A report to understand how crime reporting affects the public perception of
criminality
- AC1.1: Analyse different types of crime
- AC1.2: Reasons crime is unreported
- AC1.3: Explain the consequences of unreported crime
In the UK today, many crimes still go unreported. The Crime Survey for England and Wales
showed that in 2012/13, the total crimes that had been witnessed or they had personally
been a victim of was 8,100 but only 4,000 of these crimes had been reported to the police.
This clearly shows that there is still a vast majority of crimes that are not being reported. In
this report I will explore the different types of crimes, why certain crimes are unreported and
the consequences that unreported crime can have on individuals and society as a whole.
White collar crime is a type of crime that is financially motivated and non-violent. This type of
crime has three sub categories, organised, corporate and professional and these categories
encompass the crimes of fraud, bribery, embezzlement, and money laundering, to name a
few. The typical offenders of white collar crime are respectable people that are employed by
large companies, or are the owners of large companies, and the typical victims are investors
who have their money stolen or the companies where the money is being stolen itself. It
could be argued that many white collar crimes are victimless as nobody is directly harmed.
The level of public awareness of white collar crime is low as it is difficult to discover when
people are committing these crimes, as they often hide money in complex networks of bank
accounts, making it very difficult to uncover this crime. A famous example of white collar
crime is the Bernie Madoff case. Bernie Madoff used an elaborate Ponzi scheme to steal
billions of dollars of investors money for his own benefit. He managed to conduct this
scheme for 20 years without being caught, so this clearly shows how difficult it is to uncover
these crimes and why they are so under reported. In the assignment brief, Mr.S is
committing a white collar crime in the form of fraudulent expense claims. The bank is
considering whether to report him to the police. One reason the bank may be hesitant to
report the crime may be because of the effect it may have on the reputation of the bank if the
media found out.
Another type of crime is moral crime. Moral crimes are crimes that go against the norms of
society. Some examples of moral crime are prostituiton, underage drinking and illegal drug
use. The typical offender and victims of moral crimes are often the same person and can be
considered victimless, as the offender is committing the crime against themselves, making
them also the victim of the crime. The public are aware of many moral crimes that are
committed, but may not necessarily report them as some people think that crimes that do not
affect anybody else apart from the offender themselves are not of a great concern, so in turn
they do not get reported to the appropriate authorities. A consequence of moral crimes being
unreported is that it may lead to crimes becoming more accepted in society and they may be
committed more frequently if there is a low chance they will be reported. A widespread
example of a moral crime was the case of Nelson Mandela. He was charged with conspiring
to overthrow the state in 1962 and is crimes would be considered as moral crimes as he was
speaking out against laws that were in South Africa at the time, in particular the apartheid.
Many members of the public thought that he was wrongly imprisoned as he was going
against discriminatory laws. In the assignment brief, Katie commits a moral crime as she is
criminality
- AC1.1: Analyse different types of crime
- AC1.2: Reasons crime is unreported
- AC1.3: Explain the consequences of unreported crime
In the UK today, many crimes still go unreported. The Crime Survey for England and Wales
showed that in 2012/13, the total crimes that had been witnessed or they had personally
been a victim of was 8,100 but only 4,000 of these crimes had been reported to the police.
This clearly shows that there is still a vast majority of crimes that are not being reported. In
this report I will explore the different types of crimes, why certain crimes are unreported and
the consequences that unreported crime can have on individuals and society as a whole.
White collar crime is a type of crime that is financially motivated and non-violent. This type of
crime has three sub categories, organised, corporate and professional and these categories
encompass the crimes of fraud, bribery, embezzlement, and money laundering, to name a
few. The typical offenders of white collar crime are respectable people that are employed by
large companies, or are the owners of large companies, and the typical victims are investors
who have their money stolen or the companies where the money is being stolen itself. It
could be argued that many white collar crimes are victimless as nobody is directly harmed.
The level of public awareness of white collar crime is low as it is difficult to discover when
people are committing these crimes, as they often hide money in complex networks of bank
accounts, making it very difficult to uncover this crime. A famous example of white collar
crime is the Bernie Madoff case. Bernie Madoff used an elaborate Ponzi scheme to steal
billions of dollars of investors money for his own benefit. He managed to conduct this
scheme for 20 years without being caught, so this clearly shows how difficult it is to uncover
these crimes and why they are so under reported. In the assignment brief, Mr.S is
committing a white collar crime in the form of fraudulent expense claims. The bank is
considering whether to report him to the police. One reason the bank may be hesitant to
report the crime may be because of the effect it may have on the reputation of the bank if the
media found out.
Another type of crime is moral crime. Moral crimes are crimes that go against the norms of
society. Some examples of moral crime are prostituiton, underage drinking and illegal drug
use. The typical offender and victims of moral crimes are often the same person and can be
considered victimless, as the offender is committing the crime against themselves, making
them also the victim of the crime. The public are aware of many moral crimes that are
committed, but may not necessarily report them as some people think that crimes that do not
affect anybody else apart from the offender themselves are not of a great concern, so in turn
they do not get reported to the appropriate authorities. A consequence of moral crimes being
unreported is that it may lead to crimes becoming more accepted in society and they may be
committed more frequently if there is a low chance they will be reported. A widespread
example of a moral crime was the case of Nelson Mandela. He was charged with conspiring
to overthrow the state in 1962 and is crimes would be considered as moral crimes as he was
speaking out against laws that were in South Africa at the time, in particular the apartheid.
Many members of the public thought that he was wrongly imprisoned as he was going
against discriminatory laws. In the assignment brief, Katie commits a moral crime as she is
