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Crime in America

Crime in America. PSCI 2481. Definitions. Crime “An act for which society provides formally sanctioned punishment.” Distinctions among types of crime Felony vs. Misdemeanor Violent vs. Property Victim vs. Victimless Blue-Collar vs. White Coillar.

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Crime in America

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  1. Crime in America PSCI 2481

  2. Definitions Crime “An act for which society provides formally sanctioned punishment.” Distinctions among types of crime Felony vs. Misdemeanor Violent vs. Property Victim vs. Victimless Blue-Collar vs. White Coillar

  3. How much crime exists? Who keeps track of crime? • In 1929, the International Chiefs of Police Association (IACP) recommended that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) define and maintain a national system for gathering crime statistics. • In 1930, the FBI created the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) system.

  4. The FBI Uniform Crime Report (“UCR”) (An Official Typology of Crime) PART I (The “INDEX”) Violent Crimes 1. Homicide 2. Rape 3. Robbery 4. Assault (Aggravated) Property Crimes 5. Burglary 6. Larceny 7. Motor Vehicle Theft 8. Arson (added in 1978)

  5. UCR II PART II Petty Larceny Simple Assault Vandalism Drug Abuse Sex Offenses Fraud Drunkenness Disturbing the Peace Gambling Status Offenses Prostitution

  6. Problems with the UCR • It’s focus is on reported crime. (Why is this a problem?) • The original reports provided no detailed. All crimes were lumped together in a single number. • It provides no additional information about the crime. • It requires both the local police and citizens to cooperate in providing accurate information. • It’s open to abuse. Agencies responsible for reducing crime have an incentive to misreport crime. • It is sensitive to reform “in the wrong direction”. (Better reporting increases the reported crime rate.) • It’s biased toward “blue collar” crime. • The base for evaluating crime is questionable. (NYC auto thefts – the crime rate is high if we’re calculating theft’s per car or low if we’re reporting thefts per person)

  7. Does the UCR measure the effectiveness of the criminal justice system? • As the number of police increase, what impact do we expect they’ll have on crime? If we put more police out on the streets to fight crime we expect fewer crimes to occur. • What do we observe? As the number of police increase, the number of reported crimes increase.

  8. Alternative Measures of Crime: The National Crime Victimization Survey • In 1966, the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice sponsored surveys of crime victims. • In 1968, Congress enacted the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act that created the National Criminal Justice Information and Statistical Service (NCJISS). • In 1972, NCJISS established the National Crime Survey (NCS) to be conducted every 6 months by the US Census Bureau. NCS was a survey of 60,000 households and 39,000 businesses designed to measure crime, reported and UN-reported. • Today the NCS is known as the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). The Census Bureau conducts interviews with about 134,000 persons age 12 and older in 77,200 households twice each year about their victimizations from crime.

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