Week 2

After this week's readings, please consider how statistics relate to what you read last week about
politics in the criminal justice system. How do statistics impact what politicians do to change our
criminal justice system? How do statistics impact the public perceptions of crime and the criminal
justice system? How can the way we track and use statistics be improved to better how the public and
politicians understand and talk about the challenges in criminal justice today?

Your answer must be at least 200 words and you must respond to two classmates, with each response
at least 100 words long. You should post your first post by Wednesday, classmate responses
by Sunday. Sources must be cited in APA format.

In the process of developing strategies and policies, statistics play an important role as it shed some light
on the issues that a particular jurisdiction faces. In the context of criminal justice, federal and state
officials can use the statistics on crime rates in order to effectively develop new policies or amend
existing policies and to efficiently allocate its limited resources and formulate their budget in order to
combat crimes. Statistics also enable law enforcement professional to predict crimes and set up
intervention measures (Walden University, 2021). For instance, they can look at when and where crimes
usually happen and how to prevent them.

Also, by understanding the demographics of crime, policymakers would be able to uncover the
underlying social issues which resulted in individuals committing of crimes (Grattet, R., 2009). By
understanding and addressing the root cause of the crime, crime rates and the likelihood of reoffending
can be reduced. For example, does the financial circumstances of the lower income groups drive them
to commit crimes to make ends meet and what can be done about it?

Not only that, statistics also show the general public how effective is a particular policy by making a
comparison in the crime rates before and after a policy or strategy has been implemented. However,
their perception of crime and the result shown in the statistics might differ due to the unreported crimes
or skewed reporting. While statistics has its benefits, it can also cause fear, which can spur them into
petitioning for more stringent policies (Baier, D., Hanslmaier, M., & Kemme, S., 2016) or taking additional
precautionary measures to protect themselves.

The way we track and use statistics can be improved by ensuring that the sample used is representative
of the population being studied and ensuring that there is consistency in the data reported (Turbes, C.,
2021). It would also be helpful if the reports indicate source and the demographics of the sample
obtained.

US has three main sources of database pertaining to crimes. Namely, the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR),
National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) and National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS).
Would we be able to obtain a more holistic view of the crime rates if we converge the databases into
one?

Reference List:
 Walden University, 2021. Retrieved September 07, 2021, from
https://www.waldenu.edu/online-bachelors-programs/bs-in-criminal-justice/resource/why-
national-crime-statistics-are-important
  Krivo, L., & Peterson, R. (1996). Extremely Disadvantaged Neighborhoods and Urban Crime.
Social Forces,75(2), 619-648.
 Grattet, R. (2009). The Urban Ecology of Bias Crime: A Study of Disorganized and Defended
Neighborhoods. Social Problems, 56(1), 132-150.
 Boardman, J., Finch, B., Ellison, C., Williams, D., & Jackson, J. (2001). Neighborhood Disadvantage,
Stress, and Drug Use among Adults. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 42(2), 151-165.
 Baier, D., Hanslmaier, M., & Kemme, S. (2016). Public Perceptions of Crime. In Baier D. & Pfeiffer C.
(Eds.), Representative Studies on Victimisation: Research Findings from Germany (pp. 39-64). Baden-
Baden, Germany: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH. Retrieved September 7, 2021, from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv941sz3.5
 Turbes, C. (2021, July 07). Improving Crime Data to Make Better Policy. Data Coalition.
https://www.datacoalition.org/improving-crime-data-to-make-better-policy/

Discussion 1
In the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)’s Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), the
National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ (BJS) National
Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) are the three major national crime data-gathering programs. (McKee,
2016). As a society, we make judgement about certain statistics provided by news media outlets; our
politicians often propose, support, and create laws based on statistics. But as previous research has
shown us, statistics are not magical. Nor are they always true--or always false. (Best, 2001). Therefore,
we should view statistics as a source of information and a tool, along with all other facts to make a
judgement.

