Which term refers to crimes not documented in official statistics?

• A. Unrecorded crime
• B. Public perception
• C. Moral panic
• D. Levels of response

Answer: (A)

Not all crimes make it into official statistics because many incidents go unreported or unrecorded. This creates the unseen “dark figure” of crime—the unrecorded crime. Official stats rely on reports to the police and on how those reports are recorded, so factors like fear of retaliation, stigma, distrust of authorities, or belief that reporting won’t help can stop people from coming forward. As a result, the true level of crime is higher than what the records show. The other terms describe perceptions or reactions rather than the dataCapture issue: public perception is how people think crime happens, moral panic is exaggerated fear spread by media, and levels of response refer to how authorities react to crime, not the amount that goes undocumented.