Uniform Crime Tracking System

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Tracking criminal data in the United States is a large part of the process in understanding and preventing further crimes in each community and every year the FBI releases an analytical statistics report for crimes committed in the United States, called the Uniform Crime Report (UCR). The UCR program data collection is done by individual agencies, such as police departments where they compile data by arrests and offenses. This system is called the Summary reporting system or SRS and the data collected is turned in, once a month, to the FBI or indirectly to the UCR program (FBI.Gov, 2016).
Resources used by public officials to identify how to classify or categorize crime include tools from the UCR website such as the UCR data tool which helps
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Nine forcible rapes, 17 robberies and 38 aggravated assaults (UCR Data Tool, 2016). The national estimated crime data for violent crimes for the last reporting year of 2012 is 1,214,464 violent crimes with an average of 10,105 per 30 days (UCR Data Tool, 2016). These totals help the public safety officials predict crime rates in their area dependent on the national average and if their community numbers stay the same. This tool is great for officials because they can see where more reporting is needed as with rapes, because not all rapes are reported. The UCR is a nice tool to have for the public so that they can see the average crime rates in their area or the area that they are thinking about relocating too. It also gives one an idea of how many under reported crimes there …show more content…
The data on this page shows a long-term trend in violent crime and demonstrate the connection of societal changes and conditions to violent crime. “Long-term trends can show us more clearly where we have been so that we can have a better understanding of where we may be going (JRSA, 2000)”. Governmental officials can learn from the historical crime statistics to predict crimes twenty years later and they can apply that knowledge to prevent and intervene. Structure and discipline can be used as a tool to deter criminals from re-offending as it is said that “past behaviors are a great predictor for future behavior (MacKenzie, N.D).” Crime prevention efforts through the court and correction programs have evolved because of past criminal behavior, which have proven successful for many crimes, however a dramatic incline of criminal activity has increased as the years have passed, especially since the population rates have increased (MacKenzie,

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