DEFINING AND MEASURING CRIME
• Problems with defining crime:
• Crimes- acts that are against the law- warranting some punishment
• Differences in time- forced marriage/homosexuality
• Differences in culture- forced marriage/homosexuality
• Ways of measuring crime:
• Official statistics- government records of crime, published annually- provide a snapshot of the number of crimes
allows the government to develop appropriate crime prevention strategies
• Victim surveys- peoples experience of crimes over a specific period- usually over the past year- 50,000 random h
separate survey also introduced to record younger people’s experiences of crime- both published annually
• Offender surveys- self report crimes they have committed, anonymous, target likely offenders- based on risk fact
trends in repeat offending, trends in drug and alcohol use etc.
, DEFINING AND MEASURING CRIME -
EVALUATION
• Victim surveys are limited- only within the last year and only lets you record 5 crimes but does let you know o
crimes that aren’t being reported
• Many people wont say what crimes they have been victims of- may live with abuser or may not know they have
victim
• Social desirability- many offenders wont tell the truth, also don’t want to be caught or exaggerate (bravado)- se
method is biased but still gives insight, also middle class crimes such as corporate crimes are mis-represented
• Statistics are limited- only around 25% of crimes are reported- dark figures of crime- Nottingham police were
to report theft under £10 than other counties- police priorities may distort figures- may get the wrong interve
strategies
• However is good as large samples
• Human errors are likely with statistics
• Should use all to determine validity
, OFFENDER PROFILING- THE TOP DOWN
APPROACH
• Used in the USA- aims to narrow down the list of suspects, the scene and evidenced are analysed to generate a hypothesis and proba
characteristics of the offender
• Match the crime/offender with pre-existing templates- classified as either organised or disorganised
• These distinctions are based on the idea that serious offenders have certain ways of working- usually correlating to a particular set of
psychological characteristics
• Organised- targets certain victim, controlled- little evidence left behind, higher IQ- skilled/professional job, evidence of planning, usuall
may have a family
• Disorganised- impulsive- little planning, lower IQ- unskilled job or unemployed, evidence/ body etc. left behind- not too controlled, a h
relationships and lives alone- possible history of sexual dysfunction
• 4 main stages in the construction of an FBI profile:
1. Data assimilation- review of evidence
2. Crime scene classification- organised/disorganised
3. Crime reconstruction- generation of hypothesis about behaviour and events
4. Profile generation- generation of hypothesis about the offender- background, physical characteristics etc.
• Problems with defining crime:
• Crimes- acts that are against the law- warranting some punishment
• Differences in time- forced marriage/homosexuality
• Differences in culture- forced marriage/homosexuality
• Ways of measuring crime:
• Official statistics- government records of crime, published annually- provide a snapshot of the number of crimes
allows the government to develop appropriate crime prevention strategies
• Victim surveys- peoples experience of crimes over a specific period- usually over the past year- 50,000 random h
separate survey also introduced to record younger people’s experiences of crime- both published annually
• Offender surveys- self report crimes they have committed, anonymous, target likely offenders- based on risk fact
trends in repeat offending, trends in drug and alcohol use etc.
, DEFINING AND MEASURING CRIME -
EVALUATION
• Victim surveys are limited- only within the last year and only lets you record 5 crimes but does let you know o
crimes that aren’t being reported
• Many people wont say what crimes they have been victims of- may live with abuser or may not know they have
victim
• Social desirability- many offenders wont tell the truth, also don’t want to be caught or exaggerate (bravado)- se
method is biased but still gives insight, also middle class crimes such as corporate crimes are mis-represented
• Statistics are limited- only around 25% of crimes are reported- dark figures of crime- Nottingham police were
to report theft under £10 than other counties- police priorities may distort figures- may get the wrong interve
strategies
• However is good as large samples
• Human errors are likely with statistics
• Should use all to determine validity
, OFFENDER PROFILING- THE TOP DOWN
APPROACH
• Used in the USA- aims to narrow down the list of suspects, the scene and evidenced are analysed to generate a hypothesis and proba
characteristics of the offender
• Match the crime/offender with pre-existing templates- classified as either organised or disorganised
• These distinctions are based on the idea that serious offenders have certain ways of working- usually correlating to a particular set of
psychological characteristics
• Organised- targets certain victim, controlled- little evidence left behind, higher IQ- skilled/professional job, evidence of planning, usuall
may have a family
• Disorganised- impulsive- little planning, lower IQ- unskilled job or unemployed, evidence/ body etc. left behind- not too controlled, a h
relationships and lives alone- possible history of sexual dysfunction
• 4 main stages in the construction of an FBI profile:
1. Data assimilation- review of evidence
2. Crime scene classification- organised/disorganised
3. Crime reconstruction- generation of hypothesis about behaviour and events
4. Profile generation- generation of hypothesis about the offender- background, physical characteristics etc.
