Patterns of Crime

Chapter 2
Patterns of Crime
History of Crime Statistics
 Gathering of crime statistics relatively new
phenomenon
 Inferences based on statistical

demographics date back 200 years
 Thomas Robert Malthus
Criminology Today, 5th ed © 2009 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
Frank Schmalleger 2 All Rights Reserved.
History of Crime Statistics
 Andre Michel Guerry (1802-1866)
 Calculated per capita crime rates in France
in early 1800s
 Adolphe Quetelet (1796-1864)
 Statistical analysis of crime in Europe
 Thermic law – crime varies with seasons and
climate: High summer and during hot
periods.
 Led to development of statistical school
Crime Statistics Today
 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)
 Conducted by Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
 Criminal Victimization in the United States
 Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program

 Conducted by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
 Crime in the United States
 National Incident-Based Reporting System

(NIBRS)
 Collected by FBI
Programmatic Problems with
Available Data
BJS and FBI information differ significantly,
not strictly comparable
 Examine crime problem from different
perspectives
 Procedural and methodological differences
 Definitions vary between agencies, none
based on state or federal statutes
The UCR Program
 Crime Index
 Provided crime rate to be compared over time
and across locations
 Expressed as:
X number of offenses per 100,000 people
 Term discontinued in 2005
Part I/Index Crimes
Violent Crimes Property Crimes
 Murder  Burglary
 Rape  Larceny
 Robbery  Motor vehicle theft
 Aggravated assault  Arson
Cleared Crimes
 Cleared/solved crimes:
 Arrest made
 Perpetrator known but arrest not possible
 Clearance rate:
 Proportion of reported/discovered crimes
within given offense category that are cleared
UCR Problems
 UCR is a reporting program
 Only includes crimes known to police
 Seriously underestimates true nature of crime
in the U.S.
 Dark figure of crime
UCR Problems
Reasons for failure to report crime (e.g.,
rape)
 Fear of perpetrator
 Shame
 Fear of not being believed
 Fear of further participation in the criminal
justice system
NIBRS
 Funded in part by Federal Crime
Identification Technology Act of 1998
 Still being phased in
 Most important feature is incident-driven
nature
 Collects detailed data on circumstances
surrounding each criminal incident
NIBRS
 Crime definitions revised
 46 Group A offenses in 22 crime categories
 11 Group B offense categories (collect arrest
data only)
 Reports more detailed than UCR program
 Include information about offense, parties
involved, property (if any)
Hate Crimes
 Hate/bias crimes:
Crimes motivated by religious, ethnic, racial,
or sexual orientation prejudice, or by bias
against persons with disabilities
 Collection mandated by Hate Crime

Statistics Act of 1990
Hate Crimes
 Hate groups
 KKK, Aryan Nations, National Alliance, etc.
 Existed for many years
 Most hate crimes not committed by hate
groups
 Majority of hate crimes are committed by

teens, primarily white males, acting alone
or in groups
Data Gathering Under the
NCVS
 NCVS began in 1972
 Information obtained through interviews

 Includes information on unreported crimes
 More accurate measure of incidence of crime
in U.S.
Data Gathering Under the
NCVS
 Data collected by U.S. Census Bureau
 42,000 households, 76,000 people
 Interviews at six-month intervals for three
years
 Anyone 12 years or older included
 Gathers information on victims and crimes
Crimes Included in NCVS
Violent Crimes Property Crimes
 Rape  Household burglar
 Personal robbery  Personal and
 Aggravated and household theft
simple assault  Motor vehicle theft
Does not include murder, arson, crimes against

businesses, or crimes against children under 12
Critique of the NCVS
 Possible overreporting
 Definitions of crime do not correspond to

federal or state statutes
 Recent changes in the NCVS make it

hard to compare earlier findings with
current data
Major Crime Shifts
 Early 1940s – sharp decrease in crime (WWII)
 1960s – 1990s – dramatic increase in crime
 Post-WWII baby-boomers entered crime-prone years
 Increased reporting and data collection
 Disruption of 1960s
 1991 – 2003 – decrease in crime
 Baby-boomers aging out of crime
 Stricter laws, expanded justice system
 Economic expansion
 Changing demographics, family planning
Next Crime Cycle?
 May be on verge of new cycle of increased
crime
 Possible causes
 Economic uncertainty, increased unemployment
 Growing teen population
 More ex-cons back on the street
 More gang influence
 Copycat crimes
 Social disorganization after natural disasters
The Crime Problem
 Do crime rates accurately measure
extent of crime problem in US?
 Official rates suggest crime decreasing
 Rates only based on small group of crimes
 Do not include drug offenses
 Correctional population might give better

picture of the crime problem
Crime in World Context
Violent crime rate in US much higher than in
other industrial democracies
 Elliott Currie argues that the drop in
crime is a “falling-off from an
extraordinary peak”
 Levels of violence in US still
unreasonably high
Criminality Index
 Criminality index – actual extent of the crime
problem
Criminality index = actual crime rate + latent crime rate
 Latent crime rate – rate of crime calculated on

basis of crimes likely to be committed by those
incapacitated by the system
Criminal Homicide
Homicide versus murder:
 Homicide: willful killing of one human
being by another
 Murder : criminal/unlawful homicide,

