AC1.2 Paragraph
Unreported crime is crimes that are not officially reported to the police.
Around 60% of crimes are unreported. There are many reasons why
crimes may not be reported. There are personal reasons such as fear,
shame, disinterest, not affected. Fear may be somebody’s fear of
consequence, fear of getting involved, fear of police especially amongst
certain groups such as ethnic groups or young people. Shame may be
that somebody doesn’t want to come across as weak or vulnerable or if a
crime may be sexual in nature, they may be embarrassed that that
happened to them they may think it’s their fault or don’t want to relive
the event. Disinterest may be that sometimes people don’t care, they may
just walk the other way or walk past. And people not being affected may
be that it doesn’t concern them or that it isn’t a huge problem, or they
will leave someone else to deal with it. However, there are also social
and cultural reasons why crimes may not be reported such as lack of
knowledge, complexity, lack of media interest, lack of current public
concern and culture-bond crime. Lack of knowledge could be that
somebody doesn’t know that what is happening is a crime or they don’t
know that the crime is taking place. Complexity could be that the crime
is difficult to understand, hard to track, they are carried out in private,
well disguised or they don’t know that the crime is happening. Lack of
media interest is that the media only reports crime that will draw
attention, there is no public attention or that something is accepted in
society. Lack of current public interest is that it is not common or
popular in society, nobody is affected its not a risk or a threat such as
moral crimes or white-collar crimes or that public awareness varies over
time. Culture bound crime is because it may be accepted in some
cultures, it is viewed as an expectation or a tradition, people may have a
fear of interference or a lack of understanding and knowledge or family
members may have a fear if repercussions.
Unreported crime is crimes that are not officially reported to the police.
Around 60% of crimes are unreported. There are many reasons why
crimes may not be reported. There are personal reasons such as fear,
shame, disinterest, not affected. Fear may be somebody’s fear of
consequence, fear of getting involved, fear of police especially amongst
certain groups such as ethnic groups or young people. Shame may be
that somebody doesn’t want to come across as weak or vulnerable or if a
crime may be sexual in nature, they may be embarrassed that that
happened to them they may think it’s their fault or don’t want to relive
the event. Disinterest may be that sometimes people don’t care, they may
just walk the other way or walk past. And people not being affected may
be that it doesn’t concern them or that it isn’t a huge problem, or they
will leave someone else to deal with it. However, there are also social
and cultural reasons why crimes may not be reported such as lack of
knowledge, complexity, lack of media interest, lack of current public
concern and culture-bond crime. Lack of knowledge could be that
somebody doesn’t know that what is happening is a crime or they don’t
know that the crime is taking place. Complexity could be that the crime
is difficult to understand, hard to track, they are carried out in private,
well disguised or they don’t know that the crime is happening. Lack of
media interest is that the media only reports crime that will draw
attention, there is no public attention or that something is accepted in
society. Lack of current public interest is that it is not common or
popular in society, nobody is affected its not a risk or a threat such as
moral crimes or white-collar crimes or that public awareness varies over
time. Culture bound crime is because it may be accepted in some
cultures, it is viewed as an expectation or a tradition, people may have a
fear of interference or a lack of understanding and knowledge or family
members may have a fear if repercussions.
