Paper Example on Uniform Crime Report

Definition and Description of the Uniform Crime Report

The uniform crime report is a general effort by the state, country, tribunal and the federal enforcement agencies to give the country's view of crimes that are brought to their attention. The report involves a comprehensive collection of statistical data on the eight crime offences. For example, murder robbery, rape, aggravated assaults, Burglary, arsons, and theft (Marwah, n.d). These crimes are used in the report since they tend to happen with regularity and in most parts of the country. The uniform crime report data acts as a crucial resource for various real-world applications such as in the law enforcement administrator, management, police officers safety training and in research. The report statistics are also used by the Bureau of justice to allocate funds to the state law enforcement. The funds are used for states law enforcement, technical assistance, local initiatives, training, and information system.

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Description of the Data-Gathering Strategy for Your Report and a Rationale for Why You Chose This Technique

I used the qualitative data gathering methods since this method tends to view life as people experience it. I chose this data gathering strategy since it involves, inductive reasoning, explanatory research questions, orientation to the social context and reasons why the participants attach to each event and their lives. This data gathering strategy involves various research designs that include

Observation Methods

This method involves observing a group of participants to varying degrees during the process of data collection. I chose the observation method since it enables me to understand the real cause of the increased crime cases and other human behaviors in the area. The observation method is mainly used when asking questions to the interviewee.

Document Review

This method involves going through criminal records to identify the number of crimes recorded or reported. I choose this method because it helps me get the accurate statistics of the various crimes committed in the area. Document review also helps to compare the statistical data. For example, comparing the statistics of specific crime within a given period to identify whether there was an increase or a decrease in various types of crimes.

In-Depth Interview

This method involves seeking the real cause of increased criminal activities using open-ended questions to identify the in-depth information from the interviewee perception and feelings. This method will help me get the information that was left out in the documents and police recordings. This information to be gathered is effective in the statistical data analysis.

Discussion of the Crime Trends Comparing Happy Town, Frown Town, Smooth Town, and Cool Town Over the Past Five Years

Murder and Non-negligent Manslaughter

This is the willful killing of one individual by another person. In a happy town, the rate of murder and non-negligent manslaughter cases had increased from 2010 when no murder case was recorded to seven cases in 2014. However, the rate of murder has remained constant from the year 2015 to 2014. The flown town has had a very low number of murder cases within the six years period. The town recorded no murder case from the year 2014 to 2015, despite the increase in population in the town. This shows that law enforcement is putting much effort to ensure there are no cases of murder in the town. In smooth town, the number of murder cases has been constant with an average of four deaths except in 2010 when there were no cases of deaths. However, the number of deaths has been noted to increase in the past three years from three deaths in 2013 to 5 deaths in 2015. The death rate seems to be increasing with the increase in population. The cool town also recorded a low number of murder cases within the six years with only with only four cases recorded in 2012 and 2013. The town did not record any murder cases in the year 2014 and 2015, which shows improvement.

Forcible Rape

The happy town recorded a continuous increase in cases of rape, that is from two cases in 2010 to twelve cases in 20 15. The number of rape cases in the town seems to be increasing with the decrease in the town's population. Frown town recorded an average of one rape case within the six years, which is lower compared to other towns such as the happy town. However, the town has recorded a constant number of rape cases in the year 2014 and 2015. In smooth town, the number of rape cases has been increasing with the increase in the town's population. The rape cases increased from three cases in 2011 to five case in 2015. The cases of rape in cool town seem to be lower compared to other towns such as smooth town and happy town. The town has recorded an average of one rape case within the six years. The town also recorded an increase in rape cases from 2013 to 2014 then the cases remained constant in 2015, which shows that law enforcement did not put efforts to reduce the rape cases.

