Home office statistics
These are police recorded crimes. The uk has 43 regional police forces
plus the British transport police. Each month the forces reports to the
home office how many crimes have been recorded. This is then sent onto
the office for national statistics who will then publish for the whole country
to see. The statistics cover all notifiable offences which is all crimes that
could be tried by a jury also some less serious crime which are tried by a
magistrate. For example, this could be assault without injury.
The purpose of this is to give a valid and reliable picture of the amount of
crime committed. However, since the statistics only tell us about crime,
there is no help in understanding other issues such as fear of crime
whether is it increasing and who is most likely to be affected by it. They
can be an indicator of crime trends. If the number of recorded knife crimes
goes up each year, this will show that there is a real change going on in
society. However, these statistics can only show us if the police have not
stepped up their attempts to catch more of these offenders in the
meantime.
A strength of the home office reliability is different officers and different
police forces classifying a given incident would be expected to follow the
same procedures as each other. However, limitations of the reliability is
different officers still may classify the same offences differently. For
example, if a victim suffered only a few minor scratches in an assault, one
officer might class it as an assault without injury, whilst another might
decide it is an assault with injury.
In terms of validity, this means whether the statistics give us a true
picture of the amount of crime. However, the police recorded crimes may
not do this. For example, police recorded just over 45000 rapes in 2016-17
but this underrates the true number as many victims may not report the
offences, and the police may not record it. Recorded crime statistics will
not include crimes that have not been reported to the police. Reports
suggest that people only report about 40% of the crimes they have been a
victim of. Incidents that the police decide nit to record as crimes also are
not in the recorded figure of crime. The police only record about 60% of
the crimes that people report to them. Also, for a crime to be reported a
victims or witness must first believe a crime has happened. For example,
if you notice an item has gone missing you may think it has been lost
rather than stolen. Reasons for this can include people may have no faith
in the police and may see them as incompetent or unhelpful. People may
also not report if the item was of low value or uninsured. For example,
cars are often high value and insured so car thefts are a small number.
Once a crime is reported the police must decide whether to record it or
These are police recorded crimes. The uk has 43 regional police forces
plus the British transport police. Each month the forces reports to the
home office how many crimes have been recorded. This is then sent onto
the office for national statistics who will then publish for the whole country
to see. The statistics cover all notifiable offences which is all crimes that
could be tried by a jury also some less serious crime which are tried by a
magistrate. For example, this could be assault without injury.
The purpose of this is to give a valid and reliable picture of the amount of
crime committed. However, since the statistics only tell us about crime,
there is no help in understanding other issues such as fear of crime
whether is it increasing and who is most likely to be affected by it. They
can be an indicator of crime trends. If the number of recorded knife crimes
goes up each year, this will show that there is a real change going on in
society. However, these statistics can only show us if the police have not
stepped up their attempts to catch more of these offenders in the
meantime.
A strength of the home office reliability is different officers and different
police forces classifying a given incident would be expected to follow the
same procedures as each other. However, limitations of the reliability is
different officers still may classify the same offences differently. For
example, if a victim suffered only a few minor scratches in an assault, one
officer might class it as an assault without injury, whilst another might
decide it is an assault with injury.
In terms of validity, this means whether the statistics give us a true
picture of the amount of crime. However, the police recorded crimes may
not do this. For example, police recorded just over 45000 rapes in 2016-17
but this underrates the true number as many victims may not report the
offences, and the police may not record it. Recorded crime statistics will
not include crimes that have not been reported to the police. Reports
suggest that people only report about 40% of the crimes they have been a
victim of. Incidents that the police decide nit to record as crimes also are
not in the recorded figure of crime. The police only record about 60% of
the crimes that people report to them. Also, for a crime to be reported a
victims or witness must first believe a crime has happened. For example,
if you notice an item has gone missing you may think it has been lost
rather than stolen. Reasons for this can include people may have no faith
in the police and may see them as incompetent or unhelpful. People may
also not report if the item was of low value or uninsured. For example,
cars are often high value and insured so car thefts are a small number.
Once a crime is reported the police must decide whether to record it or
