Crime Data In The United States

The two primary data sources discuss in this abstract will be the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS). These data sources are reporting mechanism that tracks criminal activities in the United States and foreign countries. To articulate why crime exists and the extent of a crime, criminologists use records that are collected, compiled, and analyzed by government agencies such as the federal government’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (Siegel, Larry J., 2006, p 31). The official data is used to focus on the social forces that affect crime in regards to the relationship between crime and poverty, criminologist uses the data which provides

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

Law enforcement agencies use three different sources to collect crime statistics. They use official statistics, victimizations surveys, and self-report surveys as their main sources of collecting data. The University of Texas at Arlington and the University of Texas at Austin both have pretty similar crime statistics.

The annual National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) has been the primary method for gathering data and providing these staggering statistics. The NCVS provides information gathered from the victim, which includes information on crimes that went unreported to the police. The Uniform Crime Report (UCR) is also a valid reference for gathering crime information within the United States. The UCR only has information regarding crimes that were reported to the police, as well as arrests. Both forums are used by the FBI. In addition, researchers use this information for their research. Even Taylor and

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.

The Uniform Crime Reporting System is a statistical effort that is said to be cooperative of more than ten thousand state, city, and county law enforcement agencies on a basis that is considered to be voluntary when it comes to the reporting crime data that is brought to their attention. These agencies of the law enforcement profession covers more than eighty percent of the population of this

What do you think are the current policing priorities of this department? (Please rank the TOP THREE – 1 being the most important)

The Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR) is a nationwide, involving systems with thousands of statistical information by city, county, and state law enforcement agencies voluntarily reporting data on crimes brought to their attention. Not only is this program supported by local law enforcement agencies, but also by Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation. Its primary objective is to generate a reliable set of criminal statistics for use in law enforcement administration, operation, and management. It gathers and draws its information from a category of crime index and rate of crime. These include the violent crimes of "murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, and the property crimes

Uniform Crime Reporting data is delivered to the public in two ways: One way is by Web publications of traditional Uniform Crime Reporting offerings such as Crime in the United States, Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, Hate Crime Statistics, other periodic or special compilations (Soares, 2004). Older Uniform Crime Reporting publications (from 1930 to 1995) are available from the FBI’s CJIS Division as scanned Portable Document Format (PDF) files on compact discs (CDs) (Biderman, and Lynch, 1991).

The manner in which data is collected in the criminal justice field is through the FBI, law enforcement agencies, surveys, victims, and other sources. There are many methods in collecting the data used in the criminal justice system. Some ways to collect data for the criminal justice system is through observation, interviews face to face or by phone, surveys, and prior research or cases. Recommendations to Improve Data

“The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) represents a redesign of the FBI’s summary crime reporting system, the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program.”(Levitt, 1998). It is an incident-based reporting system in which agencies collect qualitative and quantitative data on each single crime that is committed and arrest that is made. Data that is reported to the NIBRS can come from various sources such as local, state, and federal automated records systems. It was established in late 1970s due to a large part of law enforcement agencies continuing to express growing dissatisfaction with the narrow scope of information detailed in the UCR.

Self-report survey and official crime reports both have their problems. This makes it important to compare them both with each other to reduce the amount of errors reported ( Auty and Farrington, 2015). Both systems collect

Official crime statistics are measured mainly in one ways which is police recorded crime and it has its own strengths and weaknesses. Unofficial measurements, just like official crime statistics, also have their own strengths and weaknesses. Unofficial measurements can be seen through two major data sources which are social science and private agency records. The social sciences can be seen through victimization surveys and through self-report studies. The legal definition of crime is: ‘A violation of a law in which there is injury to the public or a member of the public and a term in jail or prison, and/or a fine as possible penalties.’ (TheFreeDictionary.com, 2015). Crime statistics are used by the police (to monitor their efficiency), Politicians (to formulate policies), Criminologists (to understand crime that is taking place) and the General public (who will mainly go to the media to find out their information, but they still have access to the crime reports). This essay will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of both official crime statistics and unofficial crime statistics.

When considering the variables that were utilized in the study, the rates of crime, burglary, ambush, assault, thievery, robbery, etc. per predetermined population were identified by the scholars as dependent variables. It is worth mentioning that the data were retrieved from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (1981-2001). Due to the missing data issues, several cities were dropped by the researchers.

According to Crime in America.Net the crime rate in 2015 increased (“Incarceration in the US”). This increase is attributed to the growing number of cities, metropolitan areas and the concomitant people living in poverty. A topic for debate has been how this country can stop the increasing crime rate. The best methods are to have stricter gun control laws, easier and more affordable access to a top-rate education for the lower economic classes, and the creation of good paying jobs with benefits that provide incentives to get off welfare.