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Essay on the uniform crime report in the united states
Strengths of the uniform crime report
Essay on the uniform crime report in the united states
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The crimes that are tracked in the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) for the United States are divided into two categories, Violent Crime, and Property crime. According to the UCR report for the United States the crime that happens the most, in the year 2012, would fall under the Property crime category, specifically larceny theft, with a rate of 2,859.2. The data does show that from 1993 to 2012 the rates off all the crime that the UCR records have been in a decline. In 1993 the rates of Violent crimes where 747.1 and Property crime at 4740.0, in 2012 however the rates for Violent crimes was 386.9 and Property crimes rates at 2,859.2. The information used by the UCR to create this data was collected by the FBI, from participating law enforcement …show more content…
Just like the USA’s UCR the Canadian UCR is divided into categories, such as violent criminal code violation, property crime violation, other criminal code violation, criminal code traffic violations and federal statute violation. According to the date the crime that seems to occur the most in Canada in 2013 would fall under that Property crime category, specifically theft under $5,000(non-motor vehicle) with a rate of 1,342.28.
These two countries each want to keep a track of their crime rates in order to determine the best way to distribute resources to fight crime. They both accomplish this in similar fashions; they both use Uniform Crime Reports. Each report has similarities such as similar categories of crime that they each keep a record off such a Violent crime (violent criminal code violation), and Property crime. Some differences between the two are the subcategories, for example the Canadian UCR tracks homicides and attempted murderers, while the USA crime report does not; they only track Murder and Non-negligent
Crime data is a resource being used to help understand who the victims are, their age, race, what type of crime they have committed. The more information someone has about crime the more prepared they can be to deal with the victim, evaluate programs that help prevent crime. There are several official sources used UCR, NCVS, NIBRS that are used. There are pros and cons to each source and the following information will include some of the positive and some of the negatives points of each report. This is not inclusive by any means, there are many different various pros and cons of each report.
The UCR is a cooperative effort for nation-wide law enforcement agencies to report on national crime statistics. According to the FBI's "Summary of the Uniform Crime Reporting Program," every month, "18,000 city, university and college, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies voluntarily report data on crimes brought to their attention" (as cited in "Uniform Crime Reports"). The UCR first began in the 1920s and 30s. By 1930, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) was made responsible for compiling the data, though the FBI does not and has never collected the crime statistic data itself. The UCR divides crimes into two major categories called Part I offenses and Part II offenses. Part I reports data on "violent and property crimes" ("Uniform Crime Reports"). The list of crimes included under the violent crime classification is "aggravated assault, forcible rape, and robbery" ("Uniform Crime Reports"). The list of crimes classified under property crimes
The Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) is constructed by the FBI on statistics of crime in the U.S. The FBI consolidates the information it receives from law enforcement officials and integrates all the information into a data that measures crime. This information is compiled by over 18,000 different agencies, from the universities to federal agencies. The information they receive is placed into two different categories, part 1 and part 2 offenses. UCR also measure crime against only women and the NCVS measures against both male and female.
The Uniform Crime Report is the first method that is usually called upon, as it measures official crime data as submitted by law enforcement agencies. The UCR collects detailed information on the terminology and definitions of criminal offenses, which considers violent crimes to include rape, murder, robbery, and aggravated assault. Although it is not limited to just official government programs, as colleges and universities in the United States often volunteer information and statistics towards the UCR in an attempt to give further detail and more accurate accounts of criminal activity.
