A General Theory of Crime Essay

Crime measurement and statistics for police departments are very important when it comes to money allotment, staffing needs or termination and it is also used to determine the effectiveness of new laws and programs. There are three tools used to measure major crime in the United States: Uniform Crime Reports, National Crime Victimization Survey and the National Incident Based Reporting System- which is currently being tested to replace the Uniform Crime Reports. Although there different tools used to measure crime, crime rates can be deceiving. Each different tool reports a different type of rate, crime rates, arrest

Crime throughout the United States is measured through statistics. Whether they are small crimes, blue color crimes, drugs, and even murder, these statistics help the criminal justice system to develop new laws that need to be put in place and to see how current programs are working. There are two statistical reports used to measure crime in the United States; they are the (UCR) Uniform Crime Report and the (NCVS) National Crime Victimization Survey. There is a third and it is self-reported crimes by individuals. These systems being used are a great foundation for tracking trends in crimes but they are only as accurate as the people/systems that give to them. Although these are here to report criminal information to several agencies, they do not reflect all the numbers because there are a lot of crimes that go unreported.

However, measurements of crime using the Uniform Crime Report are not completely accurate either. Local police officers often do not report crimes that they think are not substantial enough. Only the more serious crimes (Part I crimes) are the ones that they feel deserve the time and effort doing paper work for to be reported in the Uniform Crime Report. This means that a lot of Part II cases go unreported by police and, once again, the white-collar crimes are over looked meaning the Uniform Crime Report is not accurate (Barkan, 2012).

Another factor that might have led to the increase in crime is the increase in the population of the poor. Generally, the poor tend to be susceptible to crime more than the well-established considering their low levels of income and lack of employment. Their increase in the county will definitely lead to an increase in the crime rate (Braga, 2006).

The United States is made up of social classes which are divided based on the socio economic status of the citizen or the family. The three different levels to the class sys-tem are the upper class, the middle class, and the lower class. Unfortunately there is also poverty that exists which is also a factor to be considered when analyzing crime. There are many theorist who believe that a person’s socio economic status has a large impact on the likelihood of whether or not a person will commit crime during their life-time. According to Bank, Flavin, and Leighton, “Marx and Engels believed that crime was about defects of society and the product of the demoralization and alienation caused by the conditions of capitalism.” In short this statement is saying that there are underlying reasons why people commit crimes, it is not just about whether poverty is present, how wealthy a person, what social class they are in, or what a person’s socio economic status is. However, socio economic status, poverty level, and social class all do have an effect on the rate of which crime is committed by citizens.

There have been numerous opinions as well as criticism on how crime should be measured in the United States. FBI, and U.S. Census are a few of the government agencies who utilize crime reporting methods such as Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), National Incident-Based reporting system (NIBRS), and National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). Each method is created in order to give us an estimation of crime rate, so the process to reducing it could begin. Looking at the history of each report, then review their similarities and their differences, to finally analyzing varies criticisms, will help in the understanding if these crime reporting methods are effective.

Volume is a fundamental marker of the recurrence of known criminal movement. In dissecting offense information, the client ought to know that a UCR volume pointer does not speak to the genuine number of wrongdoings conferred; rather, it speaks to the quantity of reported offenses (Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics, 2016). Rates are markers of reported wrongdoing action institutionalized by populace. They are more refined pointers for similar purposes than are volume figures. The three types of crime rates reported are offense rates, arrest rates, and clearance rates. An offense rate, or wrongdoing rate, characterized as the quantity of offenses per 100,000 populaces, is inferred by first isolating a locale 's populace by 100,000 and after that partitioning the quantity of offenses by the subsequent figure. Wrongdoing or capture rates/ arrest rates are gotten from law implementation organizations for which 12 months of complete offense or capture information have been submitted (Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics, 2016). Law implementation worker rates are communicated as the quantity of representatives per 1,000 occupants. Clearance rates varies adroitly from a wrongdoing or capture rate in that both the numerator and denominator constitute the same unit of number (Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics, 2016). A clearance rate is, subsequently, proportionate

There are two programs that measure the magnitude, nature, and impact of crime in the nation. One of them is the Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR). The UCR was originally started with only reporting seven major offenses. Which were: murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny (theft) and motor vehicle theft. Later on it mandated for an arson to be added therefore making it the eight we have now. The UCR program uses data collected from law enforcement received every month to come up with its report. Along with the numbers for trends and counts for crime. The report has much more information as well. Such as who was arrested, their age, gender, and race.

