Criminology/Module 2

Introduction to the nature & extent of Crime

2 components to crime:

• Act itself
• Criminal intent

2 types of criminal law:

• Misdemeanor
• Felony

Children/adolescents who commit crime: delinquents in juvenile courts

Several problems when looking at statistics on crime (no reporting, falsified reports).

Official drug use statistics are generated data produced by the gov't & agencies doing their usual work. Police data is the general source of crime stats gathered by nearly 20k universities, locations, and federal agencies. UCR program responsible for changes in data. Problems are though (despite it being very reliable) it records only the worst offense (so drug and murder charges, only murder is recorded). "Dark figures" of crime hid the reports as well.

2 criminal categories in the UCR are...

1. Part I Offenses/Index Crimes - Serious crimes, like murder and rape.
2. Part II Offenses/Non-Indexed Crimes - Less serious crimes, like DUIs and drug abuses. Other crimes are here too, like illegal gambling.

"Dark figure" crimes underestimate drug use.

Latest UCR Summary of Crime in the Nation

Released October 16, 2023:

The FBI's UCR (Uniform Crime Reporting) program compiles its own report on crime through volunteer reports by non-federal law enforcement agencies throughout the US. It lists criminal incidents. Each collection displays crime data based on numbers given by law enforcement, context, participation, and publication.

The 2022 data report shows crime in the US, NIBRS[/+ estimate] (2022), hate crime stats, and law enforcement killed and assaulted in the line of duty.

Definitions

• Violent Crime - Consists of murder, manslaughter, rape, aggravated assault, and robery. Stats are shown in the slide. A decrease was seen in 2022 vs. 2021.
• Property Crime - Burglary, breaking in, larceny, motor vehicle theft. Increase seen in 2022 vs. 2021.
• Drug Offenses - Drug/narcotic offenses (except cocaine). Decrease was seen in 2021 to 2022.