British Crime Survey
Encyclopedia
The British Crime Survey or BCS is a systematic victim study
, currently carried out by BMRB Limited
on behalf of the Home Office
. The BCS seeks to measure the amount of crime
in England and Wales by asking around 50,000 people aged 16 and over (as of January 2009), living in private households, about the crimes they have experienced in the last year. From January 2009, 4,000 interviews were also conducted each year with children 10–15 years old, although the resulting statistics remain experimental. The survey is comparable to the National Crime Victimization Survey
conducted in the United States
.
The British Crime Survey was first carried out in 1982 and further surveys were carried out in 1984, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2001. Since April 2001, BCS interviews have been carried out on a continuous basis and detailed results from that point are now reported by financial years. Headline measures are updated quarterly based on interviews conducted in the previous 12 months.
Initially the survey covered England, Wales and Scotland but now the survey is restricted to England and Wales. The Scottish Executive have commissioned a bespoke survey of victimisation in Scotland called the Scottish Crime and Victimisation Survey (SCVS).
Since 1994 there has been a separate Northern Ireland Crime Survey, on a biennial basis from 2001, and continuously from January 2005. It is produced by the Statistics and Research Branch of the NIO
. It is broadly comparable to the BCS in England and Wales.
The Home Office asserts that the BCS can provide a better reflection of the true level of crime than police statistics since it includes crimes that have not been reported to, or recorded by, the police. The Home Office also claims that it measures crime more accurately than Police statistics since it captures crimes that people may not bother to report because they think the crime was too trivial or the police couldn't do much about it. The BCS also provides a better measure of trends over time since it has adopted a consistent methodology and is unaffected by changes in reporting or recording practices.
In 2004/05 the number of robbery offences in England and Wales, for people aged 16 and over was around 255,000.
The BCS does not measure robbery offences among victims under 16 years.
The British Crime Survey has also been criticised for its exclusion of residents of communal establishments, e.g. hostels, nursing and care homes and university halls of residence, from its surveys, and for its inability to offer statistics for so-called "victimless" crimes, such as those concerning the abuse, possession and trafficking of drugs. The BCS also fails to record crimes against businesses, commercial premises and vehicles and (because it is a victim survey) instances of murder and manslaughter.
General:
Victim study
A victim study is a survey, such as the British Crime Survey, that asks a sample of people which crimes have been committed against them over a fixed period of time and whether or not they have been reported to the police...
, currently carried out by BMRB Limited
BMRB Ltd
BMRB Ltd is the longest established market research agency in Britain, dating from 1933. The company conducts the following types of research: media, social and public policy, customer, employee and omnibus....
on behalf of the Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
. The BCS seeks to measure the amount of crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
in England and Wales by asking around 50,000 people aged 16 and over (as of January 2009), living in private households, about the crimes they have experienced in the last year. From January 2009, 4,000 interviews were also conducted each year with children 10–15 years old, although the resulting statistics remain experimental. The survey is comparable to the National Crime Victimization Survey
National Crime Victimization Survey
The National Crime Victimization Survey , administered by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, is a national survey of approximately 49,000 to 77,400 households twice a year in the United States, on the frequency of crime victimization, as well as characteristics and consequences of victimization...
conducted in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
The British Crime Survey was first carried out in 1982 and further surveys were carried out in 1984, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2001. Since April 2001, BCS interviews have been carried out on a continuous basis and detailed results from that point are now reported by financial years. Headline measures are updated quarterly based on interviews conducted in the previous 12 months.
Initially the survey covered England, Wales and Scotland but now the survey is restricted to England and Wales. The Scottish Executive have commissioned a bespoke survey of victimisation in Scotland called the Scottish Crime and Victimisation Survey (SCVS).
Since 1994 there has been a separate Northern Ireland Crime Survey, on a biennial basis from 2001, and continuously from January 2005. It is produced by the Statistics and Research Branch of the NIO
Northern Ireland Office
The Northern Ireland Office is a United Kingdom government department responsible for Northern Ireland affairs. The NIO is led by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and is based in Northern Ireland at Stormont House.-Role:...
. It is broadly comparable to the BCS in England and Wales.
The Home Office asserts that the BCS can provide a better reflection of the true level of crime than police statistics since it includes crimes that have not been reported to, or recorded by, the police. The Home Office also claims that it measures crime more accurately than Police statistics since it captures crimes that people may not bother to report because they think the crime was too trivial or the police couldn't do much about it. The BCS also provides a better measure of trends over time since it has adopted a consistent methodology and is unaffected by changes in reporting or recording practices.
