#AC1.3 Explain the consequences of under reported crime
Ripple effect
The ripple effect sees more than just the initial victim of the crime being affected, this could
affect family members. A crime that could involve this effect is domestic violence, as it causes
negative effects. This could then further relay to psychological stress. The ripple effect could
relate to the social learning theory. If a child has witnessed domestic abuse it can result in them
ending up in care.
Crimes going unchallenged due to cultural differences
Increased immigration has lead to a greater mixing of cultures in the UK. However, because
there are greater diversity of cultures, there are different views and opinions of different crimes.
Crimes that are associated with culture often go unchallenged as the police often don’t want to
be seen as or labelled as a racist. This is because they may not understand their culture or their
way of living. Therefore, it is going to increase the level of crime as nobody is going to challenge
their views.
Unreported crime can lead to some crimes becoming low priority for
the police
The police are given certain priorities to focus on when investigating particular crimes. The
government's social policies would then impact the police priorities so more crimes are
becoming abandoned. They’re focusing on knife crime, gangs and drug dealing but forgetting
about other crimes such as white collar crimes or technological crimes. This therefore leads to
an increase in these types of crimes as the police are prioritising others.
Another consequence of crimes going unreported is that the police
may be less likely to record them:
The police may have no sympathy for the victim as they do not view them as one. They may
also be coming to the end of a shift so when a report of domestic abuse comes in they may not
be bothered to report it or even investigate it. A crime such as domestic abuse will most likely to
go unreported as there could be no evidence of such a crime, the police could also think that it’s
not their business to get involved in the situation. However, society is changing its views and
morals so there is a chance it would start to decrease.
A consequence of a crime being unreported can be legal changes
This can be one of the many reasons why crime goes under reported. A change in public
attitude means that a crime could be less likely to go reported if there are legal changes that
Ripple effect
The ripple effect sees more than just the initial victim of the crime being affected, this could
affect family members. A crime that could involve this effect is domestic violence, as it causes
negative effects. This could then further relay to psychological stress. The ripple effect could
relate to the social learning theory. If a child has witnessed domestic abuse it can result in them
ending up in care.
Crimes going unchallenged due to cultural differences
Increased immigration has lead to a greater mixing of cultures in the UK. However, because
there are greater diversity of cultures, there are different views and opinions of different crimes.
Crimes that are associated with culture often go unchallenged as the police often don’t want to
be seen as or labelled as a racist. This is because they may not understand their culture or their
way of living. Therefore, it is going to increase the level of crime as nobody is going to challenge
their views.
Unreported crime can lead to some crimes becoming low priority for
the police
The police are given certain priorities to focus on when investigating particular crimes. The
government's social policies would then impact the police priorities so more crimes are
becoming abandoned. They’re focusing on knife crime, gangs and drug dealing but forgetting
about other crimes such as white collar crimes or technological crimes. This therefore leads to
an increase in these types of crimes as the police are prioritising others.
Another consequence of crimes going unreported is that the police
may be less likely to record them:
The police may have no sympathy for the victim as they do not view them as one. They may
also be coming to the end of a shift so when a report of domestic abuse comes in they may not
be bothered to report it or even investigate it. A crime such as domestic abuse will most likely to
go unreported as there could be no evidence of such a crime, the police could also think that it’s
not their business to get involved in the situation. However, society is changing its views and
morals so there is a chance it would start to decrease.
A consequence of a crime being unreported can be legal changes
This can be one of the many reasons why crime goes under reported. A change in public
attitude means that a crime could be less likely to go reported if there are legal changes that
