Criminal Research
Alexia Bradley
University of Phoenix, eCampus
AJS 514, Steve Nance
November 13, 2018
Criminal Research
Within the United States of America, crime takes many different forms, but is measured using two statistical programs, and these are the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). In order for the Bureau of Justice to issue accurate crime reports, a research has to be conducted using these two statistical programs, with special emphasis on the magnitude, nature, and impact of crime in the nation. According to the Bureau of Justice, the hierarchy of crime from highest to lowest is rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, simple assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft, and theft (Zhang et al, 2016).
From 2015 to 2016 violent crime increased against males and persons in their mid-20s to mid-30s. Among the male gender, the rate of violent victimization showed an increase from 15.9 per 1,000 males aged 12 years and above to 19.6 per 1,000, which was an alarming piece of realization. Among the people aged 25 years to 34 years, violent victimization showed quite an increase from 21.8 to 28.4 per 1,000 people. In 2016 alone, close to 3 million people experienced crime within a period of six months preceding the period when The Bureau of Justice gave the 2015-2016 crime statistics. Among the most prevalent crimes were aggravated assault, rape or sexual assault and burglary (Zhang et al, 2016).
Some of the social and environmental factors do you believe influence the crime rate include discrimination and inequality. Among the American society, many of the minority groups are labeled as high risk to security, meaning that they are most prone to committing crime.This is because they experience open discrimination that denies them decent opportunities to earn a living like other people. In addition, inequality in income leads to resentments that cause bitterness and instigate conflict between the haves and have-nots, hence the latter attack the former.
Other factors that contribute to crime include poverty and the police policy. Despite the fact that America has some of the world’s richest tycoons, there is also a section of people who live in poverty, and have done so all their life. When people cannot afford basic needs in life, they are tempted to try and intimidate or steal from those who seem to be well of in order to be able to eke a life for themselves and their children. For example, someone whose children have not had supper for two nights may not resist shoplifting (Agnew, 2007).
Uncouth policies adopted by the police in dealing with crime can also be a factor leading to conflict between the locals and the police. Whenever the local community does not support the work of police, there is definitely some level of crime that sinks in the minds of the locals, as some of the people take advantage of the void to carry out their actions of crime, as well as the presence of enhanced levels of rebellion. When police favor one community over the other, those who are not favored may tend to instigate crime against the members of the favored community.
The known sources of crime data in the US are the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). The advantage of latter is that its data is credible since it tracks 46 times before giving a conclusion, and the fact that it contains a comprehensive report of crime which includes characteristics of victims and offenders, arrests made, location and others. However, this source is tiresome due to the magnitude of data collected. The former source has the advantage is specificity in its reporting, but may be highly unreliable since it only carries out eight tracks of crime, and only contains the tally but not specific details of crime.
Crime research is important since it helps to identify area where crime is prevalent and the forms of crime where special attention is necessary. In addition, it helps to identify people who repeat crime after serving their sentence, hence may be able to show which area have high degree of recidivism, which would help to come up with strategies to combat this vice. Investigating the occurrence of crime through research and theory development may be done by focusing on specific areas of forms of crime and trying to look at the trends in that area of crime in order to draw a time-tested conclusion as a theory.
References
Agnew, R. (2007). Pressured into crime: An overview of general strain theory.
Zhang, A., Musu-Gillette, L., & Oudekerk, B. A. (2016). Indicators of school crime and safety: 2015. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, US Department of Education, and Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice, 1-221.
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