Class Day 3: The Problem of Crime

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Class Day 3 The Problem of Crime

• ? To deal effectively with crime we need good
  info about
• What kinds of things are happening
• How much of it is occurring
• Who is involved in it
• Where when it happens
• What factors seem to predict or cause it
• How do we get this information?

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? How to get empirical crime data? Different
info sources on social events

• Official records (of criminal cases)
• Surveys (of peoples experiences)
• Observations (of criminal events)
• Other sources (of information about criminal
  persons or events)

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? Sources of crime data

• Official records (of criminal justice events from
  CJ agencies who handle cases)
• Police ? the Uniform Crime Reports
• Police records of crimes known and arrests
• the paper trail left by cases handled by police
• Crime summaries are forwarded to, collected by,
  published by the FBI (through state police)
• Traditional Division into 2 categories
• Part I the Index Crimes (Crimes known
  Arrests)
• Part II all other crimes (arrests only)
• Traditionally the data most commonly used
• Problem of selective reporting dark figure
• Aggregate reports collective summaries

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? Sources of crime data

• Official records (of criminal justice events from
  CJ agencies who handle cases)
• Police ? the Uniform Crime Reports
• Courts (cases filed adjudications)
• Juvenile courts
• Administrative/regulatory courts

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? Sources of crime data

• Official records (of criminal justice events from
  CJ agencies who handle cases)
• Police ? the Uniform Crime Reports
• Courts (cases filed adjudications)
• Corrections ? data on recidivism (relapse)
• These only reflect the cases processed by the CJS
• Also Semi-official records (schools, ERs,
  DFSC, insurance companies)

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? Sources of crime data

• Surveys (of potential victims offenders)
• What do surveys involve?
• Sample from population
• Questionnaire or interview
• Kinds of surveys used
• Victimization Surveys
• Self-Report Surveys

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? Sources of crime data

• Surveys (of potential victims offenders)
• Victimization surveys
• Survey of population re victimization
• Official victim survey NCVS (BJS)
• Unofficial surveys (for special crimes)
• Self-report surveys
• Juvenile delinquency
• Ordinary crimes
• Vice crimes (e.g., drugs, deviance)

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? Sources of crime data

• Surveys (of potential victims offenders)
• Strengths weaknesses of surveys?
• More detailed info on events and persons
• Include unreported/undetected crimes
• Biases errors?
• Comparison of surveys with official record data?
• Which kinds of data are best for which kinds of
  crimes?

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? Sources of crime data

• Observations
• Natural events (field studies)
• Controlled events (experiments)
• Other possible sources
• Life Histories
• Clinical Case materials
• Historical documents
• Media accounts

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? What kinds of crimes occur?

• Part I crimes?
• Part II crimes?
• Other crimes?
• White-collar crimes
• Organized Crime
• International crimes

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Part I (Index) Crimes

• About 12 are violent (crimes known)
• About 88 are property crimes
• Crimes known vs. arrests?
• Which ones are most reliable?
• 47 of violent crimes reported to police
• 40 of property crimes reported to police
• 46 of reported violent crime result in arrest
• 17 of reported property crimes result in arrest

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Clearance/Arrest Rates (UCR)
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Part II Crimes (all other crimes)

• Only arrest statistics reported
• 84 of all arrests involve Part II crimes (16
  Part I arrests)
• Largest category vice or public order crimes
  (alcohol drug-related)
• Part 2 involves both violent property crimes,
  as well as vice/disorder crimes
• Cover the whole range of severity (from trivial
  deviance to fatal violence)

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Is the problem of crime changing?

• Regular cycles?
• time of day seasonal variations
• Non-cyclical trends and changes?
• Over the centuries?
• During last century?
• Since 1990?
• Since 2000?
• Short-term fluctuations noise
• Future trends?

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Serious Crime Rates (UCR)
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U.S. Murder Rates (UCR)
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Violent Crimes (UCR NCVS)
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Property Crime (from NCVS)
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Where do crime occur most?

• International patterns?
• Regional differences?
• Urban-rural differences?
• Public spaces
• Residential locations

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Who commit crimes (usually)?

• Age
• Gender
• Social Class
• Race

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Age Patterns

• The Universal Age Curve of crime

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Gender Patterns

• Different percentages/ratios of male-to-female
  involvement in crime
• Violence about 8-to-1
• Property about 3-to-1
• Historical explanations for gender differences?
• Recent changes in female criminality?
• Liberation effects (equality in all things)?
• Convergence hypothesis?
• Note differences between property violence
• Problem of relying on arrest data?

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Racial Patterns

• Large, persistent differences in arrest rates
• Other offenses may show different pattern
• Violent crimes (including domestic violence)
• Property Crimes
• Substance Abuse
• White-Collar crimes
• Organized crimes
• Other crime data sources may be different
• UCR vs. NCVS vs. Self-report
• ? The racial picture is more complex if we look
  at all the data (not just the UCR arrests)

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Characteristics of Victims?

• Similar profiles to Offenders
• Young
• Male
• Minority
• Poor