Criminology Assignment: Analyzing Crime Measurement and Victim Impact

This criminology assignment delves into the challenges of measuring crime, focusing on the 'dark figure of crime' which encompasses undetected and unreported offenses like sexual abuse, domestic violence, and e-crime. The assignment explores subjective definitions of crime, contrasting personal views with legal definitions, and highlights the impact of such crimes irrespective of socioeconomic factors. The second part of the assignment focuses on victim impact statements, emphasizing their role in allowing victims to express the physical, psychological, and financial damages caused by crimes, particularly in cases that often go unrecorded. It argues for the importance of mandatory victim impact statements and the need for support for victims, especially in cases of domestic violence and child sexual abuse, advocating for appropriate punishment for offenders. The assignment uses references to support the arguments and provides a comprehensive overview of the complexities of defining and addressing crime.

Criminology & Criminal Justice

Table of Contents
Answer 1..........................................................................................................................................3
Answer 2..........................................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................5

Answer 1
Measuring certain crimes is a challenging task. Certain crimes are done indoors where there are
no witnesses. Such kinds of crime are not detected, recorded or reported as they are either
considered trivial by the victim or they fear reporting or still some do not consider it as crime.
There is ‘dark figure of crime’ refers to volume of crime that goes undetected and as a result it is
neither reported nor recorded. The best examples of these crimes include sexual abuse, domestic
and family violence, marital rape, mental torture, insider trading, harassment, cruelty to animals,
e-crime that are caused by using devices like computer, etc. These kinds of crimes do not fit in
the legal definitions of criminal behavior that is “An act is a crime once a person has been found
guilty or of committing it” or “Crime is an act which is against the law”. This definition does
not consider the morality values. Basically, I feel that every act that is immoral is a crime and has
to be reprimanded depending on the severity. This is very subjective view as what is crime in
certain communities is acceptable in other communities. For example kissing in public is
punishable in certain countries, but is permissible in other countries (Biderman & Reiss Jr.,
1967).
According to me sexual abuse, domestic violence, marital rape, etc are crimes because they lead
to mental, emotional, financial, and physical torture and there is no upper limit to this. Since
there are no witnesses and no records, they go undetected. But these crimes are increasing
everywhere in the developed and developing countries and is prevalent in every community
irrespective of socioeconomic status, education, caste, creed, race, or religion (Victims Support,
2018).

The views of some students matched with my views. However, there were many other students
whose view did not match with my views. This shows that defining crime is a difficult task as
everyone has different way of looking at things.
Answer 2
Victim impact statement is written or oral information given by the victim in his/her own words
which may include the physical, psychological, financial, damage caused by the crime. Very
often the damaged cause to the victim cannot be measured or scaled. Hence in such situation if
the victim has a say then he/she gets an opportunity to tell the hearing officer or the judge how
the crime has created havoc in his/her life. A written or oral victim impact statement for crimes
that go undetected can be a proof against the offender. Generally children and women become
victims of domestic violence and they are either displaced or thrown out of the house. The
education of children suffers and some children live in fear and still some develop psychological
problems (Victimsofcrime, 2018).
The victim impact statement is a provision that must be granted to all victims irrespective of
distinction of any kind like color, race, nationality, religion, gender, family status, ethnicity,
disability, etc. It must be based on the principle of equality. The victim impact statement helps
the victim to speak his mind and give words to his thoughts. Sometimes the impact is so severe
that it is insurmountable. Very often the offender for child sexual abuse develops a habit and
should be thrown behind bars. This severity of the crime and the damage done to the society can
only be brought up by the victim impact statement. Hence, I feel that victim impact statement
must be made mandatory and the parole officer must cooperate with the victim and sympathize

so that the victim can speak her feelings and give words to her thoughts and the offender gets due
punishment. (National Crime Victim Law Institute, 2018)
References
Biderman, A.D. & Reiss Jr., A.J., 1967. On exploring the" dark figure" of crime. The Annals of
the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 374(1), pp.1-15.
National Crime Victim Law Institute, 2018. Victim Impact Statement of Amy – the Victim in the
Misty Series. [Online] Available at: https://law.lclark.edu/live/files/17711-sample-victim-impact-
statements1pdf [Accessed 2 May 2018].
Victims Support, 2018. Domestic abuse. [Online] Available at:
https://www.victimsupport.org.uk/crime-info/types-crime/domestic-abuse [Accessed 2 May
2018].
Victimsofcrime, 2018. Victim Impact Statements. [Online] Available at:
http://victimsofcrime.org/help-for-crime-victims/get-help-bulletins-for-crime-victims/victim-
impact-statements [Accessed 2 May 2018].