Abstract
Describes the methodology and main findings of a survey amongst prison inmates carried out by BMRB for the Home Office. A main objective was to estimate the proportion of all crimes that are committed by offenders who are given a custodial sentence: in addition, to examine the relationship between offending and social, economic and lifestyle factors, and whether there is an incapacitation effect of imprisonment. The problems of sampling and interviewing method faced by the researchers, and how they were dealt with, are discussed. A major part of the interview involved getting respondents to remember what they were doing at specific times (a ‘life events calendar’). Findings discussed include: education, offence history, alcohol and drugs misuse, sources and amounts of income (legal and illegal), pattrens of offending and repeat offending. The extent to which respondents gave honest and truthful answers is discussed: there appears to have been some overclaiming. There remains a problem reconciling the large number of crimes claimed with the statistics of the British Crime Survey and police records (both of which are known not to cover certain areas). Winner of the Best Newcomer Award, 2001.
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