The Nations Two Crime Measures - Report Example

MEASURING CRIME The Nation’s Two Crime Measures Functioning together, UCR and NCVS provide comprehensive and detailed data about crimes committed on the USAs territory making valuable contribution to building up a full image of the nations crime problem including the main trends in crime and crime rate. NCVS was originally designed to complement UCR covering additional aspects UCR didnt cover (Department of Justice, 2004). Differences between the programs lie in different aspects of crime covered in reports, different methods used in data collection and purposes these two programs serve (The Nations Two Crime Measures). Whereas UCR is meant to provide reliable statistical data to enhance administration, management and operation of law enforcement, NCVS was designed in 1973 to provide crime-related information about crime details, offenders and victims that was earlier unavailable. Then, two programs cover similar yet not identical sets of crimes – for example, UCR deals only with reported crime, and NCVS covers both reported and unreported crime. This difference comes out of the methods the programs use. UCR data is collected mainly from police departments, while NCVS surveys are conducted directly in a nationally representative households sample. Furthermore, although the main bulk of crimes covered by both programs is the same including robbery, rape, aggravated assault, burglary, arson, property and motor vehicle theft, there are certain differences: CVS doesnt cover homicide and UCR does; UCR deals only with rape as a crime against women and NCVS “measures it against both sexes” (Department of Justice, 2004). Except that, definitions of certain crimes differ, for example, the definition of burglary as it includes intentions of committing theft or felony in UCR and includes only unlawful entry of a residence in NCVS. 2. Uniform Crime Reports a. Trends in violent crime rates in Alabama, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, and West Virginia In Alabama, the dynamics of violent crime rate shows us gradual increase in crime going hand in hand with gradual increase in population of the state between 1960 and 2012. In fact, the lowest crime rate index (186.6-182.7) is observed in the period between 1960 and 1963, i.e. at the dawn of the UCR program operation. However, the rate increased rapidly, making up 350.1 in 1973 (UCR Statistics). The highest violent crime rates were recorded during the 1990s varying from 708.6 to 871.7, yet it decreased in the new millennium to make up an average 449.9 for 4,822,023 population in 2012 (UCR Statistics). Delawares estimated violent crime rates are generally lower showing the lowest rate in 1961 - just 69.4 (and that is probably related to the population number of the state, too). The most considerable increase in crime rate was recorded in 1997 showing 785.9. However, 2012 showed a higher crime rate that that of Alabama, 547.4 with the population of 917,092 people (which is more than 4 times less than in Alabama). The crime rate dynamics in Maryland shows gradual increase in violent crime rate beginning with 1960 and reaching the record peak in 1992 – 1000.1 for 4,908,000 residents. However, after such extremely high figures, decrease began leading the rate to 476.8 in 2012. New Jersey – according to UCR statistics – has extremely low crime rates in comparison to the three states mentioned above, especially considering its population (over 6 million in 1960). Its violent crime rate reaches the peak in 1990 showing 647.6. The situation has improves since that time with the rate being very low in 2012 – only 290.2 for almost 9 million people (UCR Statistics). In Western Virginia, the crime rate is the lowest among the analyzed states, showing only 63.1 for 1,850,000 people in 1961 and remaining rather low during the rest of the 20th century, yet reaching its very peak in 1999 with 350.7 for 1,806,928 residents (UCR Statistics). On one hand, absence of considerable fluctuation in the violent crime rate in this state may be explained by the relatively stable number of residents that hasnt experience dramatic increase. b. B robbery volume and robbery rates in Colorado, Connecticut, and Delaware for the years 1960 through 2012, trends in robbery rate and volume. Robbery rate in Colorado is kept rather low with the estimated number of 65.4 for 5,187,582 population in 2012. This is one of the lowest indexes since 1969. After the period of 19901-1994 with robbery rate reaching 120.5, the dynamics has been experiencing decrease in this index despite rapid population growth. In contrast to Colorado, robbery rate in Connecticut had seen gradual increase since 1960 with its peak in 1990-1992. However, the rate then started decreasing, yet it was still rather high in 2012 in comparison to Colorado. Delawares robbery rate started as the lowest among the three compared, 35.2, but then it saw gradual increase with the peak reached in 1997, 243.6. At the same time, it was the highest among the three states compared in 2012. Robbery volume in Colorado was the largest among the three states in 1960 and it came to be the same in 2012. However, the dynamics in robbery volumes differs in Colorado, Connecticut and Delaware. Growth of robbery volume in Colorado was rather gradual, while Connecticut and Delaware have seen more dramatic changes. The very maximum of robberies was recorded in Connecticut in the period between 1979 and 1993 with numbers reaching over 7000. Both trends in robbery volume and dynamics show increase beginning with 1960, reaching the peak in 1980-1990s and decline beginning with the new millennium. This trends might be justified by various social and cultural factors as well as quality of life, education and law enforcement work. c. Three agencies reports Having chosen New York, Ive compared reports of three police departments – Garden City, Geddes and Geneva City. Provided data covers 1985. Population of the cities varies from 11 to almost 23 thousand. The data provided in reports