Robbery

Happy town recorded an increase in the number of robbery cases from thirty-six cases in 2010 to fifty-six cases in 2015. The robbery cases have been increasing with the decrease in population, which shows that law enforcement had not been putting the right effort to reduce these cases. The town also recorded the highest robbery cases as compared to other towns. Frown town recorded a continuous increase in robbery cases from eight cases in 2010 to thirty-four cases in 2014; however, the number of cases reduced in 2015, therefore, recording twenty-six robberies. This shows that law enforcement is putting more efforts to reduce robberies. The smooth town has the recorded the lowest number of robbery cases as compared to the other towns. However, the number of robbery cases have been increasing annually which shows that law enforcement in the town should put more focus on robbery cases. The cool town had a continuous increase in robbery cases from 2010 to 2014, while in 2015 the town's robbery cases reduced by twelve, this shows that the law enforcement in the area had put bit more effort to reduce the cases.

Aggravated Assault

Happy town recorded a continuous increase in the number of aggravated assaults from seventy-two cases in 2010 to eighty-six cases in 2015. The town also recorded the highest cases of aggravated assaults as compared to other towns with an average of seventy-nine cases within the six years period. Frown town recorded a continuous increase in aggravated cases from fifty-three cases in 2010 to sixty-five cases in 2014; however, the cases reduced in 2015 to fifty-three, which shows that the police force had put the right measures in place. The smooth town recorded a drop in the number of aggravated cases from seventy-eight cases in 2010 to seventy-five cases in 2011; however, the incidences of aggravated cases increased continuously to eighty cases in 2015. Smooth town recorded a significantly high number of aggravated assaults within the six years with an average of seventy-seven cases. The town also had the highest increase in the number of aggravated cases between the year 2014 and 2015 where a rise of five cases was recorded. Cool town had a continuous increase in the number of aggravated cases between 2010 and 2014 where the cases raised from fifty-three to sixty-five, however, the cases reduced in 2015 to fifty-three cases which show that police had put effort to reduce the cases.

Burglary

In Happy, town number of burglary cases seems to be increasing with the decrease in the size of the population within the six years period. The number of burglary cases seems to be fluctuating from year to year; there is no constant trend of either an increase or decrease. For the case of frown town, the number of burglary cases has been reducing continuously with the increase in population from eighteen cases in 2012 to fourteen cases in 2015. This shows the law enforcement made many efforts. While In the cool town the burglary cases increased from ten cases in 2010 to seventeen cases in 2014, however, the cases reduced to fourteen from 2013 to 2015, which shows that there were measures in place to curd the cases.

Larceny-Theft

Happy town had the highest cases of larceny-theft compared to the other towns such as smooth town and cool town. The town's larceny-theft cases also increased with the increase in population from one hundred and sixty-two cases in 2010 to two hundred and fourteen cases in 2015; however, there was a slight drop in the number of larceny cases between the year 2012 and 2013, which then continued to increase until 2015. The flown town has been recording a continuous increase in larceny cases with an increase in population from one hundred and forty cases in 2010 to one hundred and forty-three in 2014; however, the cases reduce significantly in the following year 2015 up to one hundred and twenty-six. This shows that there were effective measures in place thus the high drop. In the smooth town the number of larceny cases reported had increased continuously from one hundred and sixty-one case in 2011 to one hundred and sixty-seven in 2014, however, the number of cases reduced to one hundred and sixty-one cases in 2015. In cool town, the number of larceny cases increased from one hundred and thirty-nine cases in 2011 to one hundred and forty-three cases in 2014, however, in the following year 2015, there was a significant drop in the number of cases to one hundred and twenty-six. This shows the effectiveness of the measures put in place by law enforcement.

Motor Vehicle Theft

Happy town has recorded an average of twenty motor vehicle theft cases within the six years period, with the number of cases fluctuating every year however between the year 2014 and 2015 the number of cases has reduced by one. Frown town recorded an average of nineteen motor vehicle theft cases with the number of cases fluctuating every year. In the year 2014 to 2015, the number of cases reduced significantly. The smooth town recorded the lowest number of motor vehicle cases with an average of eighteen cases. The number of cases also fluctuated yearly. There was no constant flow either increase or decrease in the number of cases. In the case of a cool town, they recorded an average of nineteen motor vehicle theft cases, on the other hand, the number of theft cases also fluctuated annually. Therefore in all four towns, the information shows that the measures in place were not very effective thus the continuous fluctuation of the number of cases.

Reference

Marwah, S. (n.d.). Uniform Crime Report. Encyclopedia of Social Problems. doi:10.4135/9781412963930.n593