Different sociologists have presented different theories and concepts to explain what drives a person to commit a crime, and research and statistics give us an idea of the type of crimes committed and the places that they’re most likely to occur. However, these statistics can prove to be misleading as not all crime is reported to or recorded by the police. This can be referred to as the ‘hidden figure’, and it differentiates between the official crime rate and the real rate. Despite this, they do prove to be worthwhile in the fact that they display trends and patterns of crime. Sociologists use three different methods to measure crime; each method provides us with particular information and as in all systems of data collecting, there are strengths and weaknesses to the method.
Another example of how statistics from the police and statistics from victim surveys are different is because not all victims report crime to the police for many reasons and therefore create what’s called “the dark figure” (The number of crimes that go un-reported, we have no idea how big or small this number is). One last example of how they differ is that the victims are left to classify the crimes that they have been fallen victim to, which means that the classification may be wrong changing the statistics, whereas the recorded crimes get classified by the police. The advantages for using victim surveys to studying patterns of crime are: able to triangulate the accuracy of official statistics; may be more valid, as official procedures don’t have to be followed and victims have their own say; victims more likely to respond due to no fear of reprisal; can estimate the overall levels of crime, as unreported crimes are included; they have a high rate of comparability. These reasons allow us to see all of the advantages for helping to decide how useful victim surveys are in understanding patterns of crime. The disadvantages for using victim surveys to studying patterns of crime are: Not all
False testimony, exaggerated statistics and laboratory fraud have led to wrongful conviction in several states. Since forensic evidence is offered by "experts," jurors routinely give it much more weight than other evidence. But when misconduct occurs, the weight is misplaced. In some instances, labs or their personnel have allied themselves with police and prosecutors, rather than prioritizing the search for truth. Other times, criminalists lacking the requisite knowledge have embellished findings and eluded detection because judges and juries lacked background in the relevant sciences, themselves.
Asses the usefulness of labelling as an approach to the study of crime and deviance In the study of crime and deviance, most approaches other than Marxists, suggest that there is a difference between those who offend and those who do not, and search for key factors that lead people to offend. However, there are a group of theorist who reject this idea and instead suggest that most people commit deviant and criminal acts, but only some people are caught and stigmatised for it. Although the labelling theory is quite prominent in the study of crime and deviance, there are endorsers and criticisers who both give valid accounts to why this theory should be, or not be taken as a valid theory. Labelling theory suggests that deviancy is a social process usually related to power differences but it doesn't explain the causes of crime. It does however explain why some people or actions are described as deviant, and can help in understanding crime and deviance.
Key differences between white-collar crime and other types of crime is that white-collar crime generally requires the victim to comply in being victimized in contrast to murder, robbery, assault or rape. The distinction is other types of crime create a clear representation there has been a violation, despite the fact that the identity of the person responsible may not be
The shows like gangland that dictate documentaries on gangs seem to display certain types of organized crime. Profit and goods is the goal for those involved in organized crime. The Readings Definition of Organized Crime Organized crime has different definitions throughout history. During the Hoover era there was instances that some did not believe that organized crime existed (Lyman & Potter, 2007). This was proved to be untrue, but organized crime has taken on different attributes throughout the years (Lyman & Potter, 2007).
Sometimes, crime happens suddenly because criminals don’t think before they act and this kind of crimes are usually called “unplanned crimes”. What we need to know here is planned or unplanned, both kinds of crimes are choices and these choices are made by the effects of the causes of crime. People have been trying to explain the causes of crime since the first known crime. Crime is usually considered as a bad behavior in the big majority of the societies. When we look through history, we can see the ancient Babylon Laws of Hammurabi as the first written source created to control the bad behaviors.
Your personality biological and psychological All have to do why people commit criminal activity. The National crime victimization the Strength of this is that it measure annual crime. The weaknesses is that a significant amount Of crime is not being reported. The uniform crime report strength it measure murders and Arrests. Weaknesses are that contains reporting errors.
Crime Reporting and Reporting Crime: Uniform Crime Reports vs. National Crime Victimization Survey Vanicia Carr Roosevelt University Abstract The Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) are two reports in which the Federal Bureau of Investigation uses to measure crime across the United States. Through traditional methods of collecting crime data to new and improve ways of collecting data the UCR/NIBRS program has been an important part of the FBI crime reporting, however, the program falls short on crimes not reported. With the development of the National Crime Victimization Survey data is collected on unreported crime. Weakness and strengths are presented on each program, with particular emphasis on domestic violence. The strengths of the NCVS outweighed the UCR/NIBRS program in measuring domestic violence.
Statistical data allows us to view changing patterns of crime in society, this can sometimes bring to light new crimes and reasons as to why crime may be increasing but also these statistics are not always reliable leading to false beliefs about crime. Positivists take the quantitative approach toward crime, they prefer to analyse results using statistics, Interpretivists tend to use observations and qualitative data to analyse crime. The OCR, official crime rate is made up of results taken by surveys and policing records. Surveys may be sent to homes including questions about crime and if the individuals have had any involvement in crime. However collecting this type of results is not a fair representation of true crime.