shows zero for manslaughter in the reported year in all three cities. According to agencies reports, Geneva City had the highest violent crime rate among these three with high aggravated assault rates and robbery rates. Geddes has proved to be the calmest city with the lowest violent crime rate including only aggravated assaults recorded in the year 1985. d. Compare violent crime rates of cities with 1,000,000 in population or greater. Ive chosen all the cities with 1,000,000 in population or greater in Texas. There are Dallas, Houston and San Antonio with three respective police departments. The reports show that San Antonio has had the lowest violent crime total since 1985 with the maximum of 9.699 reached in 2008. The highest violent crime total is possessed by Houston as it can be seen from the table. The rates have been the highest among these three cities since 1985 with the highest rates in the 1990s. Thus, Houston has the greatest issues with violent crime (including 2012, the total is 21.610). 3. National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) a. Texas on the NIBRS page “Data Tables” Having picked Texas a state for consideration, Ive noticed that the city with the highest total of offenses is Fort Worth (64,900). Offenses recorded the least or not recorded at all include bribery, blackmailing, sports tampering, promoting prostitution, betting and operating, promoting or assisting gambling (NIBRS). Crimes against property tend to be leading in the range of offenses described with the number reaching 45 thousand in Fort Worth. San Saba is the calmest among the cities as it has only 107 total of offenses. What is also peculiar about the report is the fact that very few cases of justifiable homicide and negligent manslaughter were recorded, whereas cases of nonnegligent manslaughter are more frequent, yet rather rare in comparison to other offenses, e.g. involving property. b. Murder and Aggravated Assault Circumstances. The given table on Murder and Aggravated Assault Circumstances shows that the main and the most frequent reason for both murder and aggravated assault is an argument between the victim and the offender – the total of victims exceeds 100,000 (NIBRS). Lovers quarrel has proved to be the second most widespread reason for assaults and murders. At the same time, such circumstances as street gang affairs are the least spread being reason only for only six manslaughter cases. A considerable number of aggravated assaults is also committed in cases of assaults on law enforcement officers. Summing up, we see that people tend to kill and assault mainly because of two factors – arguments and quarrels between lovers. 4. Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) Go to the LEOKA Web page at the FBI http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/leoka/2012 Read through the material so that you know what kind of data are available to you. Assignment 4. a. Pick any five data tables on the LEOKA site and open them. Describe the tables themselves and what you were able to find as things that are important for police officials to know. For example Table 1 describes the regions of the country where officers are most likely to be killed. What fact from this table is most important to you and why? Do this for each of the five tables you select. The first table Ive picked is the table presenting data on time of officers being accidentally killed recorded in the period from 2003 to 2012. According to it, out of 667 officers accidentally killed for these years, 348 were killed in the p.m. hours(LEOKA, Table 50). At the same time, the number of officers killed in different hours varied through this period. The given information is of certain interest at might probably give a hint to when the majority of crimes and apprehensions are committed. Another table related to accidentally killed police officers illustrates the types of population groups and agencies where officers were killed in 2012. According to the table, metropolitan counties hold the first place in number of officers – 12 people. On the other hand, only one case was recorded in the cities with population of 10,000–24,999. Moreover, the table provides the information on the types of patrols and vehicles, illustrating that foot patrols and officers off duty tend to be in relative safety compared to those working alone in one-officer vehicles (LEOKA, Table 59). Next table deals with the officers that were feloniously killed and provides the statistics on geographical division and location. According to the table, the highest rate of felonious murders of officers was recorded in the southern part of the U.S. (LEOKA, Table 1). On the other hand, American outlying areas like American Samoa have no recorded cases of such offenses. The dynamics reached its peak in 2011 with 72 recorded cases of felonious murder of officers. LEOKA Table 11 provides information on race and sex of feloniously killed officers in 2003-2012. Among the total of 535 officers killed the majority were white and 69 were black. Moreover, there were almost no Asian/Pacific islanders and American Indians which probably tells us that such positions in law enforcement department are taken predominantly by white males. Female officers made up only 24 killed out of 535. Table 56 of LEOKA statistics shows the relation of age and years of service in officers killed accidentally. According to the present table, the target group is young officers of under 25 or 25-30 years being in service for 0-5 years, hence those who have less experience. At the same time, the number of killed officers having more than 30 years of service behind their backs is the smallest, 24 people. This probably points to necessity of better training for young cops and keeping them from performing excessively dangerous assignments requiring much experience. 