Chapter 2 The Crime Picture INTRO The most popular scripted television show today is CBS crime and CSI American public is fascinated with hard hitting crime dramas Public interest in crime has also given birth to reality TV shows Statistical aggregates of reported crime do not reveal the lost lives suffering and reduced quality of life that crime causes CRIME DATA AND SOCIAL POLICY Crime statistics provide an overview of criminal activity If used properly a statistical picture of crime can serve as a powerful tool for creating social policy Many get tough policies such as the 3 strikes movement have been on the measured ineffectiveness if existing programs to reduce the incidence of repeat offending 1990s The news media do more to influence public perceptions of crime than any official data do THE COLLECTION OF CRIME DATA Crime statistics come from two major sources UCR NCVS of the BJS The most widely quoted numbers purporting to describe crime in america today probably come from the UCR NIBRS program PERF have undertaken their own efforts to gather crime data release statistics months before FBI since based on nations largest jurisdictions UCR and NCVS very similar to PERF Another resource is self report surveys but those are often unreliable and less current Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics an annual compilation of national information on crime criminal justice system Random story half of the 233 police agencies surveyed since the collapse of the nation s financial market link increases in criminal offenses to the faltering economy THE UCR NIBRS PROGRAM Development of the UCR Program Today approx 16 000 law enforcement agencies provide crime info for the program The original UCR program was designed to permit comparisons over time through construction of a crime index Over the years concern grew that the crime index did not provide a clear picture of criminality because it was skewed by the offense with the highest number of reports typically larceny theft 2006 discontinued the use of crime index these programs categories tend to parallel statutory definitions of criminal behavior but they are not legal classifications The National Incident Based Reporting System NIBRS The old UCR system was summary based this was incident driven Old ucr was based on statistical tabulations of crime data Part I II are being replaced with 22 general offenses 1990 Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act requires colleges to publish annual security reports Historical Trends Rate increases are cause for concern because they indicate that reports of crime are increasing faster than the population is growing There is a tendency to judge an individuals risk of victimization based on rates such judgements tend to be inaccurate since they are based on averages that dont consider certain situations 3 major shifts in crime rates 1940s crime decreased because large of men joined the military 1960 baby boomers teenagers and crime prone age 1980 boomers were aging out peaked in 90s because drug crime increased 1991 2008 dropped Fourth shift recent economic uncertainty jobless rates ex convicts gangs disorganization through economic disaster may lead to increase in crime Leading to heightened rates of crime in the future reentry explosion illegal immigration internet surging youth pop UCR NIBRS in Transition The crime clock distinguishes between two categories violent and property crimes diagrams crime frequency in the US implies a regularity to crime that doesn t exist based on crimes reported to the police For a few offenses the numbers reported are probably close to the number that actually ex auto theft and murder Clearance rate the proportion of reported crimes that have been solved not included are suicides justifiable homicides deaths caused by accidents and murder attempts murder is the smallest numerical category in the Part I offenses murder peaks in the warmest months firearms are the weapons used most often to commit murder the largest categories of killers was officially listed as aquaintances murder has shown the highest clearance rate of any serious crime occur Part I Offenses murder forcible rape rape is mostly committed by a man who knows the woman serves the offenders need for power rather than sexual gratification mostly only reported by females rape within marriage isn t always seen as a crime robbery purse snatching and pocket picking are not classified as robbery by the UCR NCVS included under larceny and theft even if there were a number of victims robbed in one event only report one hierarchy rule show most serious offenses that occur during a particular episode aggravated assault 2 types simple and aggravated involves weapon burglary primarily a property crime 1 forcible entry 2 unlawful entry when no force is used 3 attempted forcible entry larceny theft theft of valuables of any dollar amounts motor vehicle theft run on the ground not on rails arson Part II Offenses are for recorded arrests not for crimes reported to the police NATIONAL CRIME VICTIMIZATION SURVEY dark figure of crime unreported and unknown crimes to police officials twice a year interview household members also has hierarchy system SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CRIME crime typology a classification scheme used in the study and description of criminal behavior designed to simplify social reality by identifying homogeneous groups of crime behaviors that are different from other clusters of crime behaviors women are victimized less frequently than men in every major personal crime category a larger proportion of women than men make modifications in the way they live because VAWA notes cyberstalking the use of internet e mail and other elec comm tech to stalk another elec tech lower the barriers of harassment and threat both dont have to be in the same Crime Against Women other than rape of threat of crime person geographic area Crime Against the Elderly older victims rarely appear in the crime statistics criminal physical abuse are domestic caregiver and institutional residential centers con artists mostly try to look for old people Hate Crimes crime motivated by gender after 9 11 race motivated crimes decreased more of religion based hate crimes hate crimes are sometimes called bias crimes Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 created a new categories of Corporate and White Collar Crime 3 types of mortgage fraud 1 fraud for profit scheme by ghost buyers 2 fraud for housing application fraud 3
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