Official crime statistics are important to an understanding of the social

distribution of crime in any society.

To what extent do you agree with this statement? Support your reference
to any two of the following factors: age, class, ethnicity, gender or locality
in a named Caribbean Society.
Official crime statistics are quite essential in understanding the social distribution of
criminal activity within society. Crime statistics relay a wide array of information to
allow an understanding of the different social groups that commit the crimes within
society. However, these statistics can often be very misleading and inaccurate due
to several factors such as gender and social class. Within this essay, both the
Interactionist perspective and the analysis of the Jamaican society will be discussed
in order to determine whether these factors have a profound impact on the
importance of official crime statistics.
A crime can be referred to as a deviant act that breaks the law of the land, including
anti-social conduct prohibited by law with sanctions that commit offenders into
custody (Muatapha 2009). There are various activities labelled as criminal within the
Caribbean committed by different groups, however due to various factors, these
statistics measuring criminal behaviour may often be false. This can be due to the
amount of unreported criminal activities that people may consider too trivial.
Mustapha notes that some victims may even fear the police or the reprisals, thus do
not report the crimes committed against them which is very evident in crimes such
as rape where only 1 in 3 victims will report their attacker. This therefore provides a
very invalid assessment of this particular crime within society as it is greatly
underreported. In addition, other factors such as the different legislations within
various societies may make a country seem to have far more criminal activity in
comparison to others when its due to their laws that make it seem as so. This
highlights the main facets of the Interactionist perspective on crime and deviance,
as these theorists posit For example, different societies have different legislation
which may deem an activity criminal whereas in another society it is not. This is
evident in legislation against marijuana use within Amsterdam and Jamaica. Within
Amsterdam, Marijuana is a legal drug therefore there are no formal penalties
associated with its use. However, within Jamaica which has Rastafarians who utilize
the drug as a form of a religious practice, has higher levels of drug abuse being
reported as marijuana is not legalized within Jamaica. Therefore, this difference can
highlight that crime statistics are often misleading in this effect.
The role played by gender in impacting how misleading criminal statistics can be
quite profound as even Haralambos and Holborn noted that due to the constraints
placed on female behaviour, police officers were often lenient with women. Pollak
(1950) posited that women were capable of committing crimes just as men,
however he argued that the criminal justice system was biased by preconceptions
about women and did not convict or sentence women as harshly as men. For
example, in many Caribbean societies such as Jamaica, rape is a punishable offense

that can be committed by both males and females. However, the number of males
convicted of rape when compared to females is quite rare. Official statistics also
indicate that males often commit more crimes and are arrested more often than
females. Many sociologists such as Abbott and Wallace (1990) note that it is the
difference in socialization experiences, with males having a more aggressive
experience contributing to their likeliness in committing more crimes.
Furthermore, social class is also very pivotal in understanding the misconceptions
positioned by criminal statistics. Mustapha notes that those within the lower social
classes are often the ones to receive higher bails, longer sentences and more guilty
verdicts when arrested. This coincides with Interactionist Sutherlands Differential
Association theory (1939), in which he focused on the polices focus with lower class
males which results in their representation within official crime statistics. Cloward
and Ohlins Differential Opportunity theory (1960) posit the idea that lower class
males are regularly represented in crime statistics, as society places middle and
upper class goals for them to attain, which in many cases are unattainable.
Therefore, in order to attain these goals, they often employ illegitimate means
which are often illegal. Sutherland agreed with Cloward and Ohlin and even
advanced that they often utilize these means when they group together and form
gangs which Jamaica and many other Caribbean societies are familiar with criminal
activities committed by gangs.
Sutherland (1960) refers to white collar crimes as crimes committed by a person of
respectability and high social status in the course of his/her occupation including
embezzlement, tax frauds, etc. Though it is often unreported within the Caribbean
region, white collar and corporate crimes are more consequential for society than
ordinary street crimes. The conflict perspective also highlights the viewpoint that
the laws within society are often created by those within the upper class as a way of
protecting themselves from any formal punishment. In addition, those within the
elite also has the means of insulating themselves from punishment as they have the
financial resources to bribe officials and granting shorter sentences as a result.
Therefore, the main point that the elites do commit criminal activities, however, it is
not actively reported within official crime statistics give the impression that those
within the upper class do not commit crimes, which is false. This therefore give
crime statistics a very misleading outcome as its results do not capture the very
nature of criminal activities committed by those within the upper class.
In conclusion, it can be seen that official crime statistics is important within society
as it provides a basic analysis and understanding of the social distribution of
criminal activity within society. However, these statistics are often misleading and
provide very inaccurate results as many crimes are not officially reported due to
various factors such as gender as well as social class.