To what extent would sociologists agree that official criminal statistics by themselves, do not give an accurate picture of the extent of crime.

... Sociology Essay Question- To what extent would sociologists agree that official criminal statistics be themselves, do not give an accurate picture of the extent in terms of crime. The official crime statistics on there own are ok to some extent, they give some accuracy on the crime statistics but they don't show the whole picture, there is still a lot of crime which is not reported (this is known as the hidden figure). Moreover self report studies give better pictures to the public about criminal statistics. Self reported studies are confidential surveys that ask people to tick off boxes from a list. From this a clear picture is created and therefore the statistics can tell the truth. Although official crime statistics may appear to show the whole picture about crimes committed, they need to be treated with concern. Crime recorded by the police represents only a biased picture of the total amount

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