of murders in any given time period. In order for crime to be reported there.
must be two characteristics distinguishable, actus reas and mens rea. Actus.
reas is when there is an act apparent that violates some law. Mens rea is that.
there is evident intent, although, if there is not we can then define the act as.
negligent. Negligent being an act that violates some law, yet, was.
unintentional. Canada uses official data as their primary method of data.
collecting. With this in mind we must take a strong look at official data as a.
means of determining the crime rate. We can then determine how the decrease.
in crime rate that was quoted by Statistics Canada has the potential to be.
flawed. First, we can consider from our definition of official data that this.
type of data fails to encompass unfounded data. Data unreported and.
therefore, unaccounted for, is known as the "dark figure" of crime. The dark.
figure of crime is "crime that fails to get processed through the crime funnel." .
The crime funnel will be examined in the analysis of unofficial data within.
this report, however, to provide a quick definition is, the course of action.
taken towards conviction. "Only 10% of all crimes get processed though this.
system."3 We can determine then that 90% of crimes occurring are.
overlooked using official data. Secondly, critics of official data argue that this.
type of data does not tell us anything about actual crime. In fact it is more of a.
depiction of police policies and procedures. "Crime statistics do not measure.
criminal behaviour they measure the response of various agencies to their.
perceptions of crime."4 We can then determine that the quote in the daily by.
statistics Canada may hold to be flawed by lack of uniformity in measurement.
by police in different jurisdictions. Thirdly, data in the U.C.R is collected on.
more traditional types of crime. Traditional types of crime being street crimes.
and fails to examine more serious crimes, such as murder.