CJ 600

Crime trends UCR since 1930s Victimization studies since the 1970s Lower rates during the 1930s, decline in the 1940s, rise beginning in the late 1950s continuing until the early 1980s, leveling off Decline in the mid 1990s

UCR and victimization studies Victimization studies indicate considerably more crime than the UCR Serious crimes probably more reliably reported by the UCR (murder, auto theft) Victimization studies probably more accurately reflect minor crimes, many property crimes, perhaps sexual offenses

Comparison to other countries Overall, property offenses similar to other industrialized countries, although these statistics are perhaps less reliable, due to reporting problems Higher rate of violent crime, particularly homicide in the U.S. Availability of firearms appears to partially account for the higher rate (displacement?)

Comparisons to other countries More lenient? Technicalities, insanity defense, insufficient sentences, country club prisons, inadequate use of the death penalty First two relatively uncommon Sentences for violent crimes similar to other countries in terms of time served

Comparisons Longer sentences for nonviolent crimes than other countries 63% of the world’s countries have abolished the death penalty In ½ of those countries, crime has actually decreased Most of the standard arguments for our crime rates do not have good empirical support

Perceptions of crime Murder:.2% of all crimes in U.S. 50% of police programs involve a murder Property: 87% of crimes 13% of police programs

1998, Orlando 25% of news stories crime related More than 67% of those stories involved violent crime 18% of crime in Orlando was violent that year

Some basic concepts Wedding cake Misdemeanors more common than felonies Less serious felonies more common than more serious felonies (assault and burglary more common than murder) We tend to react to the most serious cases, “celebrated” cases

funnel Majority of crimes are not solved For every 1000 serious crimes, 500 reported, 100 arrested, about 60 sentenced, about 20 imprisoned

Burglary Total: 5.5 million Reported: 3.2 million (42% not reported) Arrests: 308,000 (5.6% of the original acts) You have a 1 in 20 chance of being arrested Convictions: 101,000 55,000 imprisoned Weak point: unreported, and reported not resulting in arrest

Is the criminal justice system a system? Systems have: Identifiable components Components are interdependent A system has inputs, outputs, feedback The CJS does have identifiable components that interact, with the common goal of protection of life and property

System Components are fragmented Although the overall goal is the same, they have other competing goals and ideologies— even within the same component There is sometimes antagonism among the components Packard’s due process vs. crime control model