There are major problems with respect to
the United Nations International Crime and
Victimisation Study.
The smaller a study the less reliable it is, and
the less people who participate the less reliable
it is. Surveys over the telephone have major
methodological problems see the study above.
The BCS, SCS and NICS are not a reliable
measure of crime according to their authors,
they merely offer an insight in to some
peoples experience. The ICVS with a
tiny survey group, patchy coverage and
low participation is no where near as
reliable or indeed comprehensive as the
‘unreliable’ national surveys.
Hospital Violent Crime Data
The BCS is at least backed up by Professor
J.P Shepherd and his team at Cardiff Medical
School who use hospital emergency and
other data from across england and wales
regarding the treatment of violent injuries in
order to paint a more accurate picture.
The Violence and Society Research Group at
Cardiff Med School offers an analysis beyond
that of mere questionaires, although there
research does back up the figures presented
by the British Crime Survey.
Violence Research Group, University of Wales
College of Medicine, Heath Park, Cardiff
This research note draws attention to an alternative
source of data on violence in England and Wales
obtained from A&E departments. The data is
monthly frequency, classified by gender and age.
“The advantage of A&E data is that case identification
depends not on the perception that a crime has been
committed, but on the presence of injury deemed to
require medical treatment. We examine the incidence
of violent injury by gender and health region and find
that the statistics are consistent with BCS estimates
of overall violence”
The report also said that police statistics over the
last 10 years have given an unreliable picture of
violence because they list reported crime, rather
than what is subsequently confirmed as a crime.
It stated: “Thus, far from representing a cause of
concern, increases in violence recorded by police
often signal decreases in serious violence.”
The report concluded there were “significant overall
decreases” in serious violence across all age groups
and genders.
The Scottish Crime Survey.
The Scottish Crime Survey (SCS), a large scale
household survey of public experiences and
perceptions of crime, involving interviews with
a sample of 5,041 adults (aged 16 or over)
throughout Scotland. As with all previous sweeps
of the SCS, the 2003 SCS relates to crimes that
took place during the previous calendar year;
that is, between January and December 2002.
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/12/20379/48079
The SCS is quite a good survey as it has a reasonable
sample of over 5,000 for a country of 5 million, thats
1000 per million, if the ICVS were to sample a similar
percentage of population in the US they would need
to interview 300,000 people and not less than 2000 of
which only 40% actually participated.
The ICVS used a survey group of 37,000 for 22 Countries
with over a billion in population and there was even low
participation among the 37,000. To be as accurate as the
SCS or indeed the BCS they would have to have interviewed
face to face over 1 million people.
The criticisms of the SCS are similar to the criticisms
relavent to all crime surveys however the SCS has
a large survey group which makes it more accurate
and uses face to face interviews which also increases
accuracy.
There are some limitations to victimisation surveys,
and the SCS is no exception. The SCS does not
provide a complete picture of crime in Scotland.
It is a survey of adults living in private households
and does not, therefore, provide information on
crimes against people not living in private households
(for example those in hospital, prison or homeless);
those under the age of 16; and crimes against
corporate bodies (for example shoplifting).
Another limitation of the SCS is that it is not a
perfectly reliable measure of crime. The survey
is only representative of the experience of the
people who agree to take part; the fewer people
who participate, the less likely it is that the
survey reflects the experiences of the people
of Scotland as a whole. There might also be
errors in the recall of participants. It is also
possible that public perceptions of crime and
victimisation may change over time, and result
in changes in how people report crime from
survey to survey. An example may be increased
reporting of domestic violence, although in the
ICVS this could be further intensified by cultural
differences.
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/12/20379/48079
The ICVS interviews 2,000 people in America,
only 40% decided to participate in the surve.
The British Crime Survey (BCS) has moved to an
annual cycle from 2001/02, with over 50,000
face to face interviews of people aged 16 or
over in England and Wales
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/bcs1.html
Northern Ireland Crime Survey (NICS)
Based on findings from the 2003/04 Northern
Ireland Crime Survey (NICS), a personal
interview survey of the experiences and
perceptions of crime of 3,104 adults living
in private households throughout Northern
Ireland that closely mirrors the core format
and questions of the British Crime Survey (BCS).
The population of Northern Ireland is 1.7 million
and there are 3,104 adult surveyed more than
the ICVS uses for the whole of the United States
of America with a population of 300 million
and there is a far higher participation in the NICS
than is evident in the ICVS. Indeed America has
one of the lowest levels of participation in the ICVS.
- it’s not that I feel that strongly about