The Bureau of Justice studies crimes and the judicial systems such as interviewing victims of crimes
to provide statistics and evaluate the systems. (Bureau of Justice Statistics, n.d.). Politicians could and
will try to manipulate a particular statistic to the advancement in their political realm and to promote
their causes. That’s why it is important for us to evaluate the numbers provided, so we can distinguish
between a good and a bad one. Unfortunately, most of the time, the public will simply accept the
statistics given without question, as if it is part of the Ten Commandments. We learn that bad statistics
are bad and take on lives of their own, but they are also potentially important, because politicians can
use those numbers to create public outrage and make poor policy choices.

We should understand that Part 1 and Part 2 crimes are not “weighted” (Vittert, 2018), so essentially
a rape (Part 1) is reported as the same crime as a bar fight / simple assault (Part 2) in the statistics. Thus,
this very flawed metric creates confusion if we just look at the numbers provided and not in other
aspects. Very few of us have time to set aside and start looking into the back story of a new number
provided, so we need to appreciate that statistics, while always imperfect, can be useful. (Best, 2001).

Indeed, politicians, more often than not, will use statistics to garner support from the public. However,
they can actually do a lot of good with statistics too, if they choose. By looking at the demographics,
they can possibly uncover the root cause of the crime and address it. This might reduce the crime rates
and the likelihood of offenders reoffending.

You are right that the public will simply accept the statistics without question. I also feel that sometimes,
when we read something in the media, it is hard to determine whether the statistic provided is a good
one, especially when we cannot determine their source and how they made the calculations.

Discussion 2
This week we learned more about how the United States collects it's crime data and how the FBI's
Uniform Crime Reports categorizes crimes reported in various cities throughout the country. According
to an article about why the statistics should be better in America, the author states more in depth of
how the UCR classifies these crimes into two catergories. "Part 1 crimes include murder, rape, robbery,
larceny-theft and arson...Part 2 crimes include simple assault, loitering, embezzlement, DUI's, and
prostitution- the less serious crimes." (Vittert 2018)

The issue that arises with this is the seriousness or the weight of the crime is not put into account for
these statistics. For example, robbing someone isn't as bad as murdering someone, both are crimes, yes,
but there's a clear difference from stealing someone's wallet compared to their life, it's irreplaceable.
Regardless, the statistics for Part 1 (serious crimes) will increase with both offenses happening. In the
same article, the author compares how the cites of Chicago and St. Louis greatley differ in population
but are similarly considered dangerous cities of the United States. This happens when you only look at
the rate of say, homicides per 100,000 people in each area instead of the whole. This smaller fraction of
the population boosts up the statistical crime rate in St. Louis, even though the population is about
310,000 compared to Chicago's 2.7 million population. This included with the fact that murders and
robberies are categorized together, can be used politcally to raise awareness to the locals and possibly
the nation. (Vittert 2018)

Politicians can use this misguided information to raise fear and concern in the public to maybe gain
more money for a better police force or even get the presidents attention for aide. Hopefully, with the
National Incident-Based Reporting System, which is a more accuarte way of reporting for better
statistics. This report will include information about the victim, the offeneder, the crime(s) and will most
likely help the public and politicians learn more about why certain crimes are worse than others and
how frequently crimes occur.

I agree with you. With a more reliable source of statistics, we would be able to understand the crimes
that occurred and its frequency. The politicians would be able to make a more informed decision and
develop a more effective policies in countering the crimes. They would also be able to identify the
underlying issues which drives people to crime.

The article did mention that one of the ways to improve statistics is the assign weightage for the
different crimes. I feel it would be difficult to place and agree on a numerical value for each of the
crimes because different people would have different opinion on which crime is more serious than the
other, and there would be varying factors in each case. For example, we have two murder cases. In one
case, the victim was killed instantaneously. In the second case, the victim was tortured for prolonged
period of time before being killed. Would both murder cases have the same weightage? I feel it would
be hard to determine it, even if it feels like one is worse than the other.