Rather, the UCR aims to disclose complete national data with increased consistency (reliability). This allows for more validity when comparing statistics. That being said, there is no perfect method of collecting and sharing statistics, leaving UCR under debate of its pros and cons. The first benefit of UCR, specifically in Canada, is that it has progressed ahead of the American UCR system. This benefit is not simply within the Canadian UCR system alone, but also a reflection of the Criminal Code of Canada. To elaborate, the Criminal Code of Canada is document that applies nationally, with no exception allowing for consistent definitions, and classifications of what constitutes crime. Whereas in America, there are 50 states that each have its independent code for criminal definitions and classifications. Thus, on a national scale, America 's UCR system is inconsistent; whereas police departments across Canada share the same definitions and classifications of crime, allowing for more reliable and valid statistics. This is important because it essentially comes down to ease of access and interpretation of statistics. For instance, the Canadian UCR system will not only benefit sociologists, criminologists, and others in the field of occupation that require crime statistics; but also the general population (citizens) who can understand the data more easily. That being said, the UCR has its disadvantages at a foundational, with less regard of the country implementing this
UCR takes note of all crimes in the Criminal Code annually recorded by the ‘dark figure’ of policing, whereas GSS on Victimization only sources eight types of offences self-reported via phone interviews quinquennial for the past year. The loose ends of both surveys tie together to provide an accurate overall trend of crime rates in Canada. UCR and GSS on Victimization are equally important to the study of crime. They are able to compare crime rates by geographical regions, crime severity, and characteristics of victimization. Criminologists require this information obtained from the surveys to study the causes, effects, and social impact of crime and victimization, in order to determine how to predict, deter, and prohibit criminal activity. They provide a more robust measure of the extent and impact of criminal activity in Canadian society. Together they provide an accurate measurement of crime through police reports and self-reporting of broad social surveys, rather than alone since both are lacking in their own ways. As a difference in timing is a key characteristic in the differences in the polls. UCR is annually conducted, whereas GSS on Victimization is processed every five years for the forgoing 12
Uniform Crime Report data has many pros, but also many cons that come with it. There are many ways of which the Uniform Crime Report can be superior to, but also inferior to victimization and self-report data studies. According to Balkan (2015), the Uniform Crime Report shows crimes reported to police departments across the nation and is a report produced by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. There are two offense categories in the report: part one and part two offenses. Part one offenses would be your more serious crimes such as homicides, rape, aggravated assaults, and so on. Part two offenses would be more of the property crimes such as fraud, simple assaults, and drug abuse. The Uniform Crime Report does an excellent job presenting the numbers in terms of the part one offenses, however, there are some cons that come with the Uniform Crime
We hear a lot about the crime rates going up and down from the media and they tend to expand on specific types of criminal behavior that might be of interest to the public. When politicians are running for office we are told that the crime rates are down due to the tough crime policies that they have been implemented. Citizens seek crime rates for assistance in determining if the area they reside in is safe. Some people wish to get a general idea of the crime rates for a specific neighborhood where they are thinking of purchasing a house. But what is never explained is where do the crime statistics come from and were there any factors that could have had an effect on their reliability. Crime statistics, which are created from what is reported to the police, are often unreliable. There are several influential factors that can make crime statistics both increase and decrease at any time. Most police departments, but not all, use Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) to submit their statistics to the state. Attempting to compare two police agency's crime statistics is almost impossible because not all police agencies use the UCR program for classifying crimes. UCR is a national data reporting policy that is maintained by the state and regulated by the FBI. This policy requires police agencies to report their monthly statistics by following a hierarchy scale for classifying the criminal offenses. A hierarchy scale is a list of crimes in a specific order of importance used to pick out the highest crime when there are multiple crimes committed in one incident. An example: a citizen contacts the police and makes a report of a burglary, a rape and a larceny all occurring in one incident. A...
Violent crime in Canada is on the rise in Canada as well as the types of
This measure of crime in America depends on reports to the police by victims of crimes. The UCR Program was developed by the FBI for the purpose of serving law enforcement as a tool for operational and administrative purposes (Steven D. Levitt, 1998, 61). The Uniform Crime Reports have both positive and negative aspects. The Uniformed Crime Reports are crucial to the determination of the amounts of crimes solved. This is important because it can help determine social tendencies pertaining to crime (Rodrigo R. Soares, 2004, 851). These crime tendencies can lead to theories about crimes that are on the rise, or crimes that are
Improved economy helped Canada’s rate of crime decrease since the 1990’s but different evidence suggests that methods used in response to serious crimes during that time may have influenced the crime trends. The Constitution Act of 1867 contains the authority to enact criminal laws and procedures to be followed by the federal government (Welsh & Irving, 2005). First enacted in 1892, the Criminal Code, continually revised, is used for setting out two main categories of offense: indictable and summary conviction, indictable being homicide and robbery, more serious kinds of crime with involved trials (Welsh & Irving, 2005). Canada is also known for its Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and these police ...
Due to the fact that the Uniform Crime Report is released every year, allows for it to be readily available and updated for the media, researchers, students, and government organizations (Rosen, 1995). This is advantages to society because this information is readily available to the public which can be used for statistics or research.
For decades now, including the years 1994 and 1995, the time of the O.J. Simpson murder trial, American law enforcement has used two major data sources to measure crime. First, there is the Uniform Crime Report or UCR. The UCR is compiled data from reported crimes, it is a very accurate system used for murder and those crimes that cannot go unnoticed. Next, we have The National Crime Victim Survey or NCVS which is a unanimous survey, better at accounting for the crimes that may not get reported, crimes such as rape or assault.
The U.S. Department of Labor (2011) reported the national average of unemployment for 2008 was 5.8 percent. The rate dramatically increased in 2009 with an average of 9.3 percent and 9.6 percent for 2010. While unemployment rates have increased, the FBI’s preliminary reports for 2010 show that law enforcement agencies across the U.S. have reported a decrease of 6.2 percent in the number of violent crimes for the first 6 months of 2010 when compared to figures reported for the same time in 2009. The violent crime category includes rape, murder, robbery, and aggravated result. The number of property crimes also decreased 2.8 percent when compared to the same time last year. Property crimes include burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. Arson decreased 14.6 percent when compared to the same time periods of 2009 (FBI, 2011).