CRM/LAW C106 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Motor Vehicle Theft, Crack Epidemic, Larceny
29 Apr 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Jessica Mangold
C106 Crime & Public Policy
Professor Currie
Midterm Week 5
C106 CRIME & PUBLIC POLICY
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
1. How does the US crime rate compare to that of other countries? How do we know?
- comparisons come from looking at crime rates of different countries
- crime rate = (# of crimes/total population) x 100,000 (Chris)
- there are different sources to get a sense of crime rate
- medical data from World Health Organization is most reliable (Currie)
- able to get data on mortality
- many other nations do not have something similar to the UCR in US -> therefore have to look to
other statistics to get information on crime
- can be difficult to get accurate statistics from other nations
- ex. Russia is notorious for not providing completely accurate stats (Currie)
- the US is the most violent society of the advanced industrial world (Currie)
- crime, specifically violent crime -> becoming ubiquitous despite nation’s prosperity
- becoming a reality that one must live with in America
- other similarly industrialized, affluent societies have vastly lower crime rates than the US
- seen in death rates per 100,000 for males 15 – 29 (stats from 2012) (Currie)
- US: 19
- France: 1.7
- UK: 1.6
- Germany: 1.4
- Japan: .5
- while rate is not as high other infamously violent nations (South Africa, El Salvador) US crime
rate is significantly higher than similar situated nations
- within the US also factors into homicide death rate in a way it does not in other countries
- a young black man born today is more likely to be murdered than attend a UC (Currie)
- women in the US are more likely to be killed than in other countries (Currie)
- more likely to be killed than men in other nations around the world
- comparisons of crime rates between nations indicate that US violent crime problem is usual
- connected to the type of society that we live in
- suggests structural social issues that need to be addressed
- inner cities in the US have been described as “war zones” (Currie)
- children growing up there show same psychological issues as those who grow up in true
war zones around world
- criminal justice system is becoming part of the problem
- mass incarceration is not lower the crime rate in the way people expect
2. What are the main trends in the crime rate in the US in recent years?
- in general, violent crime rates are at historic lows, compared to violence epidemic of late 80s-early 90’s
- according to article on crime from The Atlantic by Matt Ford
- crack cocaine epidemic of mid 1980’s
- hand gun related homicides more than doubled between 1985 + 1990
- politicians than moved to embrace tough on crime policy
- violent crime rates have been pretty flat since about 2000 (Currie)
*rates of violent crime much higher in 21st century based on UCR
- according to the 2016 UCR results on the FBI webpage:
- violent crime (murder, rape, robber, assault)
- estimated 1,248,185 violent crimes nationwide
- increase of 4.1% from 2015 estimate
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
- estimated 386.3 violent crimes per 100,000 inhabitants
- assault accounted for 64.3% of violent crimes reported
- overall violent crime has increased within the last 5 years
- took a dip in 2014 then rose again in 2015 + 2016
- property crime (burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, arson)
- estimated 7,919,035 property crime offenses
- decrease of 1.3% from 2015
- estimated 2,450.7 property crimes per 100,000
- larceny-theft accounted for 71.2% of reported property crimes reported
- overall property crime has increase in the past 5 years
- significant drop from 2012 (14.5% less)
- according to the 2016 NCVS results released by Bureau of Justice Statistics:
- about half (51%) of serious violent crimes were reported to police
- 42% of all violent crimes + 36% of property crimes reported to police
- violent crime
- US residents 12 or older experienced 5.7 million victimizations
- 21.1 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older
- fewer than 42% of violent victimizations were reported to police
- property crime
- US households experienced 15.9 million property crimes
- 119.4 per 1,000 households
- motor vehicle thefts most likely to be reported
- trends
*NCVS went through redesign in 2016 -> data not able to be compared to prior years
- looking at years before redesign:
- violent victimization rate has changed very little since 2007
- small rises + declines over the years
- property victimization has dropped since 2012
- mostly small rises + declines over the years
- crime rates show up that violence in endemic to US society -> especially ubiquitous in certain
communities
- violent crime becoming part of the landscape of American society (Currie)
- crime rates show that violent crime is larger problem for US that nations that look similar
(Currie)
**important to consider that property crime has SHIFTED (Currie)
- more likely to turn to cybercrime which is not being measured
- ex. identity theft is not in UCR yet is very hurtful to victims -> thousands of dollars
- Justice Dept: 17 million+ people were victims of some kind of identity theft in 2014
- none of that was reported in UCR
- white-collar crime does not appear in the UCR
**despite rise in incarceration, crime rates have still gone up in the 21st century
3. What are the key sources of data on crime rates, and what are the strengths and limitations of each of
them?
