Crime Surveys (WJEC Eduqas GCSE Sociology): Revision Note

Victim surveys

• Victim surveys ask people about their experiences of crime

  • One example is the annual Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) (opens in a new tab), which is a large-scale survey run by the Office for National Statistics (ONS)

Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW)

• In 2024/25, about 31,500 people in England and Wales were interviewed, at addresses randomly selected from Royal Mail's list of addresses

  • One adult (aged 16 or over) will be asked:

    • if they have experienced particular crimes over the last 12 months

    • whether crimes experienced by the household were reported to the police

    • for their views on the police and courts

  • A household member aged 10-15 will also be asked to complete a shorter survey (opens in a new tab), so that children's experiences of crime are also measured

• Trained interviewers will visit each household and use a laptop to deliver the questionnaire

Usefulness of the CSEW

Patterns of victimisation

• The CSEW and police-recorded data highlight consistent patterns in:

  • social class

  • age

  • gender

  • ethnicity

  • repeat victimisation

• The CSEW cannot measure homicide, so homicide figures come from police records (the Home Office Homicide Index), published by the ONS

• Social class:

  • The poorest groups face higher risks of violent crime

  • They are also far more likely to be victims of burglary compared to wealthier households

• Age:

  • Young people are more likely to be victimised, while the elderly are more vulnerable to neglect and abuse

  • 16 to 24-year-olds have the highest risk of violence (2.4% were victims in the year ending March 2026, compared with 1.3% of all adults) (ONS)

  • Babies under one year old have the highest homicide rate of any single year of age (ONS Homicide Index data, 2026)

• Gender:

  • Men are more likely to suffer violent attacks, especially from strangers

  • 70% of homicide victims were male in the year ending March 2025 (ONS Homicide Index data, 2026)

  • Women are at higher risk of domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment

  • About 1 in 14 women (7.3%) have experienced rape or attempted rape since the age of 16, compared with 0.5% of men (CSEW, 2025)

• Ethnicity:

  • Minority ethnic groups are at greater risk of racially motivated crime, over-policing and harassment

  • They are less likely to report crimes due to distrust of the police and fears of not being taken seriously

Self-report studies

• Self-report studies ask people about the crimes they have committed in the last 12 months, even if they were never caught or punished

• Self-reports can be official surveys or independent sociological research

  • One example is the Offending, Crime and Justice Survey (OCJS) (opens in a new tab)

• The OCJS was commissioned by the Home Office and carried out annually between 2003 and 2006

  • It measured the extent of self-reported offending, drug use and anti-social behaviour, particularly among young people aged 10 to 25

• Analysis of the data identified:

  • the most common ages for starting to offend and use illegal drugs

  • young people who are most at risk of offending and using drugs

Usefulness of self-report studies