The Strength of Uniform Crime Report - Assignment Example

rape UCR and NCVS reported crime statistics.  The UCR, an abbreviation for Uniform Crime Report, refers to statistics collected from state and local law enforcement agencies on serious offenses, called the Part I offences. States are not mandated to produce this information. The UCR was introduced in 1929. This Part I or Crime Index offenses include vicious murder, non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Included in the index crime offenses are property crimes, which include burglary, arson and motor theft. Part II offences include sexual offenses (excluding rape), vandalism and offenses against the family. The UCR statistic on rape collects information on the number of female victims involved in forcible rape incidences ((Doerner & Lab, 2012). The NCVS, an abbreviation for National Crime Victimization Survey, is a survey which interviews victims of crime about their experiences. The NCVS was introduced in the 1960s to complement the UCR. NVCS surveys gather crime specific information such as when and where the crime happened, the weapon used and victim-offender relationship. NVCS covers 7 counts of crime in two categories namely personal crimes and household crimes. Personal crimes include rape, sexual assault, robbery and aggravated assault. The NVCS statistics on rape covers both male and female victims (Doerner & Lab, 2012). 2. UCR and NCVS strengths and weakness The UCR greatest strength is that it is easily available as it is a primary source of crime estimates. The UCR statistics report is a summary of all reported cases of crime to law enforcement agencies. The UCR captures a lot of information on index crimes, both in terms of arrest and reports. Secondly, the UCR introduces a common metric for measuring crime in the US states. The FBI division of crime as personal and property offenses does not apply to states statutes and codes. The UCR offers a uniform measure for the 50 US states. Lastly, the UCR is continuous as new crimes are collected all the time through law enforcement offices, unlike the NVCS which requires support systems. However, the UCR has serious shortcomings. First of all, it only accounts for police reported crimes. This is a major setback as there are a lot of crimes that go unreported. Consequently, UCR suffers from ‘the dark figure of crime’. Secondly, UCR fails to collect all the relevant data. The UCR only collects data on the offender, victim’s crime details, but only details the circumstance for homicide cases. It fails to capture the weapon used ion forcible rape, and captures only data for female victims, as rape on male victims is recorded as aggravated assault. Lastly, the UCR is predisposed to police falsification. When a victim reports an incident, it is the law enforcement officer who records the incident, and is more likely to alter information to make the police look good. This in turn distorts the information in terms of criminality (Doerner & Lab, 2012). The NVCS greatest strength is that it captures the dark figure of crime. The household nature of the survey means that it captures all incidences of crimes, especially those that are unreported. Therefore, the data is a more accurate estimate of index crime than the UCR. Secondly, it is flexible and adopts the FBI format that is easy to understand for the public, unlike the UCR. Just like the UCR, the NVCS is not short of weakness. Firstly, it is limited in the scope it covers. It selects the crimes it covers. The NVCS does not cover alcohol and drug related crimes, robberies and burglaries against commercial establishment. New forms of crime such as business hacking are also not included. This means that the crime index is but a fraction of the total crime. Secondly, the NVCS is relies on interview data, hence unreliable. Under NVCS, respondents are not subject to test and bound by legal standards. The information is subject to memory errors, telescopic biases and errors of deception. Finally, NVCS suffers from sampling errors as it extrapolates population information using the information obtained. This may not be the case in external households. It is possible that the crime cases may just be sparse and not proportional to sampling techniques that marry sample information and the population. 3. Date rape or acquaintance rape  Rape is the sexual assault by use of force. This force is either by actual force, incapacitation or threat. Date threat is rape that occurs when one is sexually assaulted by a casual acquaintance, which in most cases is the boyfriend. This type of rape has garnered pace in recent times where a casual dinner, “a date” degenerates into an ugly situation leading to rape of the victim by the acquaintance 4. Date rape or acquaintance rape versus stranger rape, statutory rape, and spousal rape.  