The Socio-Demographic and Socio-Cultural Determinants of the Inaccuracy of Official Crime Statistics in Ghana

Abstract

In an attempt to aid policy formulation towards crime prevention, statistics on different types of crimes committed must be properly gathered and documented. In Ghana, crime statistics gathered from police records and victimization surveys indicate a discrepancy between the two forms of statistics. Using a sample of 16,445 and 203 respondents from the secondary and the primary data sources, respectively, the study sought to establish the level of significance of the “Dark Figure” in Ghana‟s official crime statistics, to identify respondent‟s socio-demographic characteristics and socio-cultural factors that affects crime reporting and to ascertain the extent to which Black‟s Behavior of Law Theory is confirmed in Ghana. Black‟s theory in summary states that people on the higher social stratum are more likely to report crime to the police than those with lower social status. This study employed quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis technique. This is so because the quantitative data provided information on characteristics of the respondents and their crime reporting behavior without considering to the reasons why these respondents acted the way they did. The qualitative aspect of the study delved into the reasons why individuals who have been victimized did not report their ordeal to the police. The quantitative (SPSS) data set which is a secondary data from the Round Six of the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS) was analyzed considering the socio-demographic characteristics that affect the inaccuracy of crime statistics in Ghana. The socio-demographic characteristics that were considered were: gender, age difference and income levels, marital status and employment status including educational and literacy levels as was theorized by Donald Black. The study established that the “Dark Figure” rate in Ghana‟s official crime statistics is significantly high such that the rate is more than 50 percent in all the three types of crimes selected for this study. The average percentage of Ghanaians who failed to report crime is as high as 85.4 percent from the GLSS-6 data set based on a nationally representative sample survey. According to the data, the socio-cultural factors that influence people‟s decision not to report crime include financial difficulties, police ineffectiveness/ inefficiency, third party involvement, time wasting and victim – offender relationship, lack of evidence, police offender relationship, conflict prevention and crime not serious enough. Black‟s theory has been subjected to empirical testing from different contexts and spaces. None of the tests has so far rejected the theory in totality. This study has also established similar results. Some of the key propositions were found to be true and others proved otherwise. This includes stratification and crime reporting which has not been accepted or rejected wholly. Black‟s assertions have both true and false propositions where the aspect that has been established to be true depends on the crime type. Further, the morphological propositions by Black using marital and employment status have both proven otherwise in this context. The policy implication is that security agencies mandated to work and provide the needed peace, safety and security cannot work effectively and efficiently since their work/policies/measures are informed by wrong crime statistics. When people are not well protected from criminal offences, they will not be able to contribute to the development of their society. The study, therefore, recommends that there should be a deliberate effort by the state to reduce the „Dark Figure‟ rate in Ghana‟s crime statistics. The effort must include academic and public education on the need to report crime to the police taking into account the socio-demographic characteristics and the socio-cultural determinants of the inaccuracy of Ghana‟s official crime statistics.