Encyclopedia of Sociology

CRIME RATES

General Definitions of Part I Offenses in the Uniform Crime Reports

Criminal Homicide Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter: the willful (nonnegligent) killing of one human being by

another. Deaths caused by negligence and justifiable homicide are excluded.

Forcible Rape The carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will. Included are rapes by force

and attempts or assaults to rape. Statutory offenses (no force used and victim under age of

consent) are excluded.

Robbery The taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person

or persons by force or threat of force or violence or by putting the victim in fear.

Aggravated Assault An unlawful attack by one person on another for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated

bodily injury. This type of assault is usually accompanied by the use of a weapon or by means

likely to produce death or great bodily harm. Simple assaults are excluded.

Burglary Breaking or Entering: The unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or a theft. Attempted

forcible entry is included.

Larceny Theft (Except Motor Vehicle Theft): The unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of

property from the possession or constructive possession of another. Attempted larcenies are

included. Embezzlement, con games, forgery, worthless checks, etc., are excluded.

Motor Vehicle Theft The theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle. A motor vehicle is self-propelled and runs on the

surface and not on rails. Specifically excluded from this category are motorboats, construction

equipment, airplanes, and farming equipment.

Arson Any willful or malicious burning or attempt to burn, with or without intent to defraud, a dwelling

house, public building, motor vehicle or aircraft, personal property of another, etc.

Table 1

SOURCE: Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1998. Crime in the United States—1997 (Appendix II).

Thus, the total number of people may not be
the most appropriate ‘‘relevant population.’’ In
the case of rape incidents, it might be more appro-
priate to compute rape rates using women as the
relevant population. For motor vehicle theft, the
relevant population might be the number of regis-
tered motor vehicles. For commercial burglaries,
the relevant population might be the number of
commercial establishments. Social scientists should
choose these populations carefully.

Number of Incidents: Determining the value for
the numerator of the crime rate formula raises
particularly difficult issues. The UCR, for exam-
ple, employs a complicated set of rules for count-
ing the number of incidents. For example, the
UCR ‘‘hierarchy rule’’ ensures that for Part I crimes
(the most serious street crimes) only the most
serious crime is recorded. Thus, if a person breaks
into a store, is confronted by the owner and threat-
ens the owner with a gun, and then kills the owner,
the offense is recorded as a homicide, but not as a
burglary or robbery or assault. The ‘‘hotel rule’’ is

invoked when a burglar breaks into several units in

an apartment or hotel and only one burglary is

counted. Researchers draw a distinction between

an incident rate and a prevalence rate. This in-

volves a distinction between the number of crimi-

nal incidents per some relevant population and

the number of offenders per some relevant popu-

lation. Using the number of offenders per some

relevant population produces a prevalence rate.

Thus, many decisions help determine the most

appropriate crime rate for a particular purpose.

These decisions need to be considered when inter-

preting a particular rate or when attempting to

compare one crime rate with another.

SOURCES OF CRIME DATA IN THE

UNITED STATES

