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.
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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….....
Freilich, J. D., Chermak, S. M., Belli, R., Gruenewald, J., & Parkin, W. S. (2014). Introducing the United States extremis crime database (ECDB). Terrorism and Political Violence, 26(2), 372-384.
Greene, A. M., & Kirton, G. (2015). The dynamics of managing diversity: A critical approach. Routledge.
Jacobs, J. B., & Eisler, B. (2013). The Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990. Victims of Crime and the Victimization Process, 6, 113.
Stevens, T., & Morash, M. (2015). Racial/ethnic disparities in boys’ probability of arrest and court actions in 1980 and 2000: The disproportionate impact of “getting tough” on crime. Youth violence and juvenile justice, 13(1), 77-95.
