The Crime Survey of England and Wales

You might have noticed in the earlier video, and in the Guardian article to which you were referred in the previous step, mentions of the Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW). This is a survey which asks people about their experiences of crime, and seeks to shed some light on that quantity of crime which goes unreported and so cannot appear in the statistics relating to crimes recorded by the police. So, the theory goes, you might not report an experience of crime to the police, but you might mention it if you were participating in the CSEW.

Have a look at the website of the CSEW by following this link.

Have a look around the site. What can you learn about (i) the scope of the survey; (ii) how it is conducted; (iii) what the results are used for?

Discuss with your colleagues what you think might be the advantages and disadvantages of the CSEW as a device for measuring the extent of crime.