the "Dark Figure of Crime" concept

The "Dark Figure of Crime" refers to the amount of criminal activity that goes unreported or undiscovered, meaning crimes that happen but aren't captured in official statistics. This can include crimes victims choose not to report, crimes unknown to authorities, or those undetected by law enforcement. As a result, official crime reports often underestimate the true level of criminal activity. Understanding this gap is important for accurate crime analysis and effective policy-making, since it highlights the limitations of relying solely on police data to gauge actual crime rates.