Part 1
Individual agencies categorize criminal data that is compiled in a report as Uniform Crime Reporting. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is in charge of the Uniform Crime Reports program which is authorized to access data from local police reports. The UCR avails vital information on the rate of crimes and rates of rape cases. This program comprises of the National Incident-Based Reporting System and the Summary Reporting System.
Initially back in 1929 when the program began, it was founded by police commissioners who saw the essence of establishing a trustworthy criminal statistics for the US ("FBI — Uniform Crime Reporting," n.d.). In the contemporary generation, the reports are a crucial stepping stone in the fight of criminology within the nation’s borders.
Public safety officials such as police officers or sheriffs use various resources in grouping crimes in their respective counties or towns. An example of such resources is the fusion centers which an association is created by the department of homeland security with the aim of receiving, analyzing, and propagating intelligence data to and fro the relevant security bodies. Additionally, these centers guide police officers and sheriffs on how to categorize the diversified types of crimes within their areas of jurisdiction. They are also in a capacity to gauge whether a crime falls under homicide or terrorism.
Another resource used by sheriffs is the Central Investigative Agency which also aids them in categorizing and analyzing crimes. This agency also has the mandate of assembling intelligence information and forwards it to superior policy makers for assessment. Hence it is evident that local police officers and sheriffs can reap off benefits these facilities by gaining experience on how to classify criminal cases within their area code ("Uniform Crime Reporting Program Data: National Incident-Based Reporting System, 2011," 2011). Last but not least the other resource at the disposal of public safety officials is the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is a department that is well armed in tackling any criminology in the US. It has experts who can effectively classify and analyze different criminal activities within the state; hence public safety officials can apply their competence in handling crimes within their jurisdictions.
One of the pros of the Uniform Crime Reporting System and the yearly reports is that they both put crime data in a consumable format. This comes in handy for an average individual who is concerned and might want to know the risk of a crime in the residence. By being availed with information about which is the safest part of the state citizens can protect their property and loved ones to the best of their ability. Another advantage of the work of UCR is how it allows people to study the historical perspective of crime. The trends of criminology information assist in understanding what approaches were found to be viable and what trends should just be done away with. Obviously by knowing a fruitful and unsuccessful strategy prior committed mistakes are avoided.
However despite all the pros associated with UCR it has got its misfits. For instance, it is not a 100 percent accurate. Some of the crimes in the book are hardly reported to police stations. Therefore by the uniform crime report containing data about crimes reported to law enforcement officials violent crimes like other sexual assaults are not given the attention deserved. Another shortcoming the challenges the UCR and yearly reports are the often changes in local laws causing information spikes. Since the law changes year in year out so does the uniform crime report as well. This implies that to find trends the data has to be extremely mined to avoid any errors.
Part 2
The UCR helps public safety officials in preventing and forecasting future crimes since it has criminal statistics that are precise and reliable. By this report being well analyzed by the law officials, they will be in a capacity to know when, where and at what time a criminal activity will take place. Prediction factors of crimes are also made known to the law enforcer officials by these reports. With this knowledge at hand, more police patrols are initiated in the alleged crime hotbed and hence preventing crime from occurring.
Moreover, the Uniform Crime Report helps in keeping track of crime trends and approximating how much crime takes place in the United States yearly (United States & Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, 2013). This aids in knowing strategies of curbing crime that is efficient and those that have not impact. Considering a criminal activity such as rape which can be classified as a violent crime in densely populated cities of America such as New York it was very high in comparison other minor towns where it was almost zero.
Based on the rapidly rising population of people in New York the chances are that incidences of rape crime are likely to raise. Neighboring cities have a low number of this type of the offence, and if they were to catch up then, the crime rate has to be rising by more than 100%. Looking at the criminal statistical data on rape in way back 1950 in New York it stood at about 1030 reported cases. Over half a millennium later the trend is still the same with New York having the highest level of rape crimes in both periods.
Most definitely to be able to predict crime rate 20 years down the line from 1970’s statistics federal officials must keenly study the population growth of the subject area. This owes to the reason that the rate of crime is directly proportional to the size of the population of a zone. Statistics in the UCR is much reliable as it is collected by law enforcement officials who specified guidelines issued to them by the FBI. Moreover, these officers act in good faith as they are not supposed to report their criminal incidents for compilation in the annual UCR.
Part 3
The society has always had a misconception that only men can make real criminal justice professionals. This is truly falsehood that has been instilled in people's mind by the classic ideal of the male lawyers, judges or police officers (Gau, 2016). But the criminal justice career is not only for man as women can equally work in any position in the law enforcement. Research has shown growth in women across many industries, and they account for slight almost have the percentage of America’s total population. In the criminal justice, field decisions are not just made based on one's point of view.
However, they are made after accessing and keenly analyzing statistical data of a crime in a given region. This entices an individual into venturing the field especially for a concerned citizen who sees the need of having a positive change in the current state in societies. Another thing that is a motivating factor to keep pressing on with a career in criminal justice is the sort of teamwork starting from the public safety officials to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Also getting to understand the importance of the Uniform Crime Reports program reveals that investing in classifying and analyzing crime is not a mere profession. Focusing on the UCR can be a wise thing to do as the field is not ventured in by many individuals. This program is also like the backbone of the fight against crime, hence by having competent and passionate experts research and categorize crimes living standards of Americans will be improved.
References
FBI — Uniform Crime Reporting. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/ucr
Gau, J. M. (2016). Statistics for criminology and criminal justice.
Uniform Crime Reporting Program Data: National Incident-Based Reporting System, 2011. (2011). ICPSR Data Holdings.
United States, & Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. (2013). Uniform crime reporting program data: Arrests by age, sex, and race, 2011.
