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What are the consequences of unreported crime? - Coggle Diagram
What are the consequences of unreported crime?
The Ripple Effect
An example of the ripple effect can be seen with
hate crimes
. Ethnic minorities may be victims of hate crimes. Although a crime may be committed against an individual, the message may spread a 'wave of harm' throughout a whole community. This can be particularly true of online abuse in a public forum.
This is based on the idea of a pebble being dropped into a pond, creating ripples that spread out across the pond's surface. In the case of crime, this means than an unreported crime (the pebble) may affect not just the immediate or primary victim, but will spread across a whole community or society (the ripple) to affect secondary victims.
Police Prioritisation
The police sometimes give priority to some crimes over others. This can happen for several reasons...
The
local population
may have certain crimes happening that the police need to deal with first
The
media
may focus on a particular type of crime and call for action by the police
They have
limited resources
and can't investigate every single crime
The Home Office
has particular priorities that that it wants police forces throughout the country to tackle
Inevitably, this means that some crimes receive lower priority, as in the case of cannabis possession, where police may turn a blind eye. Enforcing the law against such large numbers of offenders would be both unpopular and extremely costly in terms of police resources, which they may prefer to spend tackling more serious crimes.
Also, once the public are aware that the police are not prioritising certain crimes, they are less likely to report these crimes since they believe the police will not deal with them.
Decriminalisation and Legal Change
Some actions are widespread in society despite being against the law. For example, large numbers of people use or have used
cannabis
. However, because many members of the public see it as a relatively harmless, victimless crime, it goes unreported.
When a particular crime becomes widespread and the public stop reporting it because they no longer see it as a 'real' crime, campaigners will demand a change in the law. In the case of cannabis, a number of countries and U.S. states have responded have responded to public pressure by decriminalising its possession. Decriminalisation means it is treated as a
misdemeanor
: a minor offence, where the penalty may be a warning or small fine.
Some countries and U.S. states have gone further and legalised cannabis for recreational or medicinal use. Some countries have also decriminalised possession of 'hard' drugs such as heroin. They argue that this reduces the amount of violent crime associated with the drugs trade, saves money on imprisoning offenders and reduces the spread of HIV infections caused by needle-sharing.
Cultural Change
Procedural Change
Cultural Consequences
An example of this is
female genital mutilation
. FGM is a crime in the UK but is a common practice in several parts of the world and exists among some minority cultures in the UK. As a result, it may go unreported by members of the communities that practice it and be allowed to occur out of sight of the law.
However, some members of these communities have spoken out against FGM as a violation of girls' and women's human rights, and professionals such as doctors and teachers have been vigilant to identify victims and girls at risk.
People from different cultures sometimes view the same action differently. This may mean that some practices that are seen as unacceptable and are against the law in the UK are acceptable to some people from other cultures.
Unrecorded Crime
However, even when an alleged crime is reported to the police, they have some discretion and may decide not to record it. This can be for several reasons...
They may not believe the story or may not have enough evidence to secure a conviction
The victim may refuse to press charges
The may not wish to investigate -- e.g. because the crime is too trivial, not a priority for them, to save resources, or to increase clear-up rates
The Dark Figure of Crime
If the police don't record a crime, it will not appear in the police statistics. These unrecorded crimes are known as the dark figure of crime. This is all the other crime -- including the crimes no-one has witnessed, crimes that were witnessed but not reported, and crimes that were reported to the police but not recorded by them.
The absence of unrecorded crime from the official crime statistics recorded by the police means that the government
Although the police do detect some crimes, most crime (up to 90%) is brought to their attention by the public reporting it to them. If people choose not to report crimes, then obviously they can't be recorded or investigated.