Introduction. Crime Analysis Is The Breaking Up Of Acts

The investigation of crime, society’s reaction to it and approaches to prevent it are all areas that have interested me from my adolescent years. I have an interest and passion for Criminology studies for the strict purpose of wanting to fulfill a deeper understanding of the causes and consequences of crime and exploring how crimes affect our society. This shady interest in the criminal world has encouraged me to pursue the subject at degree level and to seriously consider a career in a related field. At the beginning of the course my understanding on crime and criminology was mostly derived from the internet or media. These tools became very useful for me to learn different subjects of crime.

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

In this paper, the main objective will be to outline the importance of statistics as a method to analyze data in the field of Criminal Justice. Also, this paper will focus on ways in which data is obtained keeping in mind the appropriate statistics to use with the collected data, and how to interpret the findings. In addition, it will review the causes of crimes, the rate at which these crimes occur, predictive outcomes and preventative measure to deal with criminals.

According to Rachel Boba, “Crime analysis is a law enforcement function that involves systematic analysis for identifying and analyzing patterns and trends in crime and disorder” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime analysis).The information on these patterns can assist law enforcement agencies in the deployment of resources in a more effective manner; it can also help detectives to identify and catch suspects. Crime analysis also plays a role in improvising solutions to crime problems, and developing crime prevention strategies. There are various types of technology that is used in crime analysis. Crime analysis relies heavily on computer technology, and over the past fifteen years there has been a significant improvement in computer hardware and

So as to realize this high function, the crime control model calls for the idea that primary consideration be accorded to the effectiveness with which the criminal procedure functions to screen wrong doers, establish culpability and secure suitable outlook or character of individuals found guilty of criminal offences. For the crime control model, permissible measures must not precede, sustenance for the police, nor

orting System fall under the Uniform Crime Reporting Program that provides information on crime all of the United States. This includes regions, states, counties, cities, towns, tribal law enforcement, colleges and universities. In this paper we will compare and contrast the two primary crime data sources used within the United States, the Uniform Crime Report and the National Incident-Based Reporting System. Before we do this, we will discuss each source individually and how it is used in Criminological research. The purpose of this study is to determine which source is lacking in function and which provides the best accurate information.

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.

The first method is through geographical profiling. Geographic profiling is where investigators use the past crime patterns of an offender to determine his/her current location. Investigators usually need a minimum of five crimes in order to come up with an accurate geographic pattern. Investigators use the different locations of the crime to narrow down a particular place where the offender could likely to be located. Offenders are usually located in their places of work, entertainment joints, and popular routes or even in his home. The other method of criminal profiling is investigative psychology. It uses peer-reviewed research to acquire facts about an offender. Another method of criminal profiling is criminal investigative analysis. In such an analysis, investigators identify the behaviors of the criminal and create a group based on such behaviors. The other method is behavioral evidence analysis. It involves examining evidence of when and how a particular event took place. It includes objects in the crime scene such as blood stains or footprints. These objects are used to establish the traits and patterns of the

Geospatial crime analysis is integrated with conjunction from geographic information systems analysis, to determine if there is a pattern or similarities and potentially predetermining future crime locations and who may commit them (Hoover, 2014).

Criminal profiling is one of few first things to think of when it comes to forensic psychology. Criminal profiling is featured in popular television shows such as in Law and Order and CSI. Often in those shows, the police officers were able to catch the criminals based on the criminal profile that forensic psychologists came up with. In a theory, the polices rely on criminal profiling to catch criminals, educate the public about a possible criminal, and confirm the witnesses’ accounts. Criminal profiling involves using various methods to guess a criminal’s background, behavior, and even preferences for the victims.

and so forth, to identify crime patterns, clusters, suspects, and hot spots. Strategies are then

These offenders may form groups and teams and play different roles (Xu and Chen). These groups and teams may have vastly different functions, such as production, transportation, distribution and marketing of illegal goods and services, as well as the eventual laundering of the ill-gotten proceeds from the illegal activity (Jiminez). Network analysis helps analysts determine the activities being conducted by the criminal enterprise and who all is involved and in what capacity. In the end, criminal network analysis integrates information from multiple crime incidents and even multiple sources to discover regular patterns about the structure, organization, operation, and information flow in criminal networks (Xu and Chen). This general intelligence on the groups will aid investigative efforts and facilitate collection of evidence for use in court.

Out of all the tools that are obtainable in the effort of supporting law enforcement agencies, analysis is perhaps one of the most operative. The truth is, data collection is truly insignificant unless it appreciated by all necessary reviewers, while also maintaining significance to the goal or goals to be accomplished. With that said, what exactly is analysis, and specifically, crime analysis? Crime analysis is defined as “The systematic study of crime and disorder problems as well as other police-related issues—including sociodemographic, spatial, and temporal factors—to assist the police in criminal apprehension, crime and disorder reduction, crime prevention, and evaluation.” (Santos). All law enforcement agencies deal with crime analysis on some level. Also, all law enforcement agencies have departmentalized sectors which focuses on different types of crime, which is the center of police related issues. Some sections deal with misdemeanors, while others deal with felonies. However, there is one commonality that each department do share. Whenever there is a crime of any level, rather it be jaywalking or a homicide, there is a crime scene. As previously discussed, a crime scene is any location where a crime was committed. The criminalist are the people who apply science and scientific methods to the crime scene investigation. Now what is a crime scene investigation? A crime investigation is defined as “A methodical investigation initially carried out at the crime

The use of GIS in crime has been around for centuries with Dent (2000) tracing the mapping of crime back to 1829, when Adriano Balbi and André Michel Guerry created choropleth maps showing the relationship between violent and property crimes with education levels. As time went on sociologists from the Chicago School, Shaw and McKay (1931) began to map crimes by their XY coordinates to show the geographic location to understand the importance of the crime location. In the 1980’s the reduction in price of computers meant it became more cost effective for GIS Applications (Longley et al, 2011). With the introduction of the new GIS technologies, the ability to use police records within the GIS applications allowed for crime and intelligence analysis (Radcliff, 2004). These days the advancements in technology and the reductions in cost has resulted in GIS applications moving from the backroom computer analysis tool to be used by almost every discipline, from criminology to healthcare, natural resources to economics. These advancements have not just been in the applications but also in the science behind them. This has allowed for more advanced analysis, which use well known mathematical models within their calculations, such as spatial statistics and the use of the Getis-Ordi

For most law enforcement agencies, a crime analyst main objective is to provide information in order to accomplish their mission of prevention and suppression of criminal activities(Canter, n.d.). Furthermore, crime analyst effect how policies are implemented, justify budget request, and aids in identifying and understanding