Monica A. Walker

Interpreting Crime Statistics.

Preface List of abbreviations Notes on contributors Introduction 1. Statistics of offences 2. Criminal justice and offenders 3. The Police 4. Community sentences and the work of the probation service 5. Prison 6. Parole 7. Homicide 8. Gender, crime and the criminal justice system 9. Ethnic differences 10. On using crime statistics for prediction 11. Survey design and interpretation of the British Crime Survey

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PERSONS

This chapter discusses the conviction of children and young persons. No child under the age of 10 is deemed capable of committing a criminal offense. When a child or young person is thought by the police to have committed an offense, a police juvenile bureau consults with other agencies, such as the social services department of the local authority, to decide on what course of action to follow. All police forces in England and Wales have a policy of cautioning juvenile offenders as an alternative to court proceedings. Cautions are administered for minor offenses and frequently for more serious offenses, particularly on the first occasion that a juvenile comes to notice. In the Metropolitan Police, and in many other forces, the juvenile is released after arrest while home and background inquiries are made by officers from a police juvenile bureau, prior to the decision as to prosecution or caution. The Children and Young Persons Act of 1969 (CYPA) had the original intention that there should be no criminal proceedings for children under 14, and they should be restricted for those aged 14 to 16. Under the CYPA, certain sentences and orders previously available were abolished.

Ethnic Minorities, Crime and Criminal Justice: A Study in a Provincial City

The issues posed by race and criminal justice in Britain are contentious, none more so than the longstanding conflict between the police and black people. Though this achieved its most dramatic exemplification in the riots of the 1980s, the warning signs had long been in place. Much has been written about the issue, and who, or what, is to blame. Factors such as the ‘lawlessness of black youth’, ‘deprivation’ and ‘police racism’ are just the three most prominent ascribed causes in a wide-ranging debate (cf. Benyon, 1986). Less dramatically, other moments in the criminal justice process — the decision to caution or to charge, for example — have also come under critical scrutiny.

PROBATION AND AFTER-CARE

This chapter discusses the work of probation and after-care. The Probation and After-Care Department of the Home Office is the central body upon which devolves the maintenance of uniform standards of work through inspection and the guardianship of the Exchequer interest. The main work of the service is the supervision of adults given probation orders and the after-care of persons serving custodial sentences. Each of these contributed about a third of cases under supervision. The rest consists mainly of supervision of persons under 17 years, and community service orders; besides these there is suspended sentence supervision and (in civil cases) matrimonial and wardship supervision and money payment supervision. Criminal Statistics gives tables of sentencing, which include the number of persons given probation orders and other orders that involve the service and tables on breaches of conditions. Annual reports are also produced by most probation and after-care areas. The statistics in these usually give an outline of the amount of work carried out in the area. This is published at the discretion of the chief probation officer, from whom reports may be available on request.

The American Jury: A Critique

Abstract A leading empirical study of legal processes (The American Jury by Kalven and Zeisel) is submitted to methodological and statistical analysis, and it is concluded that (a) the sample taken appears to be seriously biased, (b) insufficient attention is paid to the methodological problems arising from the use of two different questionnaires, (c) in the analysis of the results the authors do not apply standard statistical procedures.

SOME OFFENCES IN DETAIL I: (NORMALLY PROSECUTED BY THE POLICE)

This chapter discusses some offenses that are normally prosecuted by the police in detail. The offenses under drug legislation in England and Wales are hybrid offenses, and they are therefore not listed under the ongoing resolution panel. The numbers tried and the sentences given may be found in the proceedings tables of Criminal Statistics (CS). The police are required to submit a form to the Statistical Department of the Home Office (1) for all offenses recorded as crimes known to the police that in any way involve drugs—if an offense that does not involve drugs is committed under the influence of drugs the form is not submitted—and (2) in every instance in which a quantity of drugs, however small, is seized whether or not an arrest is made. This form gives details of the offense and of the types and amounts of the drugs involved. The relationship of the victims of offenses currently recorded as homicide to the principal suspect is given. CS 1978 gives the proportion in each group for the past 11 years.

THE BASIS OF CRIMINAL STATISTICS

This chapter discusses the basis of criminal statistics. The statistics relating to crime and criminals reflect the action and decisions of many types of persons, besides the criminals themselves, and it is important to bear this in mind when analyzing and interpreting figures. A large number of offenses that are committed do not find their way into the criminal statistics because they are not reported to the police. This is called the “dark figure” of crime. The reporting of a number of offenses depends on deliberate action on the part of people responsible for law enforcement. In particular, the number of shoplifting offenses reported depends greatly on the policy of particular shops in the employment of store detectives and methods of dealing with suspects. Methods of recording the statistics of criminal offenses are different; no central record is kept of most non-indictable offenses in England and Wales, and there is no justification for comparing the number of indictable offenses in England and Wales with the number of crimes in Scotland.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE CROWN COURT

This chapter discusses the administration of the Crown Court. The Crown Court came into being on 1 January 1972 when the Courts Act 1971 came into operation. The Crown Court is a single court sitting at 97 centers throughout England and Wales. Administrative control is exercised through the staff responsible to the Lord Chancellors Office and with a Circuit Administrator in day-to-day administrative control of each of six circuits. The number of persons tried in the Crown Court is recorded as smaller in Criminal Statistics than in Judicial Statistics (JS). There are differences between the collection systems and the use for which the statistics are required. In JS each person is counted once for each case being dealt with at the hearing. Several cases may be heard but this would count as (1) “court appearance” in the police returns; (2) JS count twice a case where a defendant failed to appear and a bench warrant is issued; and (3) reason to believe that private prosecutions are under-recorded in the statistics compiled by the police.

SOME OFFENCES IN DETAIL II: (NORMALLY PRIVATE PROSECUTIONS)

This chapter discusses some offenses that are normally prosecuted by the police. Data relating to offenses committed by Army Service personnel are available from the Ministry of Defense. The offenses are classified under eight main headings. The Commissioners of Her Majestys Customs and Excise issue an annual report that contains a section on criminal proceedings. It contains the number of persons and firms or companies that were involved in offenses in relation to customs and excise duties, VAT, car tax, and import and export restrictions. The number of persons sent to prison is also given along with the total amount of money paid in fines, costs, and settlements for the different offenses. The report also draws attention to the provision of the Act regarding Improvement and Prohibition Notices. Unlike legal proceedings, notices are intended to remove the hazard to work/people or others rather than to punish those who have failed to comply with the law. The number of Improvement Notices, Immediate Prohibition Notices, and Defined Prohibition Notices is given, with the number of appeals.

OFFENCES RECORDED BY THE POLICE

This chapter describes the offenses recorded by the police. The recorded statements are based on returns from the police to the Home Office Statistical Department. These are constructed in accordance with the Home Office Instructions for the Preparation of Statistics Relating to Crime. This is issued to all police forces. This is a confidential document and is not generally available but may be seen in certain specialized libraries or obtained, in confidence, from the Home Office for research purposes. When an indictable offense is reported and confirmed, details are recorded on a crime report form. The form is not standardized throughout the country, and in some police authorities, notably the Metropolitan Police District, considerably more details are recorded than in others. All forces record details of the complaint, a brief description of the crime, with the Home Office classification, the place and time of the offense, and if it was an attempt or a full crime or was written off as “no crime” after investigation.