Dark field

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In criminology , the dark field describes the difference between the officially registered criminal offenses - the bright field  - and the crime that is presumed to have been committed . The number of unreported cases quantifies the size of the dark field.

The relation between light and dark field is not constant. This means, for example, that an increase in the number of registered cases of a particular crime cannot be used to conclude that this crime was actually committed more frequently. The size of the brightfield is primarily dependent on the control behavior of the police and the reporting behavior of the population.

Dark field research

From the crime statistics alone , von Hellfeld cannot draw conclusions about the actual crime. Therefore, dark field research is required to shed light on the dark field and to achieve a systematic overview of the development of crime. As a rule, the dark field research is carried out on a quantitative level , mostly through perpetrator or victim surveys , in which a representative group of the population is asked about their individual perpetrator or victim experiences. Qualitative processes are rarely found in practice due to funding bottlenecks.

The dark field research is a sub-area of ​​criminology, empirical social research , child and adolescent psychiatry and medicine.

findings

The above surveys come to the conclusion that less than half of the crimes actually committed are known to the law enforcement authorities .

The relationship between crime actually committed and reported crime varies from crime to crime. Offenses with high damage such as homicide , robbery , extortion and hostage-taking are generally reported more likely than those that only cause low damage or do not lead to the completion of the offense. In these cases, the injured parties often rate the effort involved in filing a complaint as disproportionately high in relation to the damage.

A higher pressure to persecute, or a more intensive attention of the police in certain places or for certain criminal offenses brings more criminal offenses to light ( Lüchow-Dannenberg-Syndrome ). Offenses, the damage of which is covered by insurance, are registered more frequently, because a police report is required from the insurance company in order to settle the damage . That is why almost all vehicle thefts are displayed and are therefore included in the PKS field, the bright field.

One reason for not reporting despite high damage can be a close relationship between the perpetrator and the victim. Other possible reasons include a. involvement of the injured party and the resulting fear of their own prosecution (e.g. in the area of narcotics crime ), fear of reprisals by the perpetrator (especially in the case of violent crimes , including sexual violence, in the family environment), lack of trust in the activity or the Chances of success of the law enforcement authorities or even general rejection of state criminal prosecution or of punishment in general. In the case of victims of sexual violence and victims of violence in relationships , the victim may feel guilty and ashamed that they have become a victim and therefore remain silent.

Raising the public's awareness through mass media reporting can sharpen the awareness of certain criminal offenses (e.g. sexual abuse of children , MeToo debate). The acceptance of violence changes and decreases over time. This effect counteracts the general decline in crime .

Limits

In principle, however, such surveys do not allow a final assessment of the number of crimes actually committed. Not all offenses are even noticed by the injured party. Those with minor damage are often forgotten again or are not perceived by those affected as a crime, but as a normal triviality .

In some cases, the respondents who did not report the crime out of shame, did not report it to unidentified researchers either. Surveys of perpetrators and victims cannot provide any information about these offenses. In this respect, one speaks of a double dark field .

Dark figure

An unreported figure represents a quantification of the unreported field . The term comes from crime statistics , today it is also used in an expanded manner.

origin

It was originally based on an incorrect translation of the English expression "dark number" in a German dissertation that was prepared in 1908 by the Japanese prosecutor Shigema Oba. In the period that followed, it became commonplace in German-language research, even if the unreported number is not a number , but a number .

In the field of criminology , the number of unreported cases is largely identical to the number of unreported cases. Based on the survey of empirical data by representative surveys can be seen today in a position to some extent the real figure to appreciate and brighten the dark field. However , it is not possible to precisely clarify the number of unreported cases.

Uses outside of crime statistics

Use in road traffic accidents

The term dark figure is also used in road traffic accidents . Here it describes accidents that the police do not have knowledge of and which are therefore not included in the official accident statistics. This applies in particular to single accidents , but especially in the case of bicycle accidents and pedestrian accidents with motor vehicles, accidents with personal injury are often not reported. The number of unreported cases was estimated through surveys or comparisons with medical or hospital documents. According to this, for example, almost 99 percent of single bicycle accidents do not reach the police's knowledge, in the case of accidents between bicycle and car drivers 82 percent of the accidents are not included in the traffic accident statistics.

