Why Do We Need Crime Statistics

The purpose of this abstract is to critically review the primary data sources used in the criminological research. The two key factors that measures crime are distinguished: official crime statistics, which are based on the compile data records of offenders and offenses processed by the police, courts, and corrections agencies; and unofficial crime statistics, which are produced by people and agencies outside the criminal justice system whom can add value to the data source (Regoli, Robert M., and Hewitt, John D., 2008, p 62). This abstract will discuss the strengths, weaknesses and differences of both data sources using arrests and self-reports to calculate the prevalence of crime in the United States.

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 Crime Control Model states that there may be some individual rights that need to be sacrificed for the good of society as a whole. In the Crime Control Model crime is actively and aggressively pursued and punished. Some of the methods used to employ this method are "targeting high crime areas, increased patrols and traffic stops, profiling, undercover sting operations, wiretapping, surveillance, and aggressive raids and searches." (Perron) The benefits of the Crime Control Model are that criminals and crime itself is what law enforcement begins to target. The negative effect is that the zealous pursuit of crime and often result in huge amounts of collateral damage or even loss of human life.

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.

Although crime has been around for ages, we only started collecting crime data around the 1930’s. Crime statistics show a lot about a country, state, county, etc. Crime can be linked to the environment, behavior of others, and personal experiences, it all depends on how the person deals with the hand they are dealt. Crime data is collected from three sources, which are uniform crime reports (UCR), national incident based reporting system (NIBRS), and national crime victimization survey (NCVS).

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.

A crime report is a way of knowing the amount of crime committed in a city, town, state and a way of

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.

All data from the is article was gathered from the 2015 FBI Crime Report statistics, excluding cites with less than 10,000 residents. All violent crime data was then calculated per thousand residents. Each city description includes the violent crime rate per thousand residents, the city’s overall population, number of murders, number of total violent crime, and rank on the 2014 FBI Crime Report list.

I believe the idea behind this is does have merit, but I do not believe its a cure all for crime. I idea of cleaning up an area and having strict enforcement is not a new idea and can be impactful. Unfortunately, this is typically a short term remedy for a long term problem. To implement a broken windows type program requires resource to be deployed in these areas. This would include additional officers, and ideally, support from the citizens.

The measurement of crime is an often overlooked fundamental subject in the field of criminal justice. There are various aspects to be considered when measuring crime; and almost as many questions. How is crime measured? What is the purpose of measuring crime? This paper explores these questions and more concerning crime measurement in the United States. Therefore, in this paper, the instruments used to measure crime are examined; major crime reporting programs and their purposes are discussed; crime, arrest, clearance, and recidivism rates are explained in detail; and what the crime and recidivism statistics tells humans about crime in America is also analyzed.

Firstly, recorded crime statistics are collated through the collection of data by law enforcement agencies, such as the police in England and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in America. It focuses on the crime that is reported by the public and then what is chosen to be recorded by the police. During the mid-late 19th century, these statistics formed the basis of information about crime, however, although they still provide raw data for publications such as the Offenders Index, they are now viewed critically. This is because, according to Mayhew and Hough (1988), the recorded crime statistics are “adequate as a measure of police workload, but because of unreported and unrecorded crime – deficient as an index of crime”.

I enjoyed reading your posting, and I found it very informative in many aspects. Using crime data can be beneficial on several levels but like it has been stated several times it cannot always be 100% accurate as not all crimes are reported, it can however give information and lead way to areas that are problematic, so some type of preventative measures can be put into place to reduce crimes in certain areas.

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