UCR Uniform Crime Report

UCR Uniform Crime Report

Uniform Crime Report

It is the belief of some people that the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) system, through the Uniform Crime Reports collected by the FBI, provides a completely accurate indicator of crime in the United States. However, not everyone shares this opinion. There are two reasons why some people feel the UCR is not accurate as a representation of crime throughout the United States, and both of them are highly valid in nature. First, the UCR is a voluntary program (UCR, n.d.). This means that the areas that report to it can do so only if they want to. They do not need to report if they choose not to do so, and they may also not report every crime or every group of crimes. Second, there are only 18,000 law enforcement agencies reporting, and they can only report crimes they are notified about (UCR, n.d.). This could be problematic because there are many other agencies that do not report the crimes in their areas, and there are many people who are victims of crime and do not report it for various reasons.

Part of the problem with the UCR is that the FBI does not collect the data itself. Instead, it relies on the reporting organizations to send it data (Lynch & Addington, 2007). There are two major groups, or categories, or crimes that get reported. These are Part I offenses and Part II offenses. Within Part I there are two subcategories. These are violent crimes and property crimes. Rapes, murders, robberies, and aggravated assaults are classified as being violent crimes, while property crimes include burglary, arson, larceny-theft, and auto theft (Lynch & Addington, 2007). These Part I offenses are often called Index Crimes (UCR, n.d.). They are, typically, more likely to be reported to the police because they are more serious. Since police departments are more likely to report to the UCR than other agencies, this also means these serious crimes will be reported to the UCR and the number of them that occurs will be more accurately measured.

For Part II crimes, that strong reporting is not always the case. Drug offenses, simple assaults, vagrancy, vandalism, sex offenses, and similar crimes are all reported as Part II offenses (UCR, n.d.). Since these crimes are not considered to be as serious as issues like rape and murder, they are not always reported to police. That is especially true if the crime is committed by one criminal toward another, such as in the case of a drug deal that ends badly. The wronged party, who is also a criminal, is very likely not going to report the issue to police. Many victims of crime each year fail to report the incident to the police, for various reasons (Lynch & Addington, 2007). They may feel as though they were partly to blame, may be unsure of whether what took place was actually a crime, or may not trust the police. They may also avoid reporting of the crime because they do not see the value in reporting it, or they may fear retaliation if they alert authorities.

When the police are not alerted to a crime, they cannot investigate it. They also cannot report it, so it will not appear as part of the UCR. That is detrimental to the entire country, because it does not fairly indicate the level of crime that is taking place. In order for the UCR to provide an accurate picture of the level of crime throughout the county, every police department and other reporting authority would have to be notified of every crime, and then those authorities would have to report all of those crimes to the FBI for the UCR (Lynch & Addington, 2007). Until and unless that is done, the reporting will simply not be as accurate as it could be. There is information provided on crimes, and that does help people determine how dangerous the country might be, but those who use the UCR as an accurate tool for criminal activity can fail to realize the voluntary and under-reporting nature of that particular tool. Crimes are reported every month, and the UCR states that 93% of the population is represented by them (UCR, n.d).

The UCR information has been around for a very long time. It was started in 1927 and 1930 was the first year a report was actually generated (Rosen, 1995). In January of that year, approximately 20% of the U.S. population was represented by the information provided, which came from 400 cities in 43 states (Rosen, 1995). From that point, the number of reporting cities and agencies started to grow. There were eight serious crimes and 21 crimes that were not considered to be as serious on the UCR by 1985 (Rosen, 1995). It was during that time period that the UCR was split into Part I (the eight serious crimes) and Part II (the 21 lesser crimes) offenses (Rosen, 1995). The Part II crimes were not as commonly reported at that point in time, and that has not changed. They still continue to be reported less commonly than the more violent and serious crimes that make up the Part I index. However, citizens are encouraged to report any and all legitimate crime to police. That is the only way to get an accurate depiction of how much crime is really taking place in the country, or in a particular area.