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Presented by
Professor
Subject
Date
Crime Measurement
What instruments are used to measure crime in the United States?
Two major crime measurement tools are found in United States that determine the
magnitude, impact, and nature of crime. These tools are Uniform Crime Reporting (URC) and,
the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). Each of these tools is essential in providing
the nation with valuable information concerning aspects of crime. The two are used differently
and focuses on different types of crimes (James 1-3).
What are the major crime reporting programs? What are the purposes of major crime
reporting programs?
There are three major crime reporting programs in United States. These are; the Uniform
Crime Reports (UCR), the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), and the National
Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). The Congress uses these reporting programs in informing
policy decisions and allocation of federal criminal justice funding to all states. UCR is a
standardized program that reports of all incidences of crime and measures the effectiveness of
local law enforcers. On the other hand, NIBRS is a tool used by Federal Bureau of Investigation
to respond to the Congress on matters of law enforcement. Finally, the NCVS acts as source of
information for all criminal victimizations, and other crimes not reported to law enforcers.

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What are crime rates, arrest rates, and recidivism rates?
US records highest crime rates and the numbers keep increasing year after year. Table 1
shows the crime rate in different states in 2011. On the other hand, arrest rates have accelerated
in US because of many criminal activities taking place. The Uniform Crime Reporting Program
reports numerous arrests in different offenses and categories in various states. Table 2 shows
arrest statistics in 2010. Moreover, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
(OJJDP) reports that cases of national recidivism are low though, the statistics on table 3 below
shows the collected data.

State

Violent
crime Murde
(total) r

Forcible
rape

Robber
y

Aggravate
d
Assault

Ala.

420.1

6.3

28.5

102.2

283.0

Alask
a

606.5

4.0

58.1

79.7

464.6

Ariz.

405.9

6.2

34.9

109.9

254.8

Ark.

480.9

5.5

41.3

82.6

351.5

Calif.

411.1

4.8

20.3

144.0

242.0

Colo.

320.2

2.9

44.5

64.6

208.1

Conn.

272.8

3.6

19.2

102.7

147.3

Del.

559.5

4.5

31.9

169.5

353.5

DC

1,202.
1

17.5

28.0

662.3

494.3

Fla.

515.3

5.2

27.7

134.4

348.0

Ga.

373.2

5.6

20.9

123.8

222.9

Hawai
i

287.2

1.2

31.6

75.8

187.6

Idaho

200.9

2.3

27.4

11.6

159.6

Ill.

429.3

5.6

28.8

157.4

237.5

Ind.

331.8

4.8

27.0

107.1

193.0

Iowa

255.6

1.5

27.2

26.9

199.9

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Kans.

353.9

3.8

37.8

50.8

261.5

Ky.

238.2

3.5

33.5

238.2

116.7

La.

555.3

11.2

27.7

114.5

401.9

Maine

123.2

2.0

29.6

27.8

63.8

Md.

494.1

6.8

20.5

177.5

289.3

Mass.

428.4

2.8

24.7

102.7

298.1

Mich.

445.3

6.2

44.0

105.2

289.9

Minn.

221.2

1.4

31.1

63.4

125.4

Miss.

269.8

8.0

29.0

83.7

149.1

Mo.

447.4

6.1

21.3

104.3

312.7

Mont.

267.5

2.8

35.8

16.9

212.0

Nebr.

253.2

3.6

37.7

54.1

157.7

Nev.

562.1

5.2

33.5

157.9

365.6

N.H.

188.0

1.3

32.5

36.0

118.2

N.J.

308.4

4.3

11.4

138.4

154.3

N.M.

567.5

7.5

41.2

82.7

436.2

N.Y.

398.1

4.0

14.1

145.9

234.1

N.C.

349.8

5.3

20.7

98.9

224.9

N.D.

247.0

3.5

37.9

13.3

192.3

Ohio

307.4

4.4

31.5

139.1

132.4

Okla.

454.8

5.5

37.0

86.6

325.7

Ore.

247.6

2.1

31.4

57.4

156.6

Pa.

355.0

5.0

26.1

126.6

197.3

R.I.

247.5

1.3

28.9

71.0

146.3

S.C.

571.9

6.8

34.5

92.2

438.4

S.D.

254.1

2.5

60.2

20.3

171.1

Tenn.

608.2

5.8

31.6

126.2

444.5

Tex.

408.5

4.4

29.0

110.6

264.5

Utah

195.0

1.9

30.3

38.4

124.4

Vt.

135.2

1.3

19.0

13.6

101.4

Va.

196.7

3.7

19.0

67.1

106.9

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Wash.

294.6

2.4

33.5

82.5

176.1

W. Va.

315.9

4.3

20.9

49.0

241.6

Wis.

236.9

2.4

20.4

78.2

135.9

Wyo.

219.3

3.2

25.7

12.5

177.9

Table 1: Use 2011 Crime rates by state (Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the
United States).

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Table 2: arrest statistics in US in 2010 (source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2010).

Table 3: Recidivism rates in US states

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What can crime and recidivism statistics tell you about crime in the United States?
Crime and recidivism rates in US show that the nation experiences high rates of crime by
people from all genders and ages. The advancement in technology and globalization has
introduced new ways of committing crimes via the internet. In addition, the statistics show that
crime rates are directly proportional to the nations economy. The worsening economy has
introduced more new crimes as more people are rendered jobless. The rate at which people
commit crimes in US is also increasing because even the young generation is involving in
childhood crimes (James 12-16).

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Works cited
Bureau of Justice Statistics. Estimates based on FBIs Age, Sex, and Race Summarized Yearly
Arrest Master Files. 2010.
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Crime in the United States. 2011. Available at:
http://www.fbi.gov/
James, Nathan. CRS Reporting for Congress: How Crime in the United States is measured.
Congress Research Service. 2008. Available at:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL34309.pdf