Measuring Crime Argumentative

There are three tools used to measure crime in the United States; Uniform Crime Report , National Crime Victimization Survey and National Incident Based Reporting System . Two major crimes reporting programs exist. The first is the Uniform Crimes Reports or UCR (National Institute of Justice, 2009). The UCR is utilized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for documenting crimes and making decisions on policies. The eight crimes that are tracked by the UCR are arson, robbery, rape, theft, burglary, aggravated assault, murder, and vehicle theft. The data contains reports of specific incidents of arrests but does not include details of arrest. Only the most serious offense of an arrest is recorded. Approximately over Seventeen thousand law enforcement agencies convey information to the Federal Bureau Investigation through the UCR database. However, the data is not a useful tool for investigating local crimes due to inadequate reporting.

The second reporting program is the National Incident-Based Reporting System or NIBRS (National Institute of Justice, 2009). The NIBRS is a more comprehensive version of the UCR. More details are documented pertaining to each crime and there are 46 different crimes being tracked (National Institute of Justice). The NIBRS records minute details concerning each arrest such as location, victim, offender, weapons, injuries, etc. While the UCR only records the most serious offense of an arrest the NIBRS records all offenses.

The NIBRS allows law enforcement the ability to analyze the data and construct a more informed examination of criminal activity within the community (National Institute,2009). Utilizing this system also allows law enforcement the capacity to collect evidence that assists in the implementation of better solutions and practices relating to crime. Researchers also make use of the NIBRS to examine many factors. Examples include assessing dual arrests in domestic violence incidents and examining drug distribution (National Institute of Justice). The results of the studies on dual arrests in domestic violence cases uncovered the fact that same sex partners were arrested more often than heterosexual couples in states that have mandatory arrest procedures but no primary aggressor guidelines.

The new information provided a basis for minimizing the number of arrests by amending policies and educating officers on the dynamics of same sex relationships within the states with high arrest rates. Examining drug distribution allows researchers the ability to identify drug sales that cross jurisdictional boundaries (National Institute of Justice). Identifying the distribution and drug sales allows law enforcement the capacity for developing protocols and policies that increase chances of arrest. The ratio of crimes in an area to the population of that area. This is an important piece of information because it’s something people look at when they move into a new city, enroll their kids into a school or even look up when someone wants to go somewhere for a vacation. Looking at crime rates is a piece of mind to some when they see the area they want to be at is very low and they know they will be safe especially when it comes to having small children or just children in general.

The number of times an arrest is made. They are usually narrowed down to the type of crime committed. This statistic is in my opinion is an important one. As a citizen you want to ensure the numbers of arrest are on par with the amount of crime rates are in that area. You want to see on paper that your local PD is doing their job ensuring the safety of others by taking the bad people off the street. If you want to break it down even further, you can look up arrest rates by the category such as domestic disturbances, thefts etc.. A person who is a repeat offender comes to mind when learning about this. Someone who knows exactly what the consequences are yet continues to go down the wrong path. The frequency with which they are detected or apprehended committing additional sexual crimes after being released from prison for similar crimes.

To be counted as recidivism, the re-offending requires voluntary disclosure of arrest and conviction which leads to the real recidivism rate differs from reported rates. Alcohol and Substance abuse recidivism might refer to the portion of people who, report having, or are determined to have, returned to the abuse. Measure of crimes solved. You get this statistic by dividing the number of crimes that are “cleared” by the total number of crimes recorded.. Some people may only like to see a high number as cleared yet what kind of service is the public receiving for those cleared crimes. Quality over quantity should be the main rule here yet not necessarily happening as such. Dealing with this topic it is all about the high number of solved cleared numbers opposed to crimes committed. Crime reporting programs are used to help law enforcement agencies understand where more patrols are needed, how they can better serve victims, and understand the increase in crime in relation to factors affecting them.

-According to the “CJi Interactive video”, crime rates can be deceiving because of the age range of individuals. Because of the high crime rate in the late 1980’s through the early 1990’s and the growth of law enforcement in this time, many have the conception that, since law enforcement has grown crime must be growing as well. Crime rates actually tend to decline when the economy improves, according to the video. When we have higher crime rates, it does not necessarily mean that there are higher arrest rates due to the fact that many crimes go unreported so often. As far as a correlation between crime rates, arrest rates, and clearance rates, understanding the difference in the three statistics could be beneficial to law enforcement agencies to help them understand where and where certain crimes are being committed.

-According to some statistics I read on the Bureau of Justice website, it seems that the recidivism rates are directly related to the active crime rates. Also, more than 36.8% of prisoners were arrested within (5) five years of being released between 2005 and 2010. Today there are more than 2.3 million people are incarcerated in the United States which is only 5 percent of the population. Crime within the United States has been on the rise while the recidivism rates are also going in the same direction. Some say that as the crime is being reduced the recidivism rates seem to go up with no end in sight. There are two types of criminals in correctional facilities. There are career criminals these are the ones that are part of the recidivism rates and there are the adolescent ones.

The adolescent tend to become more of a delinquent and then settle down later on in life. According to the Bureau of Judicial Statistics 67.5 percent was once again another statistic by being rearrested. Almost all of them were re convicted and reentered the over populated correctional facility. Once a criminal has been released the chance of being re convicted is really high. Everyday a person is released from a correctional facility and if they are not given proper rehabilitation that person becomes another statistic. Over the past three decades the United States has been the number one for having criminals in prison. This means two things; first is our police force is doing their job properly. Second it means that over prison system is starting to become way over populated. There is a way to solve this problem which will keep the recidivism rates low and the prison system from being over populated.

The obvious is to keep the inmates on death row and have committed serious crimes. For the ones that have committed the less serious crimes should be rehabilitated while incarcerated and then be given mandatory counseling to keep them from relapsing. This keeps the recidivism rate to a minimum and the prison system from being over populated. In conclusion, if we follow this step and try to keep up with proper deterrence the both the recidivism and crime rate will be the lowest in the world. Hopefully this can keep the population in our penal system down to a minimum and the US not making number one in housing criminals.