the
1st July 2019 and 30th June 2020, amounting to about 220 crimes a day
Cultural change
•behaviour can be seen as acceptable but still against the law
•new technology leads to new crimes as most people now have immediate access to media
•society going through a period of change, crimes becoming more normalised and accepted
•crimes going unreported attracts more criminals
•e.g. abortion, sex before marriage, prostitution, illegally downloading music
•Wilson and Kelling broken window theory- if small minor crimes are going unreported then
this leads to more serious crimes being committed
Procedural change
•police will change how crimes are reported if they have concerns about under reporting
•in the past report in crimes was harder and involved calling 999 or visit in a police station
•now there are easier ways to report crime e.g. TV programmes such as crime watch,
telephone hotlines such as child line and posters and announcement, which are all
messages to encourage people to report, suspicious items or behaviours.
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