Locard’s Exchange Principles suggests that there is an exchange of particles, fibers, hairs, and other physical evidence when an individual makes contact with an individual or object (Muraskin & Roberts, 2009, p.35). This means that despite the crime a criminal will leave some trace of evidence that he or she was there and the crime scene should be controlled and examined immediately. Evidence is crucial to any investigation when a crime as occurred. The more physical evidence left at a crime scene the odds of finding their person of interest climbs significantly higher. This means the better chance for an arrest to be made and justice for the victims involved.
However, back in the 1980s, detailed studies were done to try to accomplish this task. One specific comprehensive study was done in 1984 by Peterson et al. In this study, the analysts found that physical evidence was discovered in only about twenty to thirty percent of serious crimes (Peterson, 2013). When each of the crimes were studied separately, however, they found that only crimes such as homicide, drug, or rape resulted in a large chance of physical evidence being found at the crime (Peterson, 2013). Cases such as attempted murder, burglaries, and robberies yielded lower chances of the retrieval of physical evidence from the crime (Peterson, 2013). When considering all of these possible crimes, the most commonly collected evidence were controlled substances, and then in lesser amounts, there was other physical evidence such as blood, hair, firearms, and fingerprints (Peterson, 2013).
Now a day’s evidence can change a person’s life in the blink of an eye. “People were often punished for crimes based on the word of one or two individuals, with little concern given to sorting out the truth of the affair” (Hunter 12). But today a person must be tried and some physical evidence is needed in order for a person to be convicted of a crime.
The Uniform Crime Report, which was developed in the 1930s, is commonly used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a record of crimes committed all across the United States. These crimes, which fall under two categories, Part I and Part II offenses, are reported by local police to the Federal Bureau of Investigation each year. Part I offenses are considered to be the more serious of crimes recognized by society. Such examples of this are homicide, forcible rape, robbery, arson, motor vehicle theft, etc. Part II offenses are those that are considered less serious, such as fraud, simple assault, drug abuse, gambling, stolen property, embezzlement, etc. Part I crimes can also be subdivided into what are known as violent crimes and
It is unfortunate that crime exists in our daily lives. There really is no way to stopping crime completely, no matter how many laws or punishment are present, people will continue to keep breaking rules. There are many theories of why that may be the case, for example, Caesar Lombroso and his “atavistic” theory with the Positivist School theory and how people were “born criminals”, or the Rational Choice Theory, devised by Cornish and Clarke, described that people could think rationally and how people will naturally avoid pain and seek pleasure referred to as “hedonism” (Cartwright, 2017, lecture 4). Since it is apparent that crime will continue to exist, it is not only important to understand the study of crime and the feedbacks to it,
The two flawed systems that are in use for collecting crime statistics in the United States are, Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR), and the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). These programs were developed by the Federal Bureau of Investigations to collect crime data from around the United States. Both systems are outdated and need to be updated. Although these programs may be flawed, they are still used to collect very important data that is collected to write new policies that are used to protect this great nation of ours.
Throughout the social development of individuals, there are several things that we learn through inclusion and the way in which parents raise us. We learn how to make appropriate social interactions depending on who is in our presence, we learn social expectation, what is considered good behavior, and finally what is considered bad behavior. Yet, awareness of what can constitute as criminal conduct has become increasingly prominent in our culture, especially with the strong presence in social media that it now has. However, what we are often exposed to are adult criminal assailants, and we rarely hear about juvenile, unless they have committed an extreme offense. But it is that last population, the one that we need to focus on, considering that it is them that can move to the extremes; to get blossom under help or to commit an increasing amount of crime.
When explaining why both violent and property crime increased in Wortropolis between 1980 and 2000, the statistics of UCR or Universal Crime Report has to be examined first.
1. Outline and explain the three key goals victims can pursue through the criminal justice system.
According to the given scenario the Public order crimes such that the Big drug problem in our jurisdisdiction. The Public Order Crime implies criminal acts that digress from society's general thoughts of ordinary social conduct and good values. Open request crimes are considered as destructive to general society great and troublesome to a group's everyday life. For instance, paraphilia, prostitution, explicit entertainment, liquor and medication offenses are open request crimes. Further, open request crime incorporates consensual crime, harmless bad habit, and harmless crime. The public order crimes also impact on the other crime in our district, because the Drug or drink addition of the community, is the main point of the big crime such as
The Uniform Crime Reporting System (UCR) is a voluntary city, university and college, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement program that provides a nationwide view of crime based on the submission of statistics by law enforcement agencies throughout the country (“UCR, 2013). The UCR crime statistics are used in many ways and serve many purposes. It provides resources for different audiences such as businesses, intelligence partners, law enforcement, communities, crime victims, parents , researchers and students. Individual agencies used the reports to analyze data related to their location for accuracy. The program offers advantages for the public and various agencies but if not appropriately studied it may lead to inaccurate forecasting and adverse effects. The crime statistics available varies from specific offenses within categories of violent crimes, property crimes, hate crimes, etc. Burglary is a specific property crime that will be analyzed using the UCR reports.
Crime Commission model The Crime commission model helps people better understand how the justice system works and how social scientists have created models to better comprehend the criminal justice system. The first model was created forty-five years ago by the President’s Crime Commission. This was the first break through that helped individuals realize how the justice system worked through illustrations. These illustrations helped with research, patterns, and define problems within the criminal justice system.
Reports can be the determining factor in the arrest and conviction of a suspect. The disposition of a case can be determined by the accuracy of a report. Reports are a part of the permanent record and will be read and possibly used by other law enforcement, members of the court, insurance companies, the media, and the public. Reports are used to examine the past, keep other officers informed, coordinate law enforcement activities, and to determine where to focus police resources. They can be used to evaluate individual officers or entire departments. Reports are used in court to prepare cases, provide courts with pertinent facts, and to aid the memory of investigators and witnesses.
Ms. Anna Garcia, a 38-year-old Hispanic female, was found dead in her home on August 14, 2015 in Anytown, USA. Emergency Medical Technicians discovered Ms. Garcia lying prostrate and faced down in the entry hallway at 9:56 am after her neighbor, Doug Greene, notified them. They pronounced her dead soon after. After some inspection, the inspectors determined the approximate time of death as 7:00 am.
The main base of forensic science is the Locards exchange principle and so is applicable to the sexual assault cases.
Uniform Crime reports, National Incident Based Reporting System and the National Crime Reporting Survey are all major crime reporting systems here in the U.S. Each crime reporting system has its own advantage and disadvantage towards the criminals and victims as well as the law enforcement involved. Each has a unique history on how it started and when, how it became as popular of a system as it is now and will it keep growing or will it one day start to fade into the background while other reporting systems take its place.