3 Discussion Question ... 3 Student Responses ..

CRJ430: Advanced Law Enforcement

Week 4 Discussion Question

"Measuring Crime and Quality-of-Life Issues"  Please respond to the following:

· Read the article titled “How Crime in the United States Is Measured”, located here. You may also view the article at here. Next, compare and contrast the fundamentalLaw Enforcement differences, strengths, and weaknesses among Uniform Crime Report, National Crime Victimization Survey, and the National Incident-Based Reporting System.

· Summarize the main forces that may contribute to possible civil disorder in your community. Next, propose the overall strategy for the local police/sheriff chief to prepare them on how to deal with these possible civil or violent demonstrations. Provide a rationale for your response. 

Part2: Student Response

Theresa Thompson 

RE: Week 4 Discussion

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· esGood morning Professor,

The UCR was the first national standarized  way to measure incidence of crime. It was originally thought as a way to see how local law enforcement could provide data that would be used to help fight crime. This research is now used by government officials for research and policy and planning purposes. Moreover, the UCR provides some of the commonly cited crime statistics in the United States. According to the FBI 17,456 law enforcement agencies submitted UCR information in 2005. UCR data is divided into two part that the is known of by the police. Part 1.crimes consists of murder and non-negligent manslaughter,forcible rape,robbery,aggravated assault,burglary,larceny-theft,motor vehecile theft,an arson. The FBI collected data on other offenses which are known as Part 2.these offenses include other arrests such as simple assaults,forgery,counterfeiting,fraud,embezzlement,stolen property,vandalism,weapons,prostitution,sex offenses,drug abuse,gambling,crimes against families and children,DUI,liquor laws,drunkenness,disorderly conduct, vagrancy.

There are six strengths to the UCR data.

1.It provides specific detail information regarding crime and arrests in different communities.

2.It collects information about crimes in several different catagories.

3.It has information that is available to the public or anyone who wishes to see it.

4.It provides a resource that reviews hate crimes in the United States.

5.it is the oldest reporting system available in the country

6. It places data into a usable format

The weakness of the UCR consists of 

1.the system relies on voluntary data

2.it relies on the crime data to be an accurate tool

3.it uses a system of Hierarchy for reporting criminal activity

4.it does not include some crimes even though they get reported

 National Crime Victimization Survey is the primary source for information on the characteristics of criminal victimization on the number of crimes that are not reported to law enforcement. NCVS has four objectives,

1.developing detailed information about the victims and the events of the crime.

2.estimating the number and types of crimes not reported by the police

3.providing uniform measures of selected types of crimes.

4.committing comparisons over time and population types.

There are eight pros to the NCVS

1.it provides data on unreported crime

2.the survey creates a wide range of victimization variables to study.

3.the NCVS receives a high response rate

4.there is a lot of historical data to be used for comparison purposes.

5.due to a change in 1996 the NCVS became more useful at a regional level.

6.it uses a hierarchical format.

7.its more accurate than a yearly survy

8.it creates a uniform tracking measure.

The cons are that,

1.the NCVS is designed to provide national estimates

2.it does not track crime that effects youth in America

3.the response to the NCVS is declining

4.there is limited population coverage

5.it only collects information about specific criminal conduct

6.sampling errors occur often in the NCVS

7.a series of victimizations might count as just a single incident

8.sample sizes are cut due to buget cuts.

9.telescoping is a problem with the NCVS

The NIBRS was put into place to improve the overall quality of crime report data by law enforcement it also collects data on each single crime as well other offenses within the same incident. This information also includes victims and known offenders the relationship between victims and offenders, those who were arrested and the property involved in the crime. Unlike the information that the UCR collects the NIBRS goes more in depth because of its ability to provide context for crimes like location time of day and whether the incident was cleared. 

The vision of the NIBRS is to become the law enforcement community standard for quantifying crime this will help law enforcement community around the country use its resources more strategically .

The pros of the NIBRS include

1.data collection is not restricted to a limited number of offense catagories

2. offense definitions can meet state,local, and national reporting needs

3.details on individual crime incidents.

4.arrests and clearances can be linked to specific incidents and offenses

5.distinctions can be made between attempted and completed crimes

6.linkages can be established between variables for examining interrelationships between offenses,offenders, victims,property and arrestees

7.detailed crime analyses can be made within and across law enforcement jurisdictions.

8.strategic and tactical crime analyses can be made at local and regional levels.

The cons of the NIBRS

1.it collects data on a limited number of crimes.

2.it does not collect data on kidnapping,bribary,or child pornography

3.reporting practices of law enforcement.

The things that commit disorder in the community are when citizens are protesting because of a wrong they feel was committed by law enforcement officials or and injustice that was committed, in cases like this the head of the organizations needs to meet with the public and try to find a solution to that problem before it erupts into a larger problem.

https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/offense-definitions

ttps://connectusfund.org/13-major-pros-and-cons-of-the-uniform-crime-report

https://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/ucr/nibrs

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