Crime And Resources Essay, Research Paper

Crime in the United States (CIUS), published annually by the FBI, is a compilation of the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) provided by over 16,000 policing jurisdictions. It represents one of the two primary sources of data about crime in the United States, the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) being the other. While the NCVS is a very reliable indicator of national trends in crime, it is based on a survey of under 50,000 house- holds and thus cannot provide local information on crime, which is provided by the UCR and CIUS. The quality of the data provided to the FBI, however, is uneven. Reporting to the FBI remains for many jurisdictions a voluntary activity; although many States now mandate that agencies report crime and arrest data to them in our case SLED (which they then forward to the FBI), even in those States local agencies do not always comply. Moreover, despite the efforts of the FBI to maintain their quality, there are many gaps in the data that make their use questionable. While this has had limited impact in the past, the fact that the UCR data have, for the first time, been used to allocate Federal funds brings issues about data quality to center stage. In addition, in 1999 the FBI moved to implement an improved crime and arrest reporting system, the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), to augment the summary UCR data published in CIUS. It is hoped that the study of deficiencies in UCR data will be of use in planning for the full implementation of NIBRS. There is nothing here to show the emotional cost to neither the victims nor the economic strain that criminals place on the community. I agree that crime statistics are useful. However officers and departments must strive to see beyond the numbers.