NCJ Number
88962
Date Published
1983
Length
68 pages
Annotation
The first British Crime Survey (BCS) shows that many crimes go unreported to the police because victims judge them to be too trivial to justify calling the police.
Abstract
The BCS collected information about victimization from a representative sample of 11,000 people in England and Wales. There was much less crime recorded than actually occurred because of underreporting. The survey indicated around 4 times as many offenses of property loss and damage than official statistics and around 5 times as many offenses of violence (wounding, robbery, and sexual offenses). Even more shoplifting cases go unreported than these crimes. The elderly were the group least likely to be victims of violent crime. Those most at risk were young men who spent several evenings out each week and drank heavily. Motor vehicles were the target of 1 in 3 property crimes covered by the BCS. The average household can expect to be burgled once every 40 years, but houses in the inner city were burgled once every 13 years, on the average. People were most worried about burglary and street crimes, and 60 percent of elderly women living in inner cities said they felt 'very unsafe' when out on foot after dark. In general, people showed high levels of satisfaction with the police, although 1 in 5 young men complained about police misconduct. Victims' recommendations about punishment were broadly in line with current police and court practice. A glossary, study data, and 24 references are included. Appendixes contain survey design and methods, sampling error, and comparisons between the BCS and Criminal Statistics and between BCS and the General Household Survey. (Author summary modified)