Date rape is the rape by an acquaintance, a trusted party as the perpetrator. Statutory rape in the other case is rape where the victim is a minor. The term minor may shift from nation to nation, but it is usually 18. For one to be a minor, one must be below the majority age limit for engaging in sexual acts by own volition or will. The law considers that an individual is incapable of making sexual decisions below the age limit. Stranger rape is rape that involves an unfamiliar perpetrator, a total stranger by use of force. In most cases of date rape involve drug facilitation where the victim is intoxicated by medicine, alcohol or other drugs. This intoxication leads to shock, short term paralysis, which make them submit to the forceful act by the perpetrator (Curtis, 1997). Spousal rape refers to the when the victim, in most cases women but it can be either, is forced into sexual intercourse against his or her will. This type of rape is rarely reported due to its “permissive nature” but it is still rape as it involves physical and psychological abuse (Burgess, Regehr & Roberts, 2010). 5. Please explain the types and uses of date rape drugs.  Most rape perpetrators use drugs to subdue their victims. These intoxicating compounds either paralyze the victim or induce them into shock or make them dormant and unable to resist the act. There are normally four types of these drugs: halcyon, rohyphol, gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and gateway drugs. Halcion drugs are used to induce the victim into sleep. This can be put in drinks during the date, after which the victim cannot fight the rape act. Rohypnol on the other hand induces depression in the victim. Once a victim is drugged with rohypnol, they become moody and emotional, and are more vulnerable to rape, as the victim becomes emotionally unstable to know what to do or how to act. GHB is known as powerful aphrodisiac which enhances touch and sexual attitudes. It is a type of a neurotransmitter that results in relaxation and sleepiness. Finally, gateway drugs are drugs that are used before the use of more dangerous drugs. These drugs get the victim “high” to a point where he or she cannot resist other drugs. Getaway drugs include inhalants, marijuana, alcohol and tobacco (Bartol, C. & Bartol, A., 2008). 6. Perpetrator’s view Acquaintance rape is different in that perpetrators are not regular sexual offenders. Perpetrators view their victims as objects of male domination. They take in the societal view of sexual aggressive behavior and exercise to show their masculine characteristics. They view their victims as targets that need to be conquered or used as success metrics (Curtis, 1997). 7 special problems Date rapes are difficult to persecute. For other cases of rape, the prosecution only needs to prove that a sexual act happened between the perpetrator and the victim. In the case of a stranger rape case, the prosecutor has many violations to charge the perpetrator such as kidnapping, breaking and entering, restraining a victim among others. However in date rape cases, the perpetrator be charged with these criminal offenses. The perpetrator is a trusted party of the victim. His presence in the victim’s property is by mutual consent. The sexual act is usually not the center of the case, but the consent. Consent can only be understood by other parties through the victim’s communication or by an observable indicator in the victim’s actions, deeds, or words. Therefore, the case is based on credibility and “who did what” and “who said what”. The prosecution builds its case in showing the victims state of mind and their credibility in giving consent, a daunting task in any court (Bartol, C. & Bartol, A., 2008). 8. Jurors Jurors are skeptical of date rape. Research into social stigma reveals that juror decision making in rape cases is more likely to condemn stereotypical rape to date rape. For a victim in date rape to get a favorable judgment, one must be able to prove the consent. The presence of physical evidence and intoxication swings the vote in favor of the victim. Cases where credibility is the only defense strategy, jurors are more not to convict the defendant. The presence of extralegal characteristics of the female victim is key to a favorable decision. Jurors believe that the victim must have provoked the perpetrator into the action. Jurors do believe that the victimization in date rape has perceived precipitation; the victim is also to blame for the incident and not just the perpetrator. In most cases ruled against victims in rape cases, sexual provocation played a crucial role. Jurors are more likely to free the defendant where the female victim facilitated the act through social provocation (Chambliss, 2011). 9. Position on the issue Date rape is a criminal act that should be punished equally as other stereotypical rapes. Whether one breaks into a home or is a trust acquaintance, it still remains an offence: rape. Victims suffer as a result of social stigma that surrounds women who undergo this kind of victimization. Date is not a second class rape, just technical. To change social policy, awareness needs to be carried to sensitize perpetrators and victims. Jurors need to consider circumstantial evidence with the same weight as extralegal characteristics in the victim. References Bartol, C. R., & Bartol, A. M. (2008). Introduction to forensic psychology: Research and application. Los Angeles: Sage. Burgess, A. W., Regehr, C., & Roberts, A. R. (2010). Victimology: Theories and applications. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Chambliss, W. J. (2011). Crime and criminal behavior. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE. Curtis, D. G. (1997). Perspectives on Acquantance Rape. Retrieved from http://www.aaets.org/arts/art13.htm Doerner, W. G., & Lab, S. P. (2012). Victimology. (6th ed.). Burlington, MA: Elsevier, INC.  Read More