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25 Crime & Delinquency 1 (1979)

handle is hein.journals/cadq25 and id is 1 raw text is: Crime-Some Popular Beliefs Eugene Doleschal A careful look at several pervasive notions about crime proves them to be without base. While most Americans believe that crime has increased con- siderably during the last few decades, our best evidence suggests that crime rates fluctuate somewhat but remain essentially stable over time. Most Americans believe that the criminal justice system in this country is more lenient with common criminals than are comparable systems in other countries. Yet we find, on the contrary, that the United States is the most punitive of all free nations. Another popular belief is that minority group members and the poor are responsible for most crimes. But this is not the case-crime is evenly distributed among the socioeconomic groups, and the crimes committed by the affluent cause the greatest financial loss. Finally, most Americans believe that crime serves no purpose that is use- ful to law-abiding citizens. Yet we find that stable levels of crime and criminal offenders serve to reinforce group values and maintain a social balance. CRIME RATES If asked, most Americans would express the belief that crime has increased dramatically during the past ten, twenty, thirty, and forty years. Each year since 1933, the FBI has issued a nationwide compilation of crime statistics called the Uniform Crime Reports. Each year, the UCR's statistical informa- tion is prefaced by a sentence such as This year, major crimes reached a new high in the United States. Each year, the UCR emphasizes that crime is rising three or five or ten times faster than the population growth. Each year, the FBI's crime clocks, which designate the number of crimes committed every minute, tick faster. If we believe reports by the media, the United States is engulfed by a crime epidemic such as the world has never known. In 1957, the UCR reported that the number of serious crimes committed during that year, per 100,000 people, totaled 835; in 1967 the rate had risen to 2,989; in 1977, the number was placed in excess of 5,200. The disturbing trend indicated by these figures prompted a number of crim- inologists, dtiring the 1950s and 1960s, to take a closer look at crime statistics. What they found was that we were witnessing a crime reporting wave rather than a rise in criminal activity. Indeed, the most serious crimes-and those reported most accurately-had declined rather than increased. No one paid EUGENE DOLESCHAL is Director, Information Center, National Council on Crime and De- linquency. CRIME & DELINQUENCY, January 1979 1

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