Crime in America [Compatibility Mode]

7/29/2019 Crime in America [Compatibility Mode]

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Crime in America

PSCI 2481


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Crime

Behaviors for which society provides formallysanctioned punishment.

Distinctions among types of crimeFelony vs. Misdemeanor

Violent vs. Property

ct m vs. ct m essBlue-Collar vs. White Collar


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How much crime exists?o eeps trac o cr me

In 1929, the InternationalChiefs of Police Association

(IACP) recommended that

Investigation (FBI) defineand maintain a national

system for gathering crimestatistics.


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How much crime exists?o eeps trac o cr me

,

Report (UCR) system. The FBI set u codin rules and tallied the

statistics reported to it. Local police

departments were responsible for the actualcollection of crime data.

Data collected:

Crime reports taken

Arrests made

Cases cleared


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The FBI Uniform Crime Report (UCR)n c a ypo ogy o r me

PART I (The INDEX)

Violent Crimes1. Homicide

. ape

3. Robbery

4. Assa l A rava ed

Property Crimes

5. Burglary

6. Larceny7. Motor Vehicle Theft

.


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PART II

Petty LarcenySimple Assault

an a sm

Drug Abuse

Sex Offenses

Fraud

Drunkenness

Disturbing the PeaceGambling

Prostitution


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ro ems w e

1. Its focus is on reported crime. (Why is this aproblem?)

2. The original reports provided no details. All

crimes were lumped together in a singlenum er.

3. It provides no additional information about.

4. It requires both the local police and citizensto coo erate in rovidin accurateinformation.


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ro ems w e

5. Its open to abuse. Agencies responsible forreducing crime have an incentive tom sreport cr me.

6. It is sensitive to reform in the wrong.reported crime rate.)

7. Its biased toward blue collar crime.

8. The base for evaluating crime isquestionable. (NYC auto thefts the crimerate s g we re ca cu at ng t e t s per car

or low if were reporting thefts per person)


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Does the UCR measure the effectiveness

o t e cr m na ust ce system

s e num er o po ce ncrease, w a mpacdo we expect theyll have on crime?

If we put more police out on the streets to

fi ht crime we ex ect fewer crimes to occur.

What do we observe?

As the number of police increase, thenumber of reported crimes increase.


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Alternative Measures of Crime:

e at ona r me ct m zat on urvey

In 1966, the PresidentsCommission on Law

Administration of Justice

sponsored surveys of crimev c ms.

In 1968, Congress enacted theOmnibus Crime Control and

Safe Streets Act that created theNational Criminal Justice

Service (NCJISS).


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Alternative Measures of Crime:

e at ona r me ct m zat on urvey

In 1972, NCJISS established the National Crime Survey(NCS) to be conducted every 6 months by the USCensus Bureau. NCS was a survey of 60,000ouse o s an , us nesses es gne to

measure crime, reported and UN-reported.

Today the NCS is known as the National CrimeVictimization Survey (NCVS). The Census Bureauconducts interviews with about 134,000 persons age 12

,their victimizations from crime.


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1. Most crime control policies are nonsense..

of peddling nonsense about crime and

3. Most crime control policies are based on

--


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Society survivesif/because individuals are

Society structuresindividual actions

self-restrained.

Governments role is to

Discrimination, poverty.

Lack of opportunity lead-deal with the lack of it.

Peo le are restrained or

-

People can be re-shaped.

not as part of basicnature.


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General Punishment (emphasis on

General Rehabilitation, Social

certainty and severity)

Specific

Change

Specific

Sentences

Death Penalty

Parole

Indeterminate Sentencing

m na e ran a, eaBargaining, InsanityDefense, Exclusion Rule

uca on


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Crime in America [Compatibility Mode]