Statistics : Collecting Crime Statistics

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

UCR or known as the Uniform crime reports is an annual report published by the FBI in the DOJ, which is meant to estimate most of the major street crimes in the United States.The main purpose of the UCR is basically to collect as many crimes or reliable crimes that come up as crime statistics so it can be used in our law enforcement administration. The Ucr is a very helpful tool for the law. The system was created in 1929. It provided information for criminologists,sociologists, and even the media. The Ucr mostly concentrates on assaults and robberies. The NIBRS or the national incident based reporting system is the system that the government uses for gathering data about recent or past crimes. The system has a lot of purposes but one of the main purposes’ is to evaluate the crimes associated with any current culture of violence theories.

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

The two major sources of crime data used in the United States remain The Uniform Crime Reports and The National Incident-Based Reporting System. Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) shows a statistical summary of crimes reported by the police each year. UCR was authorized in 1930 by Congress for the operation of compiling crime data. A reporting system in which police describe each offense in a crime incident including the data describing the offender, victim, and property is considered the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). NIBRS is put together by two groups: Group A and Group B. Group A consists of 22 specific crimes in reach of 46 offenses and 11 Group B offense categories exclusive for data reported for arrest.

Two major sources of crime statistics commonly used in the United States are the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).

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.

The Uniform Crime Report contains information about different categories of crime committed in the United States of America. The categories of crime include: hate crime statistics, statistics about law enforcement officers who have been killed or assaulted and lastly incidences of crime that have occurred nationally. The main goal of UCR reports is to provide information about the volume and effect of crime in the United States. Crime in the United States is mostly measured in terms of the number of offenses that are performed per 100,000 people in a population. There are four publications that are released yearly reporting crime in the United States.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reports (2011) Crime in the United States. Information retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cji

Law enforcement agencies like State, Local, Tribal, colleges and universities are all included in these two different reporting systems that they use to create and send data to the Federal Bureau of Investigation so that other police agencies can have data on the number of crimes that are committed, where committed, if anyone was a victim or was it a victimless crime and information about the offender. Out of the two reports that will be discussed in this paper, the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) was first created in 1929. However, when we think of that year it is usually about crime statistics but of the Wall Street Crash and great depression. While the second reporting system that of the National-Incident Based Reporting System was not created

Crime is an ongoing problem in the united states. Victims of crime are individuals who have been assaulted in an immoral matter that can cause various damages to the person. The Uniform Crime Report (UCR) is the FBI’s yearly publication of serious crime that occurred within the following year, which are reported by victims, police officers, and other sources. The UCR is not fully seen as an accurate source of crime calculation for various reasons. One main reason is the underreporting of crime done by both the officers and victims.

From a business perspective, and when dealing with the more violent crimes, the Uniform Crime Report would be more accurate. Crimes such as murder or a kidnapped child are crimes that can usually be counted on to be reported. The only down fall is that the UCR only reports crimes that are reported to the police. Crimes that are frequently not reported to the police can include, but are not limited to sexual assualt and household theft. In the business stand point, we can only assume how many rapes actually occur in the United States. Even with this downfall, I feel that the UCR is more accurate than using surveys due to the fact that we are not relying souly on whether or not a victim is being honest or that the survey will be filled out at

At the beginning of the second chapter, it is described how the statistics of a crime provide a summary of the whole criminal activity. An accurate statistical picture of a crime benefits the creation of a social policy. In a national level, the collection of crime statistics come from two major sources, Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program and National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program produces an annual overview of major crime in the United States. It is also known as the UCR/NIBRS Program. On the other hand, the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) of the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS): U.S. Department of justice agency responsible for the collection of criminal

There are three main sources of information about the crimes for sociologists – the official crime statistics, which are collected by the police and are presented as secondary data for sociologists; victim survey such as British Crime Survey, which is also collected by the police and sponsored by the government, and in order to collect primary data sociologists use self-report studies and its aim is to uncover the true amount of crime in the society.

By police agencies using this form of statistical classifying, there is a major loss in the data of the lower crimes on the scale. A complete total of certain crimes are not included in the statistics creating several inaccuracies in the totals. The UCR policy does not require all crimes to be reported to the state. Violations of the General City Ordinance and Vehicle and Traffic Law are considered too low for the hierarchy scale. These types of crimes are never included in the monthly submission and we generally never hear about them. Since crime statistics begin at the forefront of the police department, the police officer, this leaves a lot of room for unreliability. Police officers create crime data by completing and submitting crime reports and arrest reports. These reports include all of the pertinent information necessary for the committed crime(s) for a specific incident.

Crime statistics are expressed as rates, because they are often expressed as crimes per 100,000 people. This makes it easier to compare crime between cities and state with different populations sizes. Expressing crime statistics as rates prevent larger cities from looking like they maintain the most crime compared to smaller ones. Crime rates give information on how crime is either increasing or decreasing in a specific area. By expressing crime statistics as rates it take in all factors, race, age, sex, etc. This allows for a complete break down in crimes committed and by which different groups of people. Another point to use statistics is that it makes the report less personal to the reader. A reader will see numbers and think math instead