Chapter 2: Measuring Crime Flashcards
The Uniform Crime Report/National Incident Based Reporting Program
The Uniform Crime Report/National Incident Based Reporting Program which is data compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation into an annual report called “Crime in the United States”
The National Crime Victimization Survey
The National Crime Victimization Survey which is prepared by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
Part I Crimes/Offenses
- Murder
- Forcible Rape
- Robbery
- Aggravated Assault
- Burglary
- Larceny/Theft
- Motor Vehicle Theft
- Arson
Crime in the United States
The data that is used in the UCR comes from police department reports and arrest records. Every month police departments add up their “index crimes” and submit them to the FBI. At the end of every year, the FBI publishes “Crime in the United States” which is also a public document for anyone who is interested.
Three common ways UCR expresses data:
- Raw Figures – in 2015 there were 14,856 murders in the U.S.
- Percent Changes – the murder rate decreased 11.8% between 2014 and 2015
- Crime Rate Per 100,000 – the murder rate in 2015 was 5.0 per 100,000
Most reliable way to measure crime
Crime Rates are a more reliable way to measure crime than raw figures!
The dark figure of crime
Crimes that went unreported to the police.
Here are some other examples of crime typologies:
Organized Crime
Cyber Crime
Corporate & White Collar Crime
Terrorism
Firearms Crime
Drug Crime
What is one of the main problems with the UCR based on the above video
Unreported Crime
Using the UCR Website, Crime in the United States 2019, Homicide, Murder Trends, Table 12, what was the percentage change in in the U.S. murder/non-negligent manslaughter rate for 2018 - 2019?
+0.7
Using the UCR website, Crime in the United States 2019, Property Crime, Table 8, State, which city in Connecticut had the most property crimes for 2019?
New Haven
By using smart statistics what was the change in the Camden, NJ murder rate that Anne Milgram mentioned in her Ted Talk?
41%
