My example write up for Changing Awareness of Crime AC 1.6 - evaluate methods of collecting statistics about crime. In the controlled assessment, I achieved 96/100 (100/100 UMS marks).
AC 1.6 - Evaluate the methods of collecting crime statistics.
Why Criminologists Need Crime Statistics
Criminologists need crime statistics because it helps assess if policies are effective, helps profile
offenders and victims and assists in police prioritisation. It also helps us assess the frequency of
crime and deal with the crimes as a society.
Reliability
Reliability is how repeatable the tests and data prove to be. The data is collected in a consistent way.
Someone else doing the same research would get the same or a similar result. A general survey on
crime carried out the day after a terrorist attack would be unreliable because people would have a
skewed view of the level of crime due to fear. Reliability is important to the collection of crime
statistics because it means that methods can be used year after year without the need for much
change – the methods are easier to use and crime statistics from different years can easily be
compared.
Validity
Validity is how true to life the data is. “How fearful do you feel when walking alone at night” is not a
valid measure of women’s fears of sexual assault because sexual assault does not just happen at
night and other crimes take place at night. Validity is important to the collection of crime data
because the police need a truthful picture of crime in the country so they can effectively deal with it.
Ethics
Ethics is whether the research is moral or right. Examples of ethical issues surrounding research
methods are informed consent, anonymity, protection from harm, the right to withdraw,
confidentiality, deception and privacy. Ethics is important to the collection of crime data because
victims need to be treated carefully and given the right to withdraw their data.
Home Office Crime Statistics
Home Office crime statistics are gathered from police records. Everything the police does is
regarded, such as their own observations and investigations and reported crime from victims and
the public. 43 regional police forces produce reports each month about the number of crimes
recorded in their area. They include all notifiable offences. One advantage of the Home Office crime
statistics is that they are reliable because a similar system for collecting these statistics is used across
all 43 police forces. They are also a good indicator of crime trends from one year to the next. This
means that we get a relatively accurate overall picture of reported crime in the country and helps
with police prioritisation. One disadvantage of the Home Office crime statistics is that they do not
show the dark figure of crime. This means that, as a society, we are not able to effectively deal with
crime because we are not aware of crimes that go unreported or unrecorded.
The Crime Survey for England & Wales
The Crime Survey for England & Wales are gathered from victims of crime and the general public
partaking in a survey. The main purpose of the survey is to find out about the extent of crime and
people’s experiences of crime. 35,000-40,000 people are involved in the survey, with 76% of people
asked choosing to take part. People are given the right to withdraw if they do not wish to take part.
One advantage of the Crime Survey for England & Wales is that it is ethical – answers are
confidential, so victims are given anonymity, therefore they do not need to be embarrassed or
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