- Uniform Crime Report (UCR)
- most common source of statistics on crime in the US
- up until 1930’s -> no reliable system for crime statistics for the nation
- police departments got together + developed standardized or uniform system for
collecting data (Currie)
- FBI = assigned responsibility of putting individual reports from agencies together
- Crime Index
- violent crimes:
- homicide
- rape
- robbery
- aggravated assault
- property crimes:
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
- burglary
- larceny
- motor vehicle theft
- arson
- UCR Crime Rates, 1965 + 2016 (rates per 100,000 population) *adjusted for pop. increase
(Currie)
- Homicide 1965: 5 2016: 5
- Rape 1965: 12 2016: 30
- Robbery 1965: 60 2016: 103
- Assault 1965: 107 2016: 249
- 1965 was a year characterized by fear of crime + rising rates -> crime has increased
significantly since then (Currie)
**does not include any white-collar crime or cybercrime
- rise in incidences of identity theft -> not counted in UCR
- problems/limitations of UCR: (Currie)
- based on crimes that are actually reported to the police
- someone has to call the police + report the crime OR police have to discover
the crime themselves
- some people do not trust the police
- budget cuts -> police may not be able to respond adequately
- unlikely to report crime that occurred while they were engaged in
crime (ex. drug dealers stealing each other’s supply)
- highest rates of violent crime among those who are involved
in crime themselves -> not seen in the stats
- many crimes are not reported to the police -> “dark figure” of crime (Chris)
- people may not realize crime should be reported
- certain communities are less reactive to crime
- reporting more of a problem for some kinds of crime than others
- ex. homicides are rarely missed in reporting, but cause of death can be
unclear + people can disappear without being found
- generally people who are young, poor, + most often victims report crime the
least
- rape + domestic abuse (assault) -> people fear not being taken seriously by the system +
therefore do not want to report incidents
- often women feel reporting will not get them anywhere
- do not believe police will do anything
- many report they would not report again if abused again
- may fear retaliation for reporting + little confidence in law enforcement to
protect them
- may not realize situation qualifies as rape -> do not report
- less than 10% of college students that say they had been coerced into sexual
behavior do not report incident (or tell anyone at all)
- about 5% say they had been forced to do something sexual
- dating violence is huge + can be very serious -> affects 1 out of 11 high school
students -> little ever reported
- police have to record crime honestly
- what police decide to call a crime after being reported determines where it fits
into the reported statistics
- disparities between what victim reports + what police determine
happened
- statistics do not refer to convictions either
- unfounded reports to do not contribute to UCR statistics
- FBI will sometimes throw out statistics from police departments
because they know they are fake
- ex. Philadelphia had to withdraw for 3 years due to underreporting +
downgrading
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Crime rate = (# of crimes/total population) x 100,000 (chris) Crime, specifically violent crime -> becoming ubiquitous despite nation"s prosperity. Becoming a reality that one must live with in america. Seen in death rates per 100,000 for males 15 29 (stats from 2012) (currie) While rate is not as high other infamously violent nations (south africa, el salvador) us crime rate is significantly higher than similar situated nations. Medical data from world health organization is most reliable (currie) Many other nations do not have something similar to the ucr in us -> therefore have to look to other statistics to get information on crime. Can be difficult to get accurate statistics from other nations. Russia is notorious for not providing completely accurate stats (currie) Comparisons come from looking at crime rates of different countries. There are different sources to get a sense of crime rate. The us is the most violent society of the advanced industrial world (currie)
