Chapter 2: Patterns of Crime

NCVS Findings

Parts of this chapter present both UCR and NCVS data in narrative form. Some of the more general findings from NCVS reports for the 1990s, however, reveal a number of consistent and interesting patterns. They include

• Nearly 35 million victimizations are reported to the NCVS annually.
• Approximately 23 million American households (25% of the total) report being touched by crime in any given year.
• City residents are twice as likely as rural residents to be criminally victimized.
• About one-half of all violent crimes, two-fifths of all household crimes, and slightly more than one quarter of all personal thefts are reported to the police.
• Men are more likely to be victimized than are women.
• Young people are more likely to be victimized than are older people.
• Blacks are more likely than members of any other racial group to be victimized.
• Members of lower-income families are more likely to become victims of violent crimes than are members of middle- and upper-income families.
• Young males display the greatest likelihood of violent victimization, while elderly females display the lowest.
• The chance of violent criminal victimization is much higher among young black males than among any other segment of the population.

Summary

Crime statistics have been gathered for at least a century and a half. While early data about crime may have been used to assess the moral health of nations, modern-day criminal statistics programs provide a fairly objective picture of crime in the United States and elsewhere. Statistics often form the basis for social policy, and innovative strategies such as the "three strikes and you're out" initiative of the Clinton administration are frequently based upon an understanding of crime provided by such information.

Today two large-scale government programs collect crime data. One, the National Crime Victimization Survey, is run by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and provides yearly reports on the criminal victimization of households and individuals. The other, the Uniform Crime Reporting Program, is administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and annually collects information on crimes reported to the police and on arrests throughout the country.

As we have seen, the social correlates of crime in America include age, sex, race, and social class. Although crime statistics do not tell the whole story, and there are many other forms of crime, it appears from the best information available that young black males are especially overrepresented in American street crime statistics.

Other than gender, age, and ethnicity, social class can be a significant indicator of the likelihood of criminal involvement. Suffice it here to say that crimes are committed by members of all social classes. As we will recognize in later chapters, however, since powerful classes make the laws they are both less apt to have need of breaking them and are probably more committed to preservation of the status quo. Hence, many offenders, especially those arrested for street, property, and predatory crimes, come from the lower social classes.

Some people argue that crime statistics do not justify the degree of fear Americans express about crime. Others suggest that statistics are misleading and that they do not provide a true picture of crime in America. Even though the actual incidence of crime is difficult to measure, however, crime statistics do provide us with an appreciation for the extent of the problems facing victims of crime, social policymakers, and law enforcement personnel today.

Discussion Questions

Note: you may be requested by your instructor to e-mail the answers to these questions to his or her office. If so, be sure to add your name (or other identifying information) to your answers, since your e-mail address may not tell your instructor who you are.

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1. What are the major differences between the NCVS and the UCR? Can useful comparisons be made between these two crime indices? If so, what might such comparisons consist of?
2. What is a crime rate? How are rates useful? How might both the NCVS and UCR make better use of rates?
3. What are the reasons victims don't report crimes to the police? Which crimes appear to be the most underreported? Why are those crimes so infrequently reported? Which crimes appear to be the most frequently reported? Why are they so often reported?
4. From a study of the incidence of crimes and crime rates discussed in this chapter do you feel that the seemingly widespread fear of crime among Americans is justified? Why or why not?
5. This chapter discusses the losses due to crime. Can you think of any ways in which "losses due to crime" might be measured other than those discussed here? If so, what might they be?
6. This chapter seems to say that black people appear to be overrepresented in many categories of criminal activity. Do you believe that the statistics cited in this chapter accurately reflect the degree of black-white involvement in crime? Why or why not? How might they be invalid?

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