Activities of the U.S. Criminal Justice System

¶ … activities of the U.S. criminal justice system focus for the most part on immediate events. Nonetheless, it is important to take a broad look at changes in criminal rate across a period of time, in order to comprehend the context in which individual crimes occur, and establish better means of minimizing their incidence. The present work's aim is to analyze characteristics of New York City's crime rates from the past three years, as reported by authorities, and envision a setting whereby criminality might diminish.

Firstly, local data gathered consistently by The Division of Criminal Justice Services from year to year is to be compared and contrasted in order to identify and assess New York City's important crime trends. The following table illustrates the results pertaining to the analysis.

New York City crime statistics of the last three years

2010

2011

2012

Difference in Percentage

2011 compared to 2010

2012 compared to 2011

Violent Crimes

Murder

-3,92%

-18,64%

Rape

+5,41%

+6,41%

Robbery

19,608

19,773

20,201

+0,84%

+2,16%

Agg. Assault

27,309

29,829

31,211

+9,23%

+4,63%

Property Crimes

Burglary

17,926

18,159

18,635

+1,30%

+2,62%

Larceny

111,37

112,864

115,935

+1,34%

+2,72%

Motor vehicle theft

10,319

9,434

8,190

-8,58%

-13,19%

Tabel 1: Crime, Arrest and Firearm Activity Report: Data Reported through April 30, 2013 (DCJS, 2013)

Thus, the DCJS records concerning violent and property crimes over the time span of 2010-2012 reveal several facts. To begin with, larceny is by far the most frequently occurring crime, followed at a considerable distance by aggravated assault, then robbery, burglary, motor vehicle theft, rape, and lastly, murder.

Murder cases from the New York jurisdiction amounted to 536 in 2010, decreased to 515 in 2011, and settled at 419 in 2012 (DCJS, 2013). Therefore, murders registered a steady decline during these three years in the designated area. Similarly, motor vehicle thefts decreased considerably over time, from 10,319 in 2010, to 9,434 in 2011 and 8,190 in year 2012 (DCJS, 2013), which clearly indicates that New York City is exhibiting a continuously downgrading trend in motor vehicle theft cases.

On the other hand, rape crimes numbered 1036 victims in 2010, followed by 1092 in 2011, and reached a peak of 1162 in 2012 (DCJS, 2013). In addition, there were 27,309 cases of aggravated assault in 2010, followed by 29,829 in 2011 and 31,211 in 2012 (DCJS, 2013). Consequently, rape and aggravated assault represent the most notably increasing types of crime in the area of New York City.

Moreover, minor elevating rates pertain to robberies, burglaries and larcenies starting from 2010. Specifically, 19,608 robberies were recorded in 2010, followed by 19,773 in 2011 and 20,201 in 2012, together with 17,926 burglaries in 2010, which reached a value of 18,159 one year later and 18,635 in 2012 (DCJS, 2013). Finally, 111,37 larceny incidents occurred in 2010, 112,864 in 2011, and 115,935 in 2012 (DCJS, 2013). Hence, burglaries, larcenies and robberies altogether experienced a moderate increase in frequency.

Taking into account all the above-mentioned aspects, it is unexpected to note this direction that crime trends have taken in New York City, mainly because the local data is so strikingly discrepant with the general situation on a national level from the same period. According to a New York Times article, the number of violent and property crimes in the United States had begun to plummet significantly in 2010, with a prevalence in small towns, to what appeared to be "the lowest rate in nearly 40 years" (Oppel, 2011), and this amazed experts who, based on historical lessons, had foreseen that criminality would naturally increase along with the accelerating economic crisis.

Despite this generally positive state of affairs, New York City stood out through its astoundingly proliferating patterns of rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and larceny cases, while admittedly downgrading to -18,64% in murder cases and -13,19% in motor vehicle theft cases. In fact, whereas a uniformly spread, steady growth rate shared by some types of crime is not unusual, an element of surprise accompanies the realization that motor vehicle thefts and murders have converged in decreasing.

In the scenario where I were in charge of obtaining manpower with a budget that would permit me to hire eight officers, including investigative personnel and administrative personnel, the crime units which would be granted priority in adding manpower, would, according to the data, be those dealing with aggravated assaults and, most importantly, rape cases. This choice is justified by the alarming percentage that rape cases reached by 2012, namely 6,41% compared to the previous year, notwithstanding aggravated assaults' quota of 4,63%. Thus, these two types of crime are clearly problematic and require the most part of a forceful response.