Use in healthcare

In a figurative sense, the term dark figure is also used in health care; it describes the disproportion between diagnosed (or statistically recorded or reported ) cases of illness and the actual frequency of illness ( prevalence ).

See also

literature

  • Uwe Dörmann: Numbers don't speak for themselves: essays on crime statistics, dark fields and a sense of security from three decades . Luchterhand (Hermann), Munich 2004, ISBN 3-472-06077-8 .
  • Tilman Köllisch: From the dark field to the bright field. Report behavior and police contacts in the case of juvenile delinquency. Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Freiburg (Breisgau) 2004, urn : nbn: de: bsz: 25-opus-16869
  • Eckard L Pongratz: On dealing with abnormalities in children: An investigation into the dark field and the prevention of child delinquency in primary schools. Dissertation . Weißer Ring, Mainz 2000, ISBN 3-9806463-4-3 .
  • Christiane HI Häring: Blood diagnostics in the dark field and bioelectronigrams. A patient guide to holistic diagnostics for chronic diseases and cancer . Pro Medicina, Wiesbaden-Naurod 1998, ISBN 3-932935-30-6 .
  • Hans-Claus Leder: dark field. Remarks from a sociological deviance and criminal, criminological and epistemological point of view . ISBN 3-631-32805-2 .
  • Hans Joachim Schneider : Check your knowledge . 3. Edition. H.20 / 1, criminology. CH Beck Verlag, 1992, ISBN 3-406-36969-3 .
  • Sabine Rückert : The dead have no lobby: the unreported number of the hushed up murders Hoffmann and Campe, 1st edition Hamburg 2000. 302 pp., ISBN 3-455-11287-0
  • Hans Göppinger: Kriminologie , Beck Verlag (1997), ISBN 3-406-07343-3
  • Gerhard Heilenz: Child abuse: frequency and number of unreported cases: a cross-sectional examination of 1003 inpatients at the University Children's Clinic Freiburg . Freiburg im Breisgau, Univ., Dissertation 1995. 114 pp.
  • Klaus Scheib: The number of unreported homicides from a criminological and forensic perspective . Logos-Verl., Berlin 2002. 289 pp. (Zugl. Berlin, Humboldt-Univ., Dissertation 2001), ISBN 3-8325-0050-2
  • Karl Brasse: Unreported number of accidental deaths . Münster (Westphalia), Univ., Dissertation 1990
  • Helmut Hartmann: Need for social assistance and “ unreported poverty ”: Report on the research project on the situation of people potentially entitled to social assistance . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1981. 187 pages, ISBN 3-17-007496-2
  • Hans-Dieter Schwind : Criminology , 19th edition, Heidelberg 2009, ISBN 3-7832-0800-9
  • Klaus-Uwe Henschelhard: Absolute determination of the number of unreported cases , Univ. Heidelberg, dissertation
  • Siegfried Lamnek : Crime. In: Bernhard Schäfers / Wolfgang Zapf (Hrsg.): Concise dictionary for German society. Opladen: Leske + Budrich. 1998. pp. 382-393.

Individual evidence

  1. Anita Heiliger, Brigitta Goldberg, Monika Schröttle, Dieter Hermann : Gender-Datenreport . 1. Data report on equality between women and men in the Federal Republic of Germany. Ed .: Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth. 2nd edition edition. Munich 2005, ISBN 3-938968-05-2 , chap. 10 Acts of violence and those affected by violence by women and men, p. 612 f . ( bmfsfj.de [PDF; accessed on February 5, 2010]). bmfsfj.de ( Memento from November 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (With reference to: Anita Heiliger: Perpetrator strategies and prevention. Sexual abuse of girls within familial and family-like structures . Munich 2000)
  2. Michael Tonry: Why Crime Rates Are Falling Throughout the Western World, 43 Crime & Just. 1 (2014). P. 5.6 , accessed on June 6, 2019 .
  3. ^ Basic questions in the entire field of criminal law, p. 240
  4. Hautzinger, H. et al: Unreported number of accidents with personal injury. Reports from the Federal Highway Research Institute M 13, Bergisch Gladbach; quoted from: Alrutz, D. et al. 1997: Safety of cycling in access roads. Reports from BASt V 37, p. 39