Which term refers to crimes that are not reported to authorities?

• A. Investigative Techniques
• B. Unreported Crimes
• C. Campaign Planning
• D. Access and Special Consideration

Answer: (B)

Crimes that happen but are never brought to the attention of authorities stay hidden from official records. The best term for this is Unreported Crimes, because it names offenses that victims or witnesses choose not to report, so they don’t appear in police statistics. This matters because crime rates based only on police data underestimate the true level of crime. In criminology we also talk about the "dark figure of crime" to describe this unseen portion. People may not report for reasons like fear of retaliation, belief that reporting won’t help, mistrust of the police, or simply because the offense seems too minor. Because of unreported crimes, researchers use methods like victim surveys and self-report studies to get a fuller picture and to inform policy. The other terms refer to processes or planning activities, not the phenomenon of crimes that aren’t reported.