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1 Patsy Klaus, Measuring Crime 1 (1981)

handle is hein.death/mesc0001 and id is 1 raw text is: U.S. Department of Justice -{ Bureau of Justice Statistics Bueuo utc atitc S0 Bulei Measuring Crime We have all grown accustomed to seeing reports about crime rates in the newspapers and on television. But where do these statistics come from? Most probably they are a count of the number of crimes reported to local law enforcement agencies and sent to the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) program. The UCR program has been developing national statistics on crime from local police records since 1930. These statistics are published annually in Crime in the United States and receive much attention in the media because of the concern each of us has about crime and its effect on our lives. You may have also seen articles that present statistics on victims of crime and discuss victimization rates for the United States. These statistics come not from police agencies but directly from the victims themselves and provide another way of looking at crime and its consequences. Since 1973,victimization data have been collected from households across the Nation through the National Crime Survey (NCS). Both programs, the UCR operated by the FBI and the NCS operated by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, are located within the Department of Justice. Using two programs to measure crime is not redundant. The National Crime Survey was developed in response to the growing recognition that police statistics, for all their importance, have inherent limitations. The most obvious is that police cannot report crimes that do not come to their attention. Crime victims, however, can describe what happened to them, whether they have reported the crime to the police or not. On the other hand, obtaining separate crime statistics for the thousands of local communities across the country through a victimization survey is imprac- tical because it would require almost a complete census costing billions. This kind of geographical detail is available through the Uniform Crime Reports. Thus, the National Crime Survey and the Uniform Crime Reports both supplement and complement each other in ways that enhance our understanding of crime. Crimes measured Seven crimes were originally designated, on the basis of their seriousness and With this issue, the Bureau of Justice Statistics begins a monthly publication series of issues and facts in crime and justice statistics aimed at decision- makers. Although Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletins will deal with a variety of topics, the intent of the series is to make available objective information, in nontechnical language, about the state of the Nation with respect to its problems of crime and the administration of justice. The Bureau welcomes comment on the Bulletins, particularly suggestions for topics to be treated. All inquiries should be sent to the Director, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Washington, D.C. 20531. Harry A. Scarr Director frequency, to compose the Uniform Crime Reports Crime Index.1 They are murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglay, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. Arson was added to the Crime Index by congressional mandate in 1978. These crimes are known as the index offenses but are often called Part I crimes because at one time they were reported to the FBI in the first part of a two-part reporting form.2 The Crime Index is a single number obtained by adding together all the incidents of each of these crimes. Its year-to-year fluctuations have been used to measure trends in the volume of crime. If more than one index offense occurs during a, single incident, only the most serious is reported in the UCR program and included in the Crime Index total. The seriousness of index offenses is shown by the order in which they are listed above. For example, if a man breaks into a house, 1Uniform Crime Reporting Handbook, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Justice, p.2. 2Although the terms Part I and Crime Index are often used interchangeably, they are not identical Part I crimes include negligent manslaughter; the Crime Index does not. Partl crimes are, in general, less serious crimes for which only arrest data are reported. encounters a woman whom he rapes and robs at gunpoint, and then steals her car to make his getaway, he has committed the index offenses of burglary, forcible rape, robbery, and motor vehicle theft. Only the highest ranking offense, the rape, is reported to the UCR program and included in the Crime Index total. Arson is the only index offense for which this rule does not apply; that is, an arson is always reported even if other index offenses occur during the same incident. Similarly, the National Crime Survey classifies each incident by the most serious offense that occurred, using a seriousness ranking corresponding to that for UCR index offenses. Information on other offenses that occurred at the same time, however, is collected in the NCS and presented in some reports. Six crimes are measured in the National Crime Survey: rape, robbery, assault household burglary, personal and household larceny, and motor vehicle thefL The similarity between these crimes and the UCR Index crimes is intentional and is even closer than may first appear. Of the two crimes totally missing from the National Crime Survey, murder cannot be measured through surveys of victims because obviously the victim is dead, and arson cannot be measured well through such surveys because the presumed victim (the property owner) may in fact be the perpetrator, particularly if collection of insurance is the motive for the crime. Professional expertise is often needed to determine that a suspicious fire is indeed arson and therefore a crime, another factor complicating its measurement. Both UCR and NCS count as crimes all attempts as well as successfully completed crimes. The NCS collects these separately so that totals are available for both actual offenses and attempted offenses, whereas the UCR does not. Rape (N CS) and forcible rape (UCR) are defined in the same manner in both series. Both involve force or the threat of force. The term forcible in the UCR is used in contrast to statutory rape where sexual union is consensual but the female is under the legal age of consent. Neither NCS nor 3From 1973 through 1976 robberies and burglaries of business establishments were also measured in the National Crime Survey.

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