Crime Statistics

The crime we see today is only a fraction of what's actually being reported. and our textbook it clearly states in chapter 4, “ local sheriff department and police departments throughout the United States collect information on the number of reported crimes and arrest and voluntarily report them to the FBI”(pg.102). Now take note from this quote, it says Sheriff departments and police departments only “voluntarily” report to the FBI. Not everything is being accounted for.

This is such a problem reporting is because, citizens not reporting crimes, and police are not recording it. For an example, our Professor during class told us that CDs were stolen out of her car, but did she report it. No, our professor did not report it. Only small things were stolen, so she didn’t feel the need to report it. If something were something more valuable let’s say the radio, wheels, car seats, or the whole car. Then our professor would have reported it because, it those things are more valuable than CDs.

If we looked at crime rates statistically, it's not accurate. Because what's posted is only recordings from the police departments, and not everything is recorded. An interesting example, is when someone who has higher authority is fighting against a

certain crime. This announcement spreads awareness of the crime to police and citizens. Now they are more likely to report it and take action on it, thus leading to higher rates of that crime. This isn't necessarily a bad increase, but most people would complain about having a high increase of the crime.
If we look at the type of crimes committed, it’s an easy explanation why most of it goes unreported.

The most common crime from common to uncommon is, “theft, burglary, aggravated assault, motor vehicle theft, forcible rape, and murder”(pg.108 table 4.2). Another factor that is sometimes not in the statistics is the dark figure of crime. the dark figure of crime is illegal Acts that go unreported. From the National Crime Victimization Survey it states. “NCVS interviews 90,000 households comprising more than 160,000 people 12 and older about their experiences of victims of crime.” All of these numbers, show how many crimes go unreported. For sociologists to collect better data looking at surveys is the best place to start

looking.
Racial profiling is also related to crime. With all the stereotypes, African Americans are targeted more than anything other race. “African Americans represent about 14% of the population but account for 30% of all arrests for violent Index offenses, and 29% of all of the arrest for property index offencive(pg.118). They have a higher rate in almost every scenario. “They have 3.7 * the arrest rate for possession of marijuana, are six times more likely to be admitted to prison, and, if admitted to prison for violent crime, receive longer sentences then their white counterparts(pg.118). A reason African Americans have a higher rate is because non-whites are stereotyped to be in lower classes. Being in lower classes they can't afford good products, so they would usually turn to illegal activities.
Besides race, there are factors contributing to what makes a victim. From our guest speaker, Jenn Amo, she talked mainly about human trafficking. The main factors in vulnerability are immigrants and homelessness. There aren’t a lot of programs that help immigrants with daily routines and american culture. Lacking this, makes them an easy target to any predator. For homelessness, they don’t see any other option, or they don’t know any other option. With little resources they already have, it’s sometimes better than sleeping outside. In human trafficking anyone is a victim, gender and race doesn't matter.