Do “traditional” UCR/NIBRS and NCVS categories accurately reflect the changing nature of crime in America? Why or why not?
What will be an ideal response?
No, Today’s UCR/NIBRS Program provides annual data on the number of reported Part I offenses, or major crimes, as well as information about arrests that have been made for less serious Part II offenses. The Part I offenses are murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. The Part II offense category covers many more crimes, including drug offenses, driving under the influence, and simple assault. However, many crimes do not fall clearly into these categories, such as white-collar crime, computer crime, and high-technology crime, leading to their possible underrepresentation in today’s crime statistics. Similarly, so-called victimless crimes are underrepresented, as they are rarely reported to the police. Modifications to the UCR Program, which has traditionally provided only summary crime data, are occurring with the implementation of the new National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). NIBRS, which represents a significant redesign of the original UCR Program, gathers many details about each criminal incident, such as place of occurrence, weapon used, type and value of property damaged or stolen, the personal characteristics of the offender and the victim, the nature of any relationship between the two, and the disposition of the complaint. However, it still may result in underrepresentation of many of these types of crime.
The NCVS collects data on only six major crimes and only includes data on victims aged 12 or older. It omits crimes against businesses and corporations, crimes against victims who are not in households, and victimless crimes. Like the UCR, it also includes a hierarchical counting system that counts only the most serious crime in a criminal event.
You might also like to view...
Being a victim of childhood sexual abuse does not fully explain engaging in child molestation as an adult
a. True b. False
The Supreme Court case Maryland v. Buie determined the scope of an incident search
A. True B. False
To be __________ in the United States is to have one's racial experience be considered the normative experience, to often have access to positions of power in various economic and political systems, and to be able to pass judgment on the legitimacy of the racial experiences of non-whites
Fill in the blank(s) with correct word
In contrast to Roman law systems, which are based on legal codes, the English common law developed primarily through _____________
a. judicial decisions b. statutes c. administrative orders d. royal edicts