Victim surveys and self report studies:

What are victim surveys:

- A survey that asks respondents about their experience of
crime, regardless of whether or not those crimes have been
reported.

How has it been used for:

- It measures the amount of crime, by asking people about crimes they
have experienced in the last year.

Advantages of victim surveys Disadvantages of victim surveys

May uncover some of the hidden They tend not to survey all crime,
figures of crime for example theft against
businesses and victimless crime

Give a more accurate figure of People may still not admit to being a
crime than official stats victim of some crimes, for example
rape.

Include crime not to the police Victims memories of crime may be

inaccurate

The CSEW now includes a specific People may not be aware that they
victim survey on domestic violence are victims of crime.

Self report studies:

meaning :
A survey that asks respondents to identify crimes they have
committed, but for which they have not been caught.

Self-report studies also include lists of criminal and deviant acts and people
are asked to tick the activities that they have committed within a given time
of period.

Self-report studies also provide another useful alternative to official crime

stats and they also suggest that criminal activity is more common than
official stats indicate.
 Advantages and disadvantages:
Advantages Disadvantages

May uncover some of the hidden People may lie or exaggerate.

figure

It is possible to find out about Most self-report studies are carried

hidden offenders ages, gender,
ethnicity, social class and even their
location

It is also the most useful way to find The majority of crimes uncovered
out about victimless crimes, such as tend to be trivial
illegal drug use

CLASS WORK (extension)

Valid Reliable representative

Os No as they do not Yes as they are Yes as they have a

represent the true recorded by large data set and
figure of crime government agencies encompass all
who should be recorded crime in
reputable fythe UK

Victim surveys Yes as it uncovers Yes it is reliable as

hidden crimes they can tell us a
more accurate
figure of crime than
Os

Self-report studies