Uniform Crime Report
Yvonne Winn
Strayer University
Professor Raymond Anderson
February 16, 2020
Uniform Crime Report
This can be described as the official crime data that is gathered in the United States and, at the same time, presented to superiors in the police force. The Uniform Crime Report was created by the International Association of Chiefs of Police back in the year 1929 so that it would be able to provide chiefs of police with reliable crime statistics that can be used to make the next steps or take the appropriate action when it comes to fighting crime. By the year 1930, the FBI was mandated with the responsibility of the collection, archiving, and publishing of al the data that was created through these reports; through the police departments that were participating. This report basically has been the traditional starting point for any student who is studying criminal justice, media outlets, researchers, law enforcement agencies, and the general public. The Uniform Crime Report (UCR) is designed to publications that are presented four times in a regular year. Whereby the reports are Hate Crime Statistics, Assaulted Statistics, or Law Enforcement Officers murdered National Incident-Based Reporting System and General crime in the United States. All the data gathered from more 18,000 universities, local police, tribal law enforcement agencies and federal states that are later own complied into the national Uniform Crime Reporting, better identified as the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting that are then hold submitted to the mentioned publications.
The Uniform Crime Reports basically divided into equal parts, the non-index crime, and the index crime, whereby they are also referred to as part 1 and part 2. Offenses that are registered in section 1 are known as index crimes. These types of attacks are more likely to be categorized as significant felonies that frequently happen and are reported to law enforcement. These crimes are essential because they are used to calculate the crime rate, which means that it is mandatory that they go through the UCR report. These crimes categorized in part 1 are; Burglary, Aggravated assault, Murder, Forcible Rape, nonnegligent manslaughter, Motor vehicle theft, among others. An important about these crimes is that in an official capacity, they are placed in an order identified as the Hierarchy Rule. In the atypical hierarchy rule, Murder is at the top followed by Arson as it is the least severe index crime. The Hierarchy rule is instrumental when a criminal has been charged with multiple index crimes, and they have to be arranged in order, while at the same time only the most severe index one crimes are the ones that are reported to the UCR, with the only exception of arson, motor vehicle theft, and justifiable homicide. But it is also essential to understand that the Hierarchy Rule does not determine the number of charges a prosecuted offender gets in a court proceeding. Part 2 crimes are known as non-index crimes. As mentioned before, these crimes are not used to calculate crime data. These crimes are only used or are reported so that arrest data can be gathered; these include embezzlement, Simple Assaults, Domestic violence, Fraud, Curfew, Drunkenness and Drug Abuse, whereby these represent the few non-index crimes used in creating the arrest data.
Data Gathering Strategies
There are different strategies that can be used in the collection of data. The most regularly used methods are; observation, document reviews, and in-depth interviews. In-depth interviews are mostly used when the information is obtained from a smaller group of individuals or one individual. For example, one convention whereby the data collected is primarily personal or confidential. Observation methods, on the other hand, are utilized when the individual who is researching is part of the experiment and has access to the situation from within. This methodology gathers the most accurate data because it requires hands-on experience and years of research on the subject matter. Finally, there is the method of Document review and where the data is collected from business records, activity logs, financial documents, and monthly reports. Whereby this is the data gathering method that has been used in my story. This strategy was preferred because there is the presence of materials to be reviewed readily, like recorded newspaper articles that show the increase in crime in each city, the same situation with crime statistic tables. Data from each port can be compared using the crime statistic tabled, and findings are reviewed from every newspaper article that highlights crime trends.
Crime Trends
The data presented has helped to monitor the Crime Trends that are present crime trends from the following towns. For instance, Happy Town: over the past years, has registered a decrease in population. This might be affected by the overall crime rate increase since 2013 at the town, which leads families to relocate. Based on the statistics that have been released lately, the city registered a 5% increase in the overall crime rate in 2015, majorly caused by theft, arson, and aggravated assaults, but forcible rape and murder did not change. Happy Town tribute reported that some people were arrested shoplifting, whereby this led to a search that led to the discovery of marijuana, handguns, and cocaine.
Cool Town News, on the other hand, reported crime rate drop in its entirety by 4% and 18% in 2015 and in the last five years, respectively. Crimes that have remained steady in this town are Aggravated Assault, property theft, and Larceny-Theft, which are the most reported. In Cool Town, wealthy households are the most targeted reason for the Burglary rate in this town being consistent for five years. It is logical because almost 70% of the citizens in this town have bachelor degrees and are highly educated.
Frown Town, on the other hand, has registered some significant change over the years. The community in this town has seen an increase in the population since 2011. Larceny-theft and Aggravated Assault were the crimes that were most reported, but significantly decreased over the course of the year 2014 and 2015. The police department has published a crime rate drop of 17% through the annual report.
Smooth Town, on the other hand, reported that most crimes are at a low for the first time in five years. The drop is tied to property-related crime drop that has dropped well below the average of Smooth Town. According to newspaper reviews has agreed with the crime change that explains the tremendous population increase since 2010. The overall crime rate has been reported by the police department to be 97% lower than the neighboring town.
After the data review representing each town form the crime reports and statistical tables, Happy town has come out to be the town that needs most police presence to help control the high crime rate in this area. Individuals, homesteads, and businesses in this town should consider additional security measures just to be on the safe side. Smooth Town, has crime rates increasing, the crime is falling, but robbery and aggravated assault are on the rise while the community is growing. Therefore, additional community policing and watch might be helpful for this town. In Frown town, the community and police force show their resilience and dedication to the crime in this town, which under the police department leadership crime has reduced tremendously. Cool Town has impressive statistics as they have the highest population and essential data of all the other towns. The education and wealth in this community might be the reason for the crime rate decrease in this town. Property crime is the only misdemeanor affecting this town, but with security cameras, police presence, and neighborhood watch, then things might change.
Yvonneleewinn
UniformCrimeReport2.docx
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