killing without legal justification or
excuse
Criminal Homicide
Types of murder:
 First-degree – planned, premeditated
 Second-degree – crime of passion
 Third-degree - negligent homicide,
involuntary manslaughter
 Felony murder – killing during the
commission of another felony
Forcible Rape
UCR/NIBRS – three categories
 Forcible rape
 Statutory rape
 Attempted forcible rape
Forcible Rape
Other types of rape:
 Spousal rape
 Gang rape
 Date rape
 Same-sex rape
Forcible Rape
Motivation of rapists:
 Contemporary thought sees rape as a
crime of power
 Rapists demean victims to feel powerful,
important
 Some scholars returning to emphasis on
sexual gratification as cause of rape
Robbery
 UCR/NIBRS definition
The unlawful taking or attempted taking of
property that is in the immediate possession of
another force or threat of force and/or by
putting the victim in fear
 NCVS definition also includes attempts
Robbery
 Highway/street robbery
 Strong-arm robbery
 Armed robbery
Assault
 Aggravated assault:
The unlawful attack by one person upon
another for the purpose of inflicting severe
or aggravated bodily injury
 Simple assault:
Attack without a weapon resulting either in
minor injury or in undetermined injury
requiring less than two days of
hospitalization
Burglary
 UCR/NIBRS definition
 The unlawful entry of a structure to commit
a felony or a theft
 Use of force not required
 Categories of burglary
 Forcible entry
 Attempted forcible entry
 Unlawful entry without force
Larceny
 UCR/NIBRS:
The unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or
riding away by stealth of property, other than
a motor vehicle, from the possession or
constructive possession of another
 NCVS – two categories

 Household larceny
 Personal larceny
Motor Vehicle Theft
 UCR/NIBRS - theft or attempted theft of
a motor vehicle
 Carjacking - stealing an occupied car

 Usually involves a weapon
 Victim frequently injured or killed
Arson
 Arson (UCR/NIBRS):
Any willful or malicious burning or attempt to
burn, with or without intent to defraud, a
dwelling house, public building, motor vehicle
or aircraft, personal property of another
 Not reported by NCVS
Arson
Motivations for arson:
 Thrill-seekers
 Vandals
 Pyromaniacs
 Arson for vengeance
 Vanity pyromaniacs
 Conceal other crimes
 Defrauding insurance companies – most
common motivation
Part II Offenses
 Less serious offenses
 Many are misdemeanors
 UCR only collects arrest data
 Includes victimless or “social order”

crimes
Other Sources of Data
 Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act of
1990
 Requires colleges/universities to report campus
crime statistics
 Campus Sexual Assault Victims’ Bill of Rights
 Amends 1990 Act
 Requires schools to develop policies to deal with
sexual assault on campus
 Campus Security Statistics web site
 Created by 1998 amendment
Unreported Crime
 Dark figure of crime:
 Unreported crimes not found in official crime
statistics
 Self-report surveys provide information on

this
 Anonymous respondents
 Report on crimes they have committed
Problems with Self-Report
Surveys
 Subjects usually young people
 Questions often focus on petty crimes
 Typically focus on juvenile delinquency
 No guarantee of respondent accuracy
Social Dimensions of Crime
 Aspects of crime and victimization as they relate
to socially significant attributes by which groups
are defined and according to which individuals
are assigned group membership
 Key social dimensions

 Gender
 Ethnicity/race
 Age
 Income/wealth
 Profession
 Social class/social standing
Correlations
 Connection or association observed to
exist between two measurable variables
 Positive
 Negative
 Correlation does not imply causation
 Spurious correlations
Age and Crime
 Age is negatively related to crime
 Desistance phenomenon –most forms of
criminality decrease with age
 Elderly may be involved in crime
 Less likely to commit street crime
 Generally commit crimes requiring special
skills, knowledge
Gender and Crime
Gender is called “the best single predictor of
criminality”
 Most crime committed by men
 Rate of female criminality has changed
little over time
 Women also victimized less frequently
than men (except for rape and spousal
abuse)
Race and Crime
 Apparent link between crime and race
 Race-based disparities in arrests, incarceration
 Differential treatment by justice system?
 William Wilbanks – Myth of a Racist Criminal Justice
System
 Race/crime relationship is a source of
divisiveness in American society
 Has led to increased fear of crime among
African-Americans
Social Class and Crime
 Prior to 1960, correlation between social class
and crime assumed
 Self-report studies in 1960s found rates of self-
reported crime consistent across social classes
 Class/crime relationship may be result of
discretionary practices within justice system
 Recent research supports class/crime
relationship

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Chapter 2

 Inferences based on statistical

 Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program

 National Incident-Based Reporting System

 Definitions vary between agencies, none

based on state or federal statutes

 Term discontinued in 2005

 Robbery  Motor vehicle theft

 Aggravated assault  Arson

 Dark figure of crime

 Fear of not being believed

 Fear of further participation in the criminal

 Collection mandated by Hate Crime

 Majority of hate crimes are committed by

 Information obtained through interviews

 Gathers information on victims and crimes

Does not include murder, arson, crimes against

 Definitions of crime do not correspond to

 Recent changes in the NCVS make it

 Correctional population might give better

Criminality index = actual crime rate + latent crime rate

 Latent crime rate – rate of crime calculated on

 Murder : criminal/unlawful homicide,

 Attempted forcible rape

sexual gratification as cause of rape

 NCVS definition also includes attempts

 NCVS – two categories

 Carjacking - stealing an occupied car

 Not reported by NCVS

 Many are misdemeanors

 UCR only collects arrest data

 Includes victimless or “social order”

 Self-report surveys provide information on

 Questions often focus on petty crimes

 Typically focus on juvenile delinquency

 No guarantee of respondent accuracy

 Key social dimensions

 Correlation does not imply causation

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