Presented by

Professor

Subject

Date

Crime Measurement

What instruments are used to measure crime in the United States?

Two major crime measurement tools are found in United States that determine the magnitude, impact, and nature of crime. These tools are Uniform Crime Reporting (URC) and, the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). Each of these tools is essential in providing the nation with valuable information concerning aspects of crime. The two are used differently and focuses on different types of crimes (James 1-3).

What are the major crime reporting programs? What are the purposes of major crime reporting programs?

There are three major crime reporting programs in United States. These are; the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). The Congress uses these reporting programs in informing policy decisions and allocation of federal criminal justice funding to all states. UCR is a standardized program that reports of all incidences of crime and measures the effectiveness of local law enforcers. On the other hand, NIBRS is a tool used by Federal Bureau of Investigation to respond to the Congress on matters of law enforcement. Finally, the NCVS acts as source of information for all criminal victimizations, and other crimes not reported to law enforcers.

What are crime rates, arrest rates, and recidivism rates?

US records highest crime rates and the numbers keep increasing year after year. Table 1 shows the crime rate in different states in 2011. On the other hand, arrest rates have accelerated in US because of many criminal activities taking place. The Uniform Crime Reporting Program reports numerous arrests in different offenses and categories in various states. Table 2 shows arrest statistics in 2010. Moreover, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) reports that cases of national recidivism are low though, the statistics on table 3 below shows the collected data.

State Violentcrime (total) Murder Forcible rape Robbery AggravatedAssault

Ala.420.1 6.3 28.5 102.2 283.0

Alaska606.5 4.0 58.1 79.7 464.6

Ariz.405.9 6.2 34.9 109.9 254.8

Ark.480.9 5.5 41.3 82.6 351.5

Calif.411.1 4.8 20.3 144.0 242.0

Colo.320.2 2.9 44.5 64.6 208.1

Conn.272.8 3.6 19.2 102.7 147.3

Del.559.5 4.5 31.9 169.5 353.5

DC1,202.1 17.5 28.0 662.3 494.3

Fla.515.3 5.2 27.7 134.4 348.0

Ga.373.2 5.6 20.9 123.8 222.9

Hawaii287.2 1.2 31.6 75.8 187.6

Idaho200.9 2.3 27.4 11.6 159.6

Ill.429.3 5.6 28.8 157.4 237.5

Ind.331.8 4.8 27.0 107.1 193.0

Iowa255.6 1.5 27.2 26.9 199.9

Kans.353.9 3.8 37.8 50.8 261.5

Ky.238.2 3.5 33.5 238.2 116.7

La.555.3 11.2 27.7 114.5 401.9

Maine123.2 2.0 29.6 27.8 63.8

Md.494.1 6.8 20.5 177.5 289.3

Mass.428.4 2.8 24.7 102.7 298.1

Mich.445.3 6.2 44.0 105.2 289.9

Minn.221.2 1.4 31.1 63.4 125.4

Miss.269.8 8.0 29.0 83.7 149.1

Mo.447.4 6.1 21.3 104.3 312.7

Mont.267.5 2.8 35.8 16.9 212.0

Nebr.253.2 3.6 37.7 54.1 157.7

Nev.562.1 5.2 33.5 157.9 365.6

N.H.188.0 1.3 32.5 36.0 118.2

N.J.308.4 4.3 11.4 138.4 154.3

N.M.567.5 7.5 41.2 82.7 436.2

N.Y.398.1 4.0 14.1 145.9 234.1

N.C.349.8 5.3 20.7 98.9 224.9

N.D.247.0 3.5 37.9 13.3 192.3

Ohio307.4 4.4 31.5 139.1 132.4

Okla.454.8 5.5 37.0 86.6 325.7

Ore.247.6 2.1 31.4 57.4 156.6

Pa.355.0 5.0 26.1 126.6 197.3

R.I.247.5 1.3 28.9 71.0 146.3

S.C.571.9 6.8 34.5 92.2 438.4

S.D.254.1 2.5 60.2 20.3 171.1

Tenn.608.2 5.8 31.6 126.2 444.5

Tex.408.5 4.4 29.0 110.6 264.5

Utah195.0 1.9 30.3 38.4 124.4

Vt.135.2 1.3 19.0 13.6 101.4

Va.196.7 3.7 19.0 67.1 106.9

Wash.294.6 2.4 33.5 82.5 176.1

W. Va.315.9 4.3 20.9 49.0 241.6

Wis.236.9 2.4 20.4 78.2 135.9

Wyo.219.3 3.2 25.7 12.5 177.9

Table 1: Use 2011 Crime rates by state (Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States).

Table 2: arrest statistics in US in 2010 (source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2010).

Table 3: Recidivism rates in US states

What can crime and recidivism statistics tell you about crime in the United States?

Crime and recidivism rates in US show that the nation experiences high rates of crime by people from all genders and ages. The advancement in technology and globalization has introduced new ways of committing crimes via the internet. In addition, the statistics show that crime rates are directly proportional to the nation’s economy. The worsening economy has introduced more new crimes as more people are rendered jobless. The rate at which people commit crimes in US is also increasing because even the young generation is involving in childhood crimes (James 12-16).

Works cited

Bureau of Justice Statistics. Estimates based on FBI’s Age, Sex, and Race Summarized Yearly

Arrest Master Files. 2010.

Federal Bureau of Investigation. Crime in the United States. 2011. Available at:

http://www.fbi.gov/James, Nathan. CRS Reporting for Congress: How Crime in the United States is measured.

Congress Research Service. 2008. Available at:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL34309.pdf