Example of statistics gathered by the BCS
In 2003/04 the number of robbery offences in England and Wales, for people aged 16 and over was around 283,000.In 2004/05 the number of robbery offences in England and Wales, for people aged 16 and over was around 255,000.
The BCS does not measure robbery offences among victims under 16 years.
Criticism
Professor Ken Pease, former acting head of the Home Office's police research group, and Professor Gary Farrell of Loughborough University, estimated in 2007 that the BCS was underreporting crime by about 3 million incidents per year due to its practice of arbitrarily capping the number of crimes one can be victimised by in a given year at five. If true the error means that violent crime might actually stand at 4.4 million incidents per year, an 82% increase over the 2.4 million previously thought. Since the five crimes per person cap has been consistent since the BCS began this might not affect the long-term trends, however it takes little account of crimes such as domestic violence, figures for which would allegedly be 140% higher without the cap. Police figures are also thought to seriously undercount repeat victimisation.The British Crime Survey has also been criticised for its exclusion of residents of communal establishments, e.g. hostels, nursing and care homes and university halls of residence, from its surveys, and for its inability to offer statistics for so-called "victimless" crimes, such as those concerning the abuse, possession and trafficking of drugs. The BCS also fails to record crimes against businesses, commercial premises and vehicles and (because it is a victim survey) instances of murder and manslaughter.
See also
- Crime in the United KingdomCrime in the United KingdomCrime in the United Kingdom describes acts of violent and non-violent crime that take place within the United Kingdom. Courts and police systems are separated into three sections, based on differences within the judicial system of each nation: England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.Crime...
- Policing in the United KingdomPolicing in the United KingdomLaw enforcement in the United Kingdom is organised separately in each of the legal systems of the United Kingdom: England & Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland ....
- British Social Attitudes SurveyBritish Social Attitudes SurveyThe British Social Attitudes Survey is an annual statistical survey conducted in Great Britain by the since 1983. The BSA involves in-depth interviews with over 3,000 respondents, selected using random probability sampling, focused on topics including newspaper readership, political parties and...
- Social TrendsSocial Trends-Production:It is produced annually by the Office for National Statistics in the United Kingdom. It gathers social and economic data from many governmental and other sources to form a comprehensive picture of how British society is at the moment and how it has changed over time. It also gives...
(UK)
General:
- Crime statisticsCrime statisticsCrime statistics attempt to provide statistical measures of the crime in societies. Given that crime is usually secretive by nature, measurements of it are likely to be inaccurate....
- CriminologyCriminologyCriminology is the scientific study of the nature, extent, causes, and control of criminal behavior in both the individual and in society...
- Dark figure of crimeDark figure of crimeThe dark figure of crime is a term employed by criminologists and sociologists to describe the amount of unreported or undiscovered crime, which calls into question the reliability of official crime statistics....
- Self report studySelf report studyA self-report study is a type of survey, questionnaire, or poll in which respondents read the question and select a response by themselves without researcher interference....
- International Crime Victims SurveyInternational Crime Victims SurveyWhy victims surveysReliable Crime statistics are hard to come by. Crimes recorded by the police and other authorities are a main source of information but have their limitations, these limitations are discussed in the Crime statistics article...
- Victim studyVictim studyA victim study is a survey, such as the British Crime Survey, that asks a sample of people which crimes have been committed against them over a fixed period of time and whether or not they have been reported to the police...
Further reading
- Stephen Moore, Investigating crime and deviance, ISBN 0-00-322439-2
- Van Dijk, J.J.M., van Kesteren, J.N. & Smit, P. (2008). Criminal Victimisation in International Perspective, Key findings from the 2004-2005 ICVS and EU ICS. The Hague, Boom Legal Publishers 2008 accessed at http://rechten.uvt.nl/icvs/pdffiles/ICVS2004_05.pdf May 7, 2008
- Van Dijk, J.J.M., Manchin, R., van Kesteren, J.N. & Hideg, G. (2005) The Burden of Crime in the EU. Research Report: A Comparative Analysis of the European Crime and Safety Survey (EU ICS) 2005 accessed at http://www.unicri.it/wwd/analysis/icvs/pdf_files/EUICS%20-%20The%20Burden%20of%20Crime%20in%20the%20EU.pdf April 3, 2007