Official crime statistics are the total number of crimes recorded by the police. These form the backbone of Functionalist theory on crime and it is also used to form much social policy. Official crime statistics should not be accepted as closer analysis finds that they can be unreliable. Giddens described them as "probably the least reliable of all official figures on social issues." But official crime statistics do have many strong points. Official crime statistics are often the only data available on crime. It is virtually impossible for any sociologist to get a full representative picture on crime for the whole country but official crime statistics allow a snap shot of the country's crime rates as a whole. The statistics are also readily available. No detailed research has to be done to uncover the statistics so that means that more time and money can be channelled into forming theories on these statistics. .
Official crime statistics also allow easy comparisons to be made. They appear annually so comparisons can be made over time to see how crime rates have changed and trends can be identified. This also allows the effects of different legislations to be established to see if they are effective. They also allow cross-cultural examination to take place between different groups in society so that crime rates can be examined more closely in relation to different groups. This allows the identification of trends between different groups so that patterns in crime can be established. Official criminal statistics have informed sociological thought for many years. It forms the basis for much sociological theory because the statistics are so easy to manage and provide a full picture. Positivist sociologists see the statistics as providing an accurate picture of crime in society so this forms the basis of their theory. Interpretist sociologist crime statistics don't inform the whole of their research, they see it as the starting point for examining the social construction of crime.