I have to do presentation on the police crime statistics (Uniform Crime Report).

Police Crime Statistics

Basic concept/definition

The most widely used measures of crimes are based on police records and
are commonly referred to as “Crimes known to police”

There are 2 ways police come to know about crime:

Report

Observation (discovery) eg. victimless crimes, traffic offences etc.

“Crimes known to the police” is considered a more complete measure
of crime than data on arrest, conviction or sentencing, because the
criminal justice system tends to filter out offenders and offences as
they move through the system.

Uses

USA

Uniform Crime Reports (UCR)

UCR is a data series that has been collected by FBI since 1930 and has
been widely used by CJ researchers. It is a summary-based measure of
crime.

National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS)

The recent development in police-based measures is the effort by the FBI
and the Bureau if Justice Statistics (BJS) to convert the UCR to a
NIBRS. It is based on incident as units of analysis.

UK

Notifiable offences in Criminal Statistics



AUSTRALIA

ABS Recorded Crime

Strengths

Comprehensive approach

Cover all offences: victimless crimes, crimes against organisations

Cover all victims regardless of age

Cover all locations and time period

Legal definitions used

The definition used is in line with the criminal codes.



Timely

Offences are reported to police soon after the occurrence

Comparison possible

It allows comparison between states.

It also allows comparison between survey and UCR/ ABS
recorded crime.

Limitations

Many crimes are not reported to police.

Factors affecting reporting of crime to the police

Type and seriousness of the offence

Victim characteristics

Sex

Age

Race

Social disadvantage

Social/psychological aspects

Embarrassment

The relationship between the victim and the offender

Fear of reprisal

Attitudes to police

Police would not or could not do anything

(Source: Ferrante 2004)

Police crime statistics exclude some crimes.

eg. Crimes by corporations and businesses: white-collar crime

Political crime or political corruption

Police crime statistics exclude unrecorded crimes.

UCR: Only “index offences” are recorded if they are reported to
police.

Index offences include

“crimes against the person”- homicide, forcible rape, robbery,
aggravated assault

“crimes against property” - burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft,
arson

ABS Recorded crime: Only selected offences are counted.

eg. homicide, assault, sexual assault, kidnapping/abduction, robbery,
blackmail/extortion, UEWI, motor vehicle theft.

Factors affecting police’s making crime report:

Situational factors

The seriousness of the offence

Attempted/ completed offences

Organisational factors

Professionalism of police: Not all police departments exhibit the same
level of commitment and professionalism in recording these complaints.

Technology in record keeping



Socio-political factors

Political influences

Funding



The definition of crime can vary from state to state.

An inconsistent approach meant that different forces might not
record the same crime, or record crimes to differing degrees.

The hierarchy rules are used to classify crimes

“If multiple crimes are committed in a single incident, only the most
serious is counted in the UCR”

However, NIBRS and ABS Recorded Crime Australia are not based on the
hierarchy rules.

Points of Controversy

Some criticisms of UCR are:

reporting practices ("real" amount of crime is never known)

People's reluctance to report some types of crime (such as 'Sexual
offence’)

Changes in the public's willingness to report crime

Changes in Insurance Policies

law enforcement practices (the way police record data, Errors in
reporting :definitional differences)

Variations in recording practices among police forces - an inconsistent
approach meant that different forces might not record the same crime, or
record crimes to differing degrees.

The reliability of data

Manipulation

Political influences

Police crime data is also highly sensitive to things that have nothing
at all to do with crime. For example,

The 20% increase in the number of police officers on the streets in the
last two decades may have increased reported crime with no actual
increase in crime.

Improved police record-keeping or computerization can make the crime
rate skyrocket.

Therefore, changes in the Volume of crime (in the police crime
statistics) may simply indicate changes in the Dark Figure of Crime,
rather than the total amount of crime

UCR + DARK FIGURE =

THE UNIVERSE OF CRIME

Lastest Developments

The National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS)

In April 2002, the National Crime Recording Standard was introduced
across police forces in England & Wales.

Its purpose is:

To promote greater consistency in how police record crime

To take a more victim-led approach in recording crime - by recording
alleged offences, as well as evidence-based ones

( HYPERLINK "http://www.crimestatistics.org.uk/output/page105.asp"
http://www.crimestatistics.org.uk/output/page105.asp )

The development of National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)

It was first introduced in 1989 to solve the problems occur in UCR. For
example, the hierarchy rules are eliminated, more detailed information
about the incident, victim and offenders is collected.