A.C 1.6 - Evaluate methods of collecting statistics about crime
Home office statistics
Home office statistics are… Police recorded Crime, where 43 regional police forces in the
UK report crime figures to the Home Office for official statistics.
Reliability refers to the consistency of results and where the method of getting information is
consistent.
PRC is reliable as different police forces and officers should follow identical procedures and
crime definitions as one another, ensuring the statistics for a particular crime are actually
based on that crime.
PRC may not be reliable as differ police forces could identify the same incident a different
way, for example, assault or battery.
Validity is whether the data is objectively measuring what it is set out to measure and if it
gives a true picture of crime.
PRC is not valid as lots of crime goes unreported, thus creating the dark figure of crime
hidden from official statistics.
PRC also does not include all crimes reported to police and crimes that are not recorded to
police, It only captures 60% of reported crime. For example, 45,000 rapes in 2016-2017
were recorded but this is assumed to be underestimated. It also has representation
problems as some crimes are more reported than others,and policy problems because
government policies are based on official statistics.
Ethics refer to the issue of morality.
PRC is ethical as individuals’ identities are kept anonymous from Home Office Statistics,
victims keep their privacy.
Purpose refers to the usefulness of the data and if the data is a true picture of crime.
It can be used as a police measure to help form special groups to tackle a specific crime, as
an indicator of crime trends, to sense and stop a potential increase in crime, and objective
measure for the crimes that are well-recorded.
However, this date is not always reliable and valid as it is not representative.
Crime Survey for England and Wales
CSEW is a crime survey conducted by trained professionals, asking the same set of
questions to see how many people have been victims of crimes in the last 12 months.
Home office statistics
Home office statistics are… Police recorded Crime, where 43 regional police forces in the
UK report crime figures to the Home Office for official statistics.
Reliability refers to the consistency of results and where the method of getting information is
consistent.
PRC is reliable as different police forces and officers should follow identical procedures and
crime definitions as one another, ensuring the statistics for a particular crime are actually
based on that crime.
PRC may not be reliable as differ police forces could identify the same incident a different
way, for example, assault or battery.
Validity is whether the data is objectively measuring what it is set out to measure and if it
gives a true picture of crime.
PRC is not valid as lots of crime goes unreported, thus creating the dark figure of crime
hidden from official statistics.
PRC also does not include all crimes reported to police and crimes that are not recorded to
police, It only captures 60% of reported crime. For example, 45,000 rapes in 2016-2017
were recorded but this is assumed to be underestimated. It also has representation
problems as some crimes are more reported than others,and policy problems because
government policies are based on official statistics.
Ethics refer to the issue of morality.
PRC is ethical as individuals’ identities are kept anonymous from Home Office Statistics,
victims keep their privacy.
Purpose refers to the usefulness of the data and if the data is a true picture of crime.
It can be used as a police measure to help form special groups to tackle a specific crime, as
an indicator of crime trends, to sense and stop a potential increase in crime, and objective
measure for the crimes that are well-recorded.
However, this date is not always reliable and valid as it is not representative.
Crime Survey for England and Wales
CSEW is a crime survey conducted by trained professionals, asking the same set of
questions to see how many people have been victims of crimes in the last 12 months.