5. Hate Crime Go to the data tables on the hate crime site. Select 5 of the tables to examine and provide a summary of your findings from each table. Hate crimes are defined as crimes committed out of bias and motivated by prejudice concerning a victims ethnicity, gender, race, appearance, sexual orientation etc. (Streissguth). The first table Ive chosen is Table 2 sorting hate crimes by type of offense. In 2012, the bulk of reported offenses and incidents were characterized as crimes against persons with simple assaults and intimidation being the most frequently recorded cases. However, crimes against property being almost as popular as the former ones. Here we see property damage and destruction to be observed most frequently. On the other hand, crimes against society are a rare thing. Table 4 sorts offense types by motivation – out of 6718 offenses committed in 2012, 6705 were single-biased with aggravated and simple assaults and being the most widespread. Moreover, most of them were related to racial intolerance as well as religious issues and sexual orientation. To add more, this table confirms intolerance towards male homosexuals to be radical enough to motivate crimes. Table 12, Agency Hate Crime Reporting by State, provides information on agencies reporting to UCR program, their number, population covered and the number of reports about hate crimes. Looking at the table, one can conclude that the highest rate of hate crimes is observed in California and New York(Hate Crimes Statistics). This might be explained by the nature of these states as the most popular destination of immigrants from different countries (if we talk of biased offenses). And finally, Table 8 illustrates interrelation between the type of bias and the type of victim. According to the table, the lions share of hate crimes is directed on individuals and motivated by racial intolerance. However, the number of individual victims of crimes motivated by religions intolerance is much smaller than that of crimes implying sexual orientation issues. 6. FBI Supplemental Homicide Data Victims Year of incident by Race of victim for United States Almost 626 thousand people became victims of homicide in the U.S. in the period of 1980-2012. Two main groups of victims by race are whites and black. The number of victims is similar with the number of the former slightly exceeding the number of the latter. Race of 6760 victims is unknown. Furthermore, 2010-2012 are characterized by general decline in homicide rates (Supplementary Homicide Reports 1980-2012). Year of incident by Sex of victim for United States This table shows general tendency of females prevailing as homicide victims with over 480,000 victims being women. However, the number of killed women began to decrease after 2000. Sex of victim by Age of victim for United States According to the table, the most frequent victims of homicide are 25-49 years old. What is also curios, theres a considerable number of infants reported as victims of homicide (0-5 years). Furthermore, males of 25-49 years become victims most often. Weapon used by Race of victim for California This rather curios table shows that firearms were mostly used for homicide in California. The major part of firearms victims are white people. The total of victims exceeds 90 thousand. Year of incident by Victim-Offender relationship for California Showing the data for 1980 and 2012, the table reflects the following trend: the tendency in victim-offender relationships has shifted from domination of family, friendship or acquaintance to “stranger” relationships. Whereas the number of cases with family relationships has decreased twice, the number of “stranger”-relationships cases has increased almost 6 times. Offenders Year of incident by Race of offender for United States The table displays dynamics in offenders race compared in 1980 and 2012. Thus, the number of black offenders exceeds that of whites, yet not much, despite the stereotype. Whereas in 1980 these numbers were almost equal, 2012 report shows that the number of black offenders is at least 1000 larger. Year of incident by Sex of offender for United States No wonder that the male offenders have proved to be dominating group in this table. Whereas the total of females is 5,418 for 1980, 1995 and 2012, therere 42,824 males, yet their number has decreased since 1995. Age of offender by Weapon used for United States The most popular age of offenders using firearms varies from 18 to 49 years. Generally, firearms are the mostly used weapon for homicide in all age categories. Year of incident by Sex of offender for Louisiana The table indicates that the tendency in offenders sex hasnt changed since 1992, and male offenders made up a major part 20 years later, too. Moreover, the number of female offenders has decreased since that time from 60 to 27. Weapon used by Sex of offender for California The table providing data for 2012 shows that both male and female offenders tend to use firearms for homicide. Moreover, the number of offenders reported in 2012 includes only 121 females which is almost the tenth part of that of males. Works Cited: Department of Justice. Nations two crime measures, 2004, from: http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/ntcm.pdf LEOKA, About Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, from: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/leoka/2012/about-leoka Federal Bureau of Investigation. Supplementary Homicide Reports 1980-2012, from: http://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/ezashr/ Hate Crimes Statistics, data tables, from: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2012/resource-pages/about-hate-crime/abouthatecrime_final NIBRS, data tables, from: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/nibrs/2012/data-tables Streissguth, Tom, Hate Crimes, Infobase Publishing, 2009. The Nations Two Crime Measures, from: https://www2.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_04/appendices/appendix_04.html UCR Statistics, from: http://www.ucrdatatool.gov/Search/Crime/Crime.cfm http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2012/resource-pages/about-hate-crime/abouthatecrime_final http://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/ezashr/ Read More