Crime

I perceive crime as actions or behavior that is contrary to the rule of law and despise the

moral values that deserve punishment or penalty. Crime is an unlawful act or offense that is

punishable by statutory laws and the punishment is enforced by men in authority. Though crime

can be classified into different levels based on the magnitude of effects or reputations they instill

on victims. For instance, there are capital crimes (felonies), infractions, and misdemeanors.

Some common crimes in the country are stealing, dealing or possession of illegal drugs, robbery

with violence, kidnapping, fraud, vandalism, forgery, arson, burglary, larceny, embezzlement, or

driving while under influence of alcohol just but a few. Under federal laws, felonies are crimes

that are punishable by death or a longer jail term (could be life imprisonment).

Crime is everywhere across the country, and frequent reports by journalists are an

indication that crime is rampant, especially in my state (New Jersey). However, it’s quite

impractical to quantify crime only by perception, therefore to have an accurate response to how

much crime occurs in New Jersey and the country as a whole. Though crimes are still a major

security concern in the United States, the rate is declining as the number of crimes we hear has

significantly dropped in the past decade. Recent reports have shown that the crime rate in New

Jersey dropped by around 0.5% between 2018 and 2019. Compared to the statistics on the

national crime rate, New Jersey’s crime rate is considerably remained low for the past 25 years.

For instance, the case of violent crimes and theft in New Jersey is much lower compared to the

rate at the national level.

 Violent crime is one of the most rampant crimes in the United States and the graph above

extracted from FBI Crime Data Explorer shows a trend in the estimated number of violent crimes

in the US between 2010 and 2020. By observations, it is clear that the trend of violent crimes in

the county is not regular over the ten years considered. The graph can be divided into three

phases. From 2010-2014 represent phase 1; During this period, the rate of violent crimes in the

country dropped significantly, from an estimated of 405 cases to about 362 cases per 100,000

population in 2014. The second phase lies between 2014-2016; during this period, the country

experienced a steady increase in the number of violent crime cases. The rate increased from

about 362 cases to around 397 cases per 100,000 population. The third phase is between 206-

2020; here the crime rate sharply dropped before it started to rise steadily from 2019 through to

2020.
 Statistics provided by the FBI Crime Data Explorer on the ten-year trend of violent

crimes in New Jersey show a gradual decrease over the entire period. As depicted in the graph

above, the trend has steadily decreased. For instance, in 2010, the average violent crime in New

Jersey was about 305 cases per 100,000 population and the trend declines to about 200 cases

reported in 2020. The above graph shows a comparison of the rate of violent crimes in New

Jersey and the United States. It’s observable that over the ten years, the crime rate in New Jersey

remained low compared to the rate in the whole country. For instance, in 2010, the crime rate in

New Jersey was around 305 cases while in the same year the United States recorded an estimated

405 cases per every 100,000 population. In 2020, New Jersey recorded an estimated 200 cases

against 400 cases reported in the entire US. This trend has not changed over the period (10 years)

as the rate of violent crime in New Jersey remained lower than those recorded in the country.

Robbery is another common crime in the country and as depicted by the FBI Crime Data

Explorer, the rate of robbery in the country has decreased. For instance, the highest cases of

robbery were reported in 2010 at an average of 119 cases per 100,000 population and it dropped

by 15.1% in 2014 when the recorded rate was about 101 robbery cases in the country. Between

2014 and 2016 the trend relatively remained flat with a slight increase up to 2016 before it

started to decrease again until 2020 when the least cases of about 73 robbery cases per 100,000

population were recorded. The data used for this comparative analysis were extracted from the

FBI Crime Data Explorer website and the graphical notation of the statistics is shown in the

graph below.
 Comparing the rate of robbery crimes in New Jersey and the United States over ten years

(2010-2020). They both have the same trend, a declining trend with the highest number of cases

recorded in 2010 and the least cases recorded in 2020. However, in 2010, the rate of robbery

crime was higher in New Jersey than in the entire country. New Jersey had over 130 robbery

cases while the whole county had an average of 120 cases. After ten years, the rate in New Jersey

is lower than the rate for the entire country.

 In conclusion, crime can generally be expressed as the notion that punishment is

necessary, although it can also refer to any act or omission that endangers people or property or

otherwise violates the law. It is vital to understand that not all crimes are seen negatively by all

individuals. The concept of crime frequently, but not always, involves transgressions of moral

standards followed by some degree of social condemnation. In the United States, the overall

crime rate is 47.70. Over the previous ten years, the United States violent crime rate has

significantly decreased same as the trend in New Jersey as illustrated by the statistics obtained

from FBI Crime Data Explorer.