BRITISH CRIME SURVEY

British crime survey is a better indicator of long term criminal trends than the recorded police crime figures



British crime survey is a better indicator of long term criminal trends than the recorded police crime figures

Introduction

During the last twenty years, crime rate has increased tremendously in England and Wales, which has given birth to number of socio-economic problems. Various agencies through the United Kingdom compile and analyze crime related data, but the most important of them is “The British Crime Survey”. I think it is one of the most important sources of information related to the crime and criminal justice issues along with the public opinion about the 'crime'. The results of the British Crime Survey (BCS) play a very important role in the formation of the government's policies (Nieuwbeerta, 2002, 33).

In my views the BCS is a very good indicator of long term criminal trends as compared to the crime figures recorded by the police. The BCS is an important survey in which the residents of Wales and England are asked different questions about their experiences, which they have faced regarding crime during the past twelve months. People who are surveyed are also asked questions regarding their attitudes related to crime issues and also about the role of criminal justice, anti-social behavior and police etc.

Since mid-January 2009, BCS has started interviewing children aged between 11-16 as well. Initially it used to interview people who were above 16 years old. Nevertheless, these methods are experimental statistics and the British Crime Survey does not include them in them in its annual publications.

The BCS survey includes crime related statistics which are mostly not recorded by the police. In my views, this is the main reason why this survey has great significance and is considered to be very effective in analyzing crime in Wales and England. The British Crime Survey is also considered to be a very good indicator of the different long-term trends. The main reason of this is that the survey is mostly unaffected by large number of changes which takes place in levels of reporting in 'recording police practices' or in analyzing 'police behavior'. Still, the BCS has not aimed at providing a complete analysis and record of crime.

Brief analysis of crime in England and Wales

Recently, BCS published its report regarding Crime in England and Wales 2009-2010, which has acclaimed laurels of social scientists and researchers. The police in England recorded and the British Crime Survey provides a comprehensive statistical analysis of crime, which can be obtained from any series alone (Kershaw, 2001, 22).

The police have recorded the crime related data reports on the financial year 2009/10. The statistics recorded by the police provides excellent measure of different trends in a well-reported crime analysis. They are considered to be an important indicator of some of the police workload, and can also be used for different local crime pattern analysis.

BCS outcomes are founded on interviews undertook in financial year of ...