More serious crimes that take place, such as serial murders, tend to intrigue us and disgust us. We wonder how individuals can possibly commit such heinous crimes. Crimes such as stolen property do not tend to get as much attention, although a hurtful offense to the victim, it does not have the shock factor that rape, murder, and arson have. In this discussion, I would like go through different ways we measure crime and which form tends to receive the most accurate

Furthermore, criminologists measure crime on the small and large scale of society. Thus, they analyze data and criminal statistics on a local, national, and maybe even global level to create valid measurements of crime. Thus, official reports and statistics on crime are invaluable for criminologists, as they create understanding of criminal behavior, crime trends, demographic patterns, and crime in general and can be used efficiently when conducting further research. And as mentioned in the previous paragraph, mass media reports should be used with caution, but still prove valuable for criminologists, for example those who are concerned with

Poverty has long been a consistent characteristic in crime. Numerous theories like Social Disorganization, Labeling Theory, and Strain Theory have been created to try to explain the connection between poverty and crime. As these theories demonstrate , the devastating external factors that poverty causes contribute to crime. Yet, the connection between poverty and crime continues to deliver new data, adding to the way criminologist analyze crime. These studies develop new methods including governmental programs , investments in certain areas or change in tax codes for tackling poverty emerge. Therefore, it is pivotal to continue studying the connection between poverty and crime to properly a large of factor of crime from its roots.

Crime and criminalization are dependent on social inequality Social inequality there are four major forms of inequality, class gender race and age, all of which influence crime. In looking at social classes and relationship to crime, studies have shown that citizens of the lower class are more likely to commit crimes of property and violence than upper-class citizens: who generally commit political and economic crimes. In 2007 the National Crime Victimization Survey showed that families with an income of $15000 or less had a greater chance of being victimized; recalling that lower classes commit a majority of those crimes. We can conclude that crime generally happens within classes.

Police officers only discover 3 to 4 percent of crime so there are a lot of crimes that aren’t included in the UCR. (Lynch and Addington 2007) Even when police officers discover crime they may or may not record it. Police only record 65 percent of calls. (Warner and Pierce 1993) A lot of crime isn’t reported to the UCR and this gives us an inaccurate count of crime. People may also have different definitions of crime. A police officer in one area may consider one crime to be more serious than a police officer in a different area, resulting in the crime not being reported at all or it being reported as more serious or less serious than it is.

This means that crime statistics provide evidence that the middle and upper classes are unrepresented, thus translating to much importance to Marxists. Due to the fact that the higher classes are benefiting from crime, as they remain un-prosecuted, it supports the theory that the bourgeoisie in a Capitalist society are the ruling class.

There are many issues in society that can be tied into one another. Poverty alone is a major issue worldwide just as well as crime. So what happens when these two are tied in with each other? Is poverty the main reason for crime rates accelerating? According to Aristotle, poverty is the parent of crime. It seems to be so common in society for criminals to be the minority that it is rather surprising when they find out a criminal is not a part of the minority. Minorities often, but not always, include blacks and Mexicans but never usually the whites. It is, in fact, very stereotypical to categorize a black person to be a criminal. For example, as used by many, if you are walking down the street, and you see a black guy walking in your direction, your first instinct would be to hold on to your belongings a little tighter or even move to the opposite side of the road. Also, if you are walking in the low-income side of town, you are sure to be more aware of your surroundings. There are numerous amounts of issues that arise from poverty being tied to crime, and it can most definitely lead to racism and classism. Many distinctive aspects can be used to show why poverty is the motherhood of crime as Aristotle stated. In example, there are different age groups that are affected by poverty and misguided into getting involved with crimes and there are different crimes that are being committed by those individuals. With these two being such a big issue to the society, is there any