There are many jobs associated with the constabulary recording of offense statistics. the chief job being that many offenses go unreported. As an option it was suggested that a cross subdivision of the population should be asked about the offenses that have been commited against them. It was argued that more people would be likley to describe offenses to an anon. study than to the constabulary.
There are several grounds why so many offenses go unreported. Some people may be excessively aghast or ashamed to describe a offense. such as in instances of colza. Some may be in fright of reprisal. or may be protecting the wrongdoer. such as in instances of domestic force. Other victims may believe that the offense is excessively fiddling or that the constabulary would non be able to assist anyhow.
Apart from offenses that are non reported. there are besides offenses that are non recorded by the constabulary. It is estimated that merely 40 % of reported offense is recorded. Therefore victim studies are of import to give a more realistic apprehension of offense.
The British Crime Survey ( BCS ) is now conducted on an one-year footing. on approximatley 15. 000 families. The sample is designed to be every bit representative as possible. choosing families from all over the state. The BCS in 1998 discovered that. merely one in four offenses are reported to the constabulary. auto larceny is the most likley to be reported ( 98 % ) whilst most other offenses have a study rate of less than 50 % . of all offenses hooliganism is the most under-reported. The offense being ‘too trivial’ is the most normally given ground for non describing offense. It besides discovered that most offenses are belongings offenses.
However there are some jobs with the BCS. The most obvious one being that as a victim study it misses out offenses that have no victims. such as fraud and corporate offense. When it is considered that there is more mony lost from this type of offense than from all other signifiers of larceny and robbery. it is clear that it is excessively serious to be overlooked. It besides undercounted sexual offenses holding uncovered merely one unreported colza.
The BCS emphasis statistical norms and disregard the fact that there is more offense in some topographic points and less in others. It seems to connote that the fright of offense in some inner-cities was exaggerated. The BCS discovered that immature males were more likley to be victims of offense than anyone else. However sopme critics argue that the instances of immature adult females. the aged and cultural minorities were non sufficently explored. and that these groups still have a really existent fright of offense.
From the BCS it has become apparant that non all offense statistics can be measured in mean footings. Therefore local victimization studies have helped detail the experiences of people populating in peculiar countries. The most celebrated of these being the Islington Crime Survey. The first thing that was noticed from such local victim studies was that people populating in inner-city countries reallly were more likley to be victims of offense than the mean individual populating elsewhere.
Local offense studies were besides able to travel off from rigorous definitions of offense. and were able to include any behaviour or activities that disrupted people’s lives. such as racial maltreatment. sexual torment and differences between neighbors.
Victim studies are of continual importance to sociological research as the aid to bring out the ‘dark figure. ’ that is the huge figure of unreported andunrecorded offenses. Such studies give an apprehension of the nature and extent of offense in the modern-day UK.
