Criminology Unit 1.2
Explain the Consequences of Unreported Crime
Personal:
Fear: of consequences for themselves/family, particularly in case of domestic abuse, honour or hate
crimes.
Shame: especially in cases involving sex crimes.
Disinterest: when people don’t care, i.e. drugs crimes, vagrancy, prostitution.
Not Affected: if the crime doesn’t affect a person, they might not think it has anything to do with
them, i.e. car theft, criminal damage, vagrancy.
Social & Cultural:
Lack of Knowledge: someone may be unaware a crime is being committed, a person may be
unaware how to go about reporting a crime, e.g. cyberbullying, hate speech.
Complexity: the crime itself may be so complex an ordinary person might not realise what is going
on, e.g. white collar crime, money laundering.
Lack of Media Interest: some crimes are not widely publicised/discussed. This results in little public
interest.
Lack of Public Concern: if an offence is not considered a ‘real’ crime it might go unreported, e.g.
downloading illegal material, smoking cannabis.
Culture Bound Crime: crime which can be acceptable in certain sections of society, e.g. honour
crime.
For a crime to be reported it must be against the law, someone must have witnessed the crime or,
the police must record it.
If one of these things doesn’t happen, then the act is referred to as being part of the dark figure of
crime.
Explain the Consequences of Unreported Crime
Personal:
Fear: of consequences for themselves/family, particularly in case of domestic abuse, honour or hate
crimes.
Shame: especially in cases involving sex crimes.
Disinterest: when people don’t care, i.e. drugs crimes, vagrancy, prostitution.
Not Affected: if the crime doesn’t affect a person, they might not think it has anything to do with
them, i.e. car theft, criminal damage, vagrancy.
Social & Cultural:
Lack of Knowledge: someone may be unaware a crime is being committed, a person may be
unaware how to go about reporting a crime, e.g. cyberbullying, hate speech.
Complexity: the crime itself may be so complex an ordinary person might not realise what is going
on, e.g. white collar crime, money laundering.
Lack of Media Interest: some crimes are not widely publicised/discussed. This results in little public
interest.
Lack of Public Concern: if an offence is not considered a ‘real’ crime it might go unreported, e.g.
downloading illegal material, smoking cannabis.
Culture Bound Crime: crime which can be acceptable in certain sections of society, e.g. honour
crime.
For a crime to be reported it must be against the law, someone must have witnessed the crime or,
the police must record it.
If one of these things doesn’t happen, then the act is referred to as being part of the dark figure of
crime.
