Types of Crime - Assignment Example

Types of Crime According to the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) of the FBI, there are several types of crime depending on the offenses by category, by bias motivation within incidents and by victim type[Fed10]. The first type of crime is the violent crime. This crime includes murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. A violent crime is defined as an offense which involves force or threat of force[Fed11]. According to the Crime in the United States, 2011 report, for the fifth year in a row, the estimated number of violent crimes reported to law enforcement (1,203,564) decreased by 4.

5 per cent in 2011[Fed12]. The trend therefore for violent crimes is on the decline. The second type of crime is the property crime which includes burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and arson. The object of this type of crime is to take money or property but unlike violent crimes, in property crimes, there is no force or threat of force against the victims[Fed101]. The estimated number of property crimes reported to law enforcement (9,063,173) decreased for the ninth year in a row[Fed12].

Like violent crimes, the trend for property crimes is on the decline. Other types of crime are cyber crime, white collar crime and crimes against society like terrorism or narcotic offenses. Cyber crime is a criminal activity which is done with the use of computers and the internet[Tec13]. Cyber crime includes identity theft, phishing, account takeovers and fraud. In the US, 75 percent of cyber criminals were men and more than half resided in California, Florida, New York, Texas, the District of Columbia, or Washington state.

Outside of the US, most perpetrators came from the United Kingdom, Nigeria, and Canada. Cyber crime victims who filed complaints with the joint FBI/National White Collar Crime Center’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) were from the U.S., male, between 40 and 59 years old, and residents of California, Florida, Texas, or New York while most international complainants were from Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, or India[Fed111]. With the increased usage of computers and the internet, cyber crimes are on the rise.

According to the IC3 2011 Internet Crime Report, there was a 3.4 per cent increase from 2010 figures in the complaints filed with the IC3[Fed121]. There is nothing that needs to be changed in the reporting of cyber crimes since the IC3 provides a convenient way of reporting violations. According to the UCR, in 2010, 74.5 per cent of the persons arrested of crime were males[Fed102]. Furthermore, 80.5 per cent of those arrested for violent crimes were also males. On the other hand, of those arrested for property crimes, 62.

4 per cent were males. The profile of criminal offenders is very varied. Some factors cited as contributory to criminal behavior are the childhood background and personality and mental health disorders[Sta04]. In the same manner, the profile of victims of the different types of crime cannot be generalized. All the above crimes are measured through the UCR which creates “a national, standardized measure of the incidence of crime”[Jam08]. To support the UCR, the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) also gathers data on offenses, offenders, the victims, arrestees and the properties involved in the offense[Jam08].

ReferencesFed10: , (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2010), Fed11: , (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2011), Fed12: , (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2012), Fed101: , (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2010), Tec13: , (TechTerms.com, 2013), Fed111: , (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2011), Fed121: , (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2012), Fed102: , (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2010), Sta04: , (Stalans, Seng, & Repp, 2004), Jam08: , (James & Council, 2008),