The Pros And Cons Of UCR

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The FBI’s UCR Program, which began in 1929, collects information on the following crimes reported to law enforcement authorities: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. Law enforcement agencies report arrest data for 21 additional crime categories.
The NCVS collects information on crimes suffered by individuals and households, whether or not those crimes were reported to law enforcement. It estimates the proportion of each crime type reported to law enforcement, and it summarizes the reasons that victims give for reporting or not reporting (Planty & Langton, 2003).
Both the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the National Crime Victimization Survey …show more content…

While both have their limitations and therefore inaccuracies, one difference between the UCR and NCVS is that NCVS is far more likely to be inaccurate due to its methods of collecting data.
The UCR is a cooperative effort for nation-wide law enforcement agencies to report on national crime statistics. According to the FBI's "Summary of the Uniform Crime Reporting Program," every month, "18,000 city, university and college, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies voluntarily report data on crimes brought to their attention" (as cited in "Uniform Crime Reports"). The UCR first began in the 1920s and 30s. By 1930, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) was made responsible for compiling the data, though the FBI does not and has never collected the crime statistic data itself. The UCR divides crimes into two major categories called Part I offenses and Part II offenses. Part I reports data on "violent and property crimes" ("Uniform Crime Reports"). The list of crimes included under the violent crime classification is "aggravated assault, forcible rape, and robbery" ("Uniform Crime Reports"). The list of crimes classified under property crimes …show more content…

(Mosher, C., & Miethe, 2002).
Improving UCR and NCVS
Efforts are underway to improve the reliability of URC reports for instance recognizing the need to have more detailed crime information and law enforcement called for thorough evaluation analysis to improve the reliability of URC.The introduction and implementation of National Incident Based Reporting System is also a measure aimed at improving the reliability of URC (Catalano,

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