Summary:
For many years sociologists have analyzed crime statistics to get an overall picture of crime trends and how they affect us as individuals and as a collective society. Sociologists have used three different methods to collect information on crime and measure these trends; each method provides particular information and carries its own strengths and weaknesses. The following overview covers these three methods of collecting information -- official statistics, victim surveys, and self-report studies -- and examines their levels of reliability.
Outline and assess methods of discovering information about the amount of different types of crime. (60 marks)
Many theories of deviance are based on the pictures revealed by crime statistics, which are provided by the police, the courts, and other government agencies involved in law enforcement. The statistics consistently show which groups are more involved in crime than others. The working class, the young, males and members of some ethnic minorities are all more likely to commit and be victims of crimes rather than the middle class, the elderly, females, and whites - according to official data.
Some sociologists have taken the figures gathered in these statistics at face value and then have gone on to explain why such groups are seen as 'criminals'. Albert K. Cohen (1955) is one sociologist who did just that......
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