Victimology

Abstract

One of the most intractable problems of official figures is that of the ‘dark figure of crime’. Not all crimes are reported, or known to the police, those suspected or known of are not necessarily prosecuted, and even those prosecuted do not necessarily result in conviction. By the stage an offender has been processed to the point of conviction by a court, his case has been extremely well-tested by objective evidence. It needs emphasis that figures listing official convictions comprise cases that are highly likely to involve genuine transgressions of the criminal law. ‘False strikes’, although always possible, are minimised.