Secondary Analysis of Quantitative Data Portfolio Entry

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Type of Academic Paper – Dissertation Chapter

Academic Subject – Data Analysis

Word Count – 953 words

 

Secondary Analysis of Quantitative Data Portfolio Entry

Are repeat offenders more likely to repeat crimes than first-time offenders in England?

According to Office for National Statistics (2017), the total number of people held in prison in England and Wales was more than 85,500 as of March 2017; one of the highest figures ever recorded in both countries’ history. Thus it cannot be denied that there is there has been an increasing trend in the incidences of people committing the crime. For instance, the number of prisoners sentenced to England & Wales jails rose by almost 90 per cent from 1990 to 2016; a mean increase of 3.5 per year. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) indicates that since 1990 almost 15, 000 inmates have been set free every year from England prisons while more than 200,000 ex-criminals are under probation. Majority of the studies on crime in England have focused on recidivism and its underlying causes (Office for National Statistics 2017). However, there are very few comparative studies on the number of crimes committed by first-time offenders and repeat offenders. Therefore, this work’s focus is to carry out a secondary analysis of quantitative data on first-time crime incidences and repeat incidences in England for the year 2016. The data used have been retrieved from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW).

Variables

  1. Total number Incidences committed by first-time offenders.
  2. Total number of Incidences committed by repeat offenders.
  3. Total number of incidence committed by both first time and repeat offenders

Frequency table 1. of the variable: Total number of incidence committed by both first time and repeat offenders

Frequency Per cent Cumulative Percent
VIOLENCE 1,268 52.9 52.9
Violence with injury 575
Wounding 307
Assault with a minor injury 268
Violence without injury 693
THEFT OFFENCES 1,127 47.1 100
Theft from the person 363
Snatch theft from the person 43
Stealth theft from the person 197
Attempted snatch or stealth theft from the person 123
Other theft of personal property 764
Total Number of offences 2,395
 

Commentary

According to the Office for National Statistics (2017), the respondents in this survey consisted of police force representatives from various England regions. These police representatives had experience in dealing with both first time and repeat defenders. The offenders comprised of both males and females between ages 18 to 50 from England’s entire regions. As shown from the above table, the total number of crimes committed by both kinds of offenders was 2,395. From the data, it is clear that the incidences of violence were higher (1,268) than that of Theft (764). This shows that both first time and repeat offenders are most likely to be involved with the crime of violence more than theft. Violence with injury was 575 while violence without injury comprised 693 incidences. It seems like most offenders referred to no to cause bodily harm while carrying out the offence.

Looking at the Theft crime, “Other theft of personal property “comprised the highest incidence than “Theft from person”. This means that in England, most people tend to be predisposed to indirectly stealing people’s properties instead of directly stealing from the individual.

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Frequency Table 2. For Variable: Are the incidences of Violence crime and Theft offences impacted by the kind of offender?

            Count of Individual Offences
First Time Offenders Repeat Offenders
VIOLENCE 598 670 1268
Violence with injury 260 315
Wounding 201 106
Assault with a minor injury 140 128
Violence without injury 293 400
THEFT OFFENCES 452 675 1127
Theft from the person 183 180
Snatch theft from a person 26 17
Stealth theft from a person 89 108
Attempted snatch or stealth theft from a person 72 51
Other theft of personal property 269 336
Total Number of offences 1050 1345

The respondents consisted of England court officials. Regarding violence with injury 260 counts of crime that resulted in wounding were committed by first-time offenders while 315 was done my ex-offenders. Regarding violence without injury, 293 of the counts were perpetrated by first-time offenders while ex-offenders committed 400. Generally, the trend shows that ex-offenders are more likely to commit violent crime (670) than fist-time offenders (598).

On the other hand, most of the theft offences 675 were perpetrated by repeat offenders than first-time offenders. Interesting though, most of the “theft from the person” crime was committed by first-time offenders 183 compared to offenders 180.

Frequency table 3: Is there a significant difference between the number of crimes committed by first-time offenders and offenders?

CRIME INCIDENCE (THEFT and VIOLENCE) Frequency Per cent Cumulative Percent Confidence Interval at 5%
Incidences by First- Time Offenders 1,083 45.2 45.2
Incidences by Repeat Offenders 1,312 54.8 100 P<0.05
Total Number of crime incidences 2,395

From the above table, it can be deduced that there is a significant difference between the total numbers of crimes committed by first-time offenders and those committed by offenders. Reoffenders are more likely to commit crimes than first-time offenders. However, since, this study was only for the year 2016, it is important that future studies explore similar data but from saying between 1990 to 2015 to conclude whether or not offenders are more likely to commit crimes than first-time offenders.

References

Anon (2017). [online] Available at http://Trends in CSEW incidents of crime from the year ending December 1981 to year ending March 2017, with percentage change and statistical significance of change [Accessed 17 Aug. 2017].

Office for National Statistics, 2017. Overview of the UK Population: March 2017,

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