FBI Uniform Crime Reports

Part I Why Cautionary Notice Is Given Before Users Are Directed to The FBI’s Crime in The United States Publication Cautionary notice with regard to the ranking was needed after certain entities started using the unelaborate information offered by the publication for ranking different regions on their crime levels despite this information taking into account only a couple of variables, namely college enrollment and population size. The employment of only two correlates doesn’t suffice in offering decisive information.

Accurate ranking requires the consideration of several other relevant variables impacting crime type and volume; these include urbanization level; population density; variations in population composition (especially number of youth); economic conditions (e.g., employment availability, median income and poverty levels); population stability as regards resident mobility, transport modes, highway system and commuting patterns; climate; household conditions (family cohesion, divorce, etc.); cultural, religious, educational and recreational factors; effective law enforcement organizational strength; law enforcement’s investigative and administrative focus; prosecutorial, probational, judicial, and correctional policies; and residents’ crime reporting trends and crime-related attitudes (Freilich et al., 2014).

Additional factors contributing to the determination of an area’s crime levels and nature include the aggressiveness, human resource, and other strengths of the law enforcement body of the area. While the publication offers data on the numbers of civilian and sworn personnel, it may not be utilized as the sole basis for assessing community emphasis on law enforcement. For instance, one locality might have a greater reported crime rate owing to its law enforcers’ proactiveness in identifying offenses and not because more crime occurs there.

Residents’ crime reporting trends and attitudes regarding crime (particularly as regards minor offenses), affects rate of reported crimes as well (Freilich et.al, 2014). For evaluating different jurisdictions’ law enforcement reaction and criminality, various factors need to be considered that, though significantly affecting crime, cannot be applied pervasively to all areas and aren’t easily measurable. Jurisdiction-specific demographic and geographic factors need to be taken into account and applied for making a comprehensive, accurate crime evaluation in the jurisdiction.

Numerous information sources are accessible which can facilitate the exploration of factors impacting crime in any given area. For instance, data issued by the United States Census Bureau may help improve insights into an area’s population composition, including transience, ethnic/racial composition, gender and age based composition, dominant family structures and educational levels, which are all important factors in understanding and evaluating crime.

Hence, it is imperative for all information users that they adequately understand and assess crime levels and nature in the nation and in the 18,000+ jurisdictions that are represented by UCR (Uniform Crime Reporting) contributors (Jacobs & Eisler 2013). Part II Bias– A preconceived negative attitude or view concerning a particular group of individuals on grounds of their race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation or disability.

Bias Crime (or Hate Crime) – A crime motivated partly or wholly by the criminal’s bias against a particular gender, race, ethnic group, or religion, or against disabled individuals, or based on gender identity or sexual orientation. Hate Group– Organizations who aim primarily at promoting hatred, enmity and malevolence against individuals of a particular race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender or disability, different from those of organizational members (for instance, the American Nazi Party and the Ku Klux Klan).

Disability Bias– A preconceived negative attitude or view of a particular group of individuals on the basis of mental or physical impairments, whether permanent or temporary, congenital or heredity, or acquired due to injury, accident, illness or old age. Gender Bias (noun) - A preconceived negative attitude or view concerning an individual or group on the basis of perceived or actual gender. Gender Identity (noun) - An individual’s intrinsic sense that they are female, male, or both combined.

This may differ from the individual’s gender at birth. Gender Identity Bias– A preconceived negative attitude or view concerning an individual or group on the basis of their perceived or real gender identity (for instance, bias against gender-nonconforming or transgender persons).

Racial Bias– A preconceived negative attitude or view concerning a particular group of individuals sharing certain hereditarily or genetically transmitted physical traits such as skin color, eye color, hair color, facial features, and so forth, that sets them apart as a particular ‘race’ (for instance, Blacks, Whites, Asians, Hispanics, etc.). Ethnicity Bias– A preconceived negative attitude or view concerning a particular group of individuals identifying with one another owing to a shared heritage, typically a common culture, religion, language, and ideology which highlights a shared ancestry.

While race-based grouping depends largely on biological criteria, “ethnicity” integrates other cultural factors as well. Ancestry Bias– A preconceived negative attitude or view concerning a particular group of individuals on the basis of common descent or lineage. Religious Bias– A preconceived negative attitude or view concerning a particular group of individuals with identical religious views pertaining to God and the universe’s purpose and origin (for instance, Catholics, Protestants, Jews, atheists, etc.).

Sexual Orientation (noun) - An individual’s physical, emotional and romantic attraction towards those belonging to their own or the opposite gender (e.g., heterosexual, gay, lesbian, or bisexual). Sexual-Orientation Bias (noun) - A preconceived negative attitude or view concerning an individual or group on the basis of their perceived or real sexual orientation. Institutional bias entails institutional-level discriminatory practices that operate on mechanisms going beyond personal discrimination and bias.

It is an erroneous belief that discrimination against an out-group may be eliminated by eliminating personal negative associations, bigotries and stereotypes; even within ideal settings when no individual prejudice or stereotyping exists with regard to a particular group, discrimination can take place. This is a highly subtle case of institutional bias in which no particular person can be held easily accountable.

Motivated Bias Motivated bias typically occurs where victims and perpetrators belong to different genders, races, ethnic groups, or religions, or identify with a different gender identity or sexual orientation (For instance, a White perpetrator and Hispanic victim). Offenders may exhibit bias via bias-related written or verbal remarks or gestures suggesting bias (e.g., shouting any racial epithet, or leaving bias-related graffiti, drawings, symbols or markings (e.g., a swastika) on the scene of the crime).

Offenders may also use particular items or objects depicting bias, such as wearing hooded white sheets or leaving a cross burning at a victim’s doorstep when the victim belongs to a minority group tremendously outnumbered in the locality. The victim could have been visiting a locality with prior history of hate crime perpetration based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, gender identity, disability, or sexual orientation. Part III Yes, one continues to witness racial discrimination during arrests. Consider,.