What Is The Accuracy Of Official Crime Statistics

Official crime statistics refer to statistical data which are compiled by official agencies such as the police and courts, and are published by the state. National statistics about crime in England and Wales have been collected and published by the Home Office annually since 1857. These figures are compiled by putting together the offences recorded by the police in each of the forty-three police areas in England and Wales. The statistics contained in these volumes are of great significance, not only for those who study crime or work in the criminal justice system, but also for politicians, the mass media and the general public, for whom these are the major source of authorized information about the extent and trends in crime. These figures
In some incidents it is not immediately obvious what kind of offence has been committed. For example, if someone steals an item from close to a house without entering it, the police have to make a decision whether to record it as theft or attempted burglary. This may affect the overall picture of crime produced as burglary is a considerably more serious offence than theft, so the representation of certain crime in official statistics may be inaccurate. Also if additional information comes to light which casts doubt on the initial recording and classification of an event and offenders are charged for a different offence to what was initially recorded, generally no changes are made to the initial classifications of crime, which further effects the accuracy of published statistics. The issue of counting crimes in complex or closely linked incidents may cause additional problems with the validity of official statistics. Some offences may be repeated many times over a certain period of time. For example, a man may assault his partner a number of times for a period of months or years, so a decision about how many offences to record would have to be made. This means there may be inconsistencies in the results produced. However, after the recommendations of the Perks Committee in 1967, clear counting rules were established (Home Office 1971), which appear to
In recent years however, self-report studies and victimization surveys have been used to collect crime statistics. Self-report studies involve asking people directly about their involvement in criminal behaviour, usually though questionnaires or interviews, this approach is likely to detect some crimes that have escaped police attention. A more useful method is victimization surveys which involve a representative sample of the population who are questioned on their experience of criminal victimization. These techniques are used to combat some of the issues with the accuracy of official statistics, they also provide valuable information about characteristics of victims in relation to age, gender and social status. The most important victim survey in Britain is the Crime Survey for England and Wales (which is the new name for the British Crime Survey). The main aim of the CSEW is to obtain a better count of crime and quantify the dark figure of unreported and unrecorded crime. Since 1981, the statistics from the CSEW have also been published by the Home Office annually. The first British Crime Survey estimated that there were 11 million crimes in England and Wales in 1981. However, there were less than three million crimes recorded by the police in 1981. The CSEW produces estimates of the crime rate which are substantially higher than official figures, this demonstrates how official statistics are not an