Two major setbacks of the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) are the hierarchy rule and the dark figure of crime. * Please explain these 2 terms, and clearly articulate how the first setback (the hierarchy rule) was tackled by the new National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS). * How can the government encourage crime victims to report crimes to police? The first major setback of the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) is the hierarchy rule, and it states that only the most serious offense is reported (UCLA, 2012).
As an example if someone robs several people and kills one then only the homicide is reported.There are a few exceptions to the hierarchy rule which include justifiable homicide, arson, and motor vehicle theft (Justice, 2004). With the hierarchy rule even though not all of the crimes are reported the most serious of offenses are reported which is definitely a good thing. Without the hierarchy rule in the beginning and everything got reported there would be a lot of chaos in the system, because thinking about it there would have been tons of paperwork for everyone to do and nothing would every really get done.In today’s day and age we have computers to help get everything done so with the NIBRS system it’s easier to report on all crimes.
The second thing is the dark figure of crime which is the undetected or unreported crimes (Theoretical Criminology, 2011). Most people don’t want to report crimes because they feel embarrassed, are afraid no one will believe them, and or they are just afraid to report it. The most common reason for the existence of dark figure is non-reporting of crimes (Theoretical Criminology, 2011).It is estimated that the dark figure of crimes makes 66% of all committed crimes (Theoretical Criminology, 2011). Now the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) was designed to eliminate the hierarchy rule as best as possible.
NIBRS reports on all crimes and classifies them in different groups: Group A which has 22 offenses listed, and Group B which has 11 offenses listed (Justice D. O. , 2012). Over the years, a broad utility for UCR data evolved, and law enforcement expanded its capabilities to supply crime information (Justice D.O.
, 2012). In the late 1970s, the law enforcement community called for a thorough evaluation of the UCR Program to recommend an expanded and enhanced data collection system to meet the needs of law enforcement in the 21st century (Justice D. O. , 2012). Under NIBRS city, county, state, and federal law enforcement agencies throughout the country give detailed information on the incident levels of crime and arrest activities are reported either on the state or directly to the federal NIBRS program (Schmalleger, 2012).I don’t think that the government can encourage victims to report crimes, because how would the government be able to help the victims not feel embarrassed, or like they won’t be believed.
Most people that don’t report crimes, I believe, are afraid to report the crimes because they won’t be believed or are afraid of retaliation from the criminal. Now with the community policing kind of helps victims to report crimes, but still all crimes aren’t reported. Speaking from personal experience my baby sister was being beaten by her boyfriend and didn’t tell anyone until I found out one night when she was trying to sneak in the house.She came in all beaten and bruised and was afraid if she told anyone he would get released and come back after her. Then for a while she thought she deserved getting hit, but no one deserves to be beaten by someone who supposedly loves them.
So there is really no good way for the government to get victims to report crimes, but what they can do is try to make it easier for them to report the crimes. If it is easier for them to report and the information is properly sealed so they couldn’t be retaliated against might make it easier for victims to step forward and report crimes. ReferencesTheoretical Criminology. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.
criminologystudyonline. com/2011/03/dark-figure-of-crime. html UCLA. (2012). Retrieved from http://map. ais.
ucla. edu/portal/site/UCLA/menuitem. 789d0eb6c76e7ef0d66b02ddf848344a/? vgnextoid=01cca70a079ae010VgnVCM200000dd6643a4RCRD Justice, D. o. (2004). FBI.
gov. Retrieved from http://www. fbi. gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/additional-ucr-publications/ucr_handbook. pdf#page=17 Justice, D. O.
(2012). FBI. gov. Retrieved from http://www2. fbi. gov/ucr/faqs.
htm Schmalleger. (2012). Criminal Justice: A Brief Introduction. Pearson.
