Uniform Crime Report (Research Paper Sample)

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What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
Uniform Crime Report
The Uniform Crime Report refers to a program used to obtain and store information about crime in the U.S. it was established by the International Association of Chiefs of police in 1929. The Uniform Crime Report program enabled them to meet the prerequisite for uniform and reliable statistics on crime rates in the country. The FBI gathers all the necessary information on crime rates in the participating countries and publishes the results in the program’s annual publishing. The FBI also allows users in the program’s website to customize the data tables and add or improve the data in the website (Crime, Offenders, and Victims 64).
Advantages
* The Uniform Crime Report allows users and members of the public to compare crime rates in different cities in the U.S. or the participating countries
* The program also provides detailed information on crime rates in a selected population e.g. crime rates among every 100,000 people
* The program also provides data on different types of crime in different cities or states e.g. burglary, murder, robbery, vehicle theft and aggravated assault, among others
* The statistics provided accurately because they represent manageable number of people
Disadvantages
* The program does not include data or arson crimes and therefore, there is no information to compare arson crimes in the country
* Since the population data used is collected by the program, the results of crime rates may not match the US census data, and my be wrong in the representation of crimes
* The information provided by the UCR are too simplified, and they do not allow for further analysis from just simple tabulations
* Most of the information provided by the UCR are on arrests and victim information, and the data cannot be used for any other purposes
National Incidence Based Reporting System
The NIBRS was created in 1991 with the main aim of improving the services and quality of information by the UCR. The NIBRS provides information in specialized areas including schools, colleges and even families. In addition, the NIBRS also has a new feature which supplements the UCR program by providing an Incident-Based Data obtain from other participating agencies.
Advantages
* The NIBRS is more detailed, accurate, updated and meaningful data as compared to the UCR
* The NIBRS also furnishes information especially in major criminal justice issues that face the participating cities and countries today. This information covers crimes such as weapon offences, terrorism, white collar offences, drugs and narcotics, spousal abuse, child abuse, juvenile gangs and crimes, child pornography and drunken driving, among others that were not covered by the UCR.
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