Although official' statistics should provide an accurate representation of crime, criminologists and sociologists are keen to emphasize that they should be seen in a critical mindset. This essay is focused on determining just to what extent official statistics provide an accurate representation of the extent of crime through examining different arguments concerning their limitations and benefits. This essay also focuses on other types of crime data such as the victim survey and qualitative data, to see whether they provide a more truthful portrayal of crime.
The first half of the essay analyses the usefulness of official statistics. Here a main theme is the socially constructed nature of crime and crime statistics, and the consequences of this, and how the accuracy of official statistics is affected by the problems associated with police recording, such as the inconsistency of police behaviour and reporting patterns, both by the police and the public. The second half of the......
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Approximate Word Count: 2137
Approximate Pages: 9 (260 words per double-spaced page) |