Crime Rates in the United States

Crime Rates in the United States

•Attempt to measure the amount of crime in a given society

•Can be tracked by country, state or municipality

•Likely to be inaccurate – Why?

Methods for Gathering Statistics

•Police reports

•Household surveys

•Hospital and insurance records

“Dark Figure of Crime”

•Many crimes are not reported to police

•43 percent of rape victims do not report the crime

•56 percent of assaults go unreported

“Dark Figure of Crime”

“Dark Figure of Crime”

•People fail to report crimes for a number of reasons:•Police would not or could not help•Fear of getting offender in trouble•Not important to the victim•Dealt with the crime in a personal way

“Dark Figure of Crime”

Public Perception of Crime•Many Americans believe that crime is rising

•In 1990, 84% of Americans believed there was more crime than in the previous year

•In 2000, 47% of Americans believed there was more crime than in the previous year

•In 2008, 67% of Americans believed there was more crime than in the previous year

Uniform Crime Reports•Authorized by Congress in 1930

•Issued by the FBI each year

•Report is compiled using information from 16,000 law enforcement agencies that police 98% of the nation’s population

•Still, the report is not entirely accurate

Uniform Crime Reports•Types of crime in the UCR include:•Criminal homicide•Forcible rape•Robbery•Aggravated Assault•Burglary•Larceny•Auto theft•Arson

•For these crimes, report includes information on age, race and crimes solved

Effect of UCR•Police executives want their city to follow national trend

•Police falsify their crime rate reports

•Budgets, promotions and pay raises depend on positive crime report data

•In 2005, NY police officers reported pressure to report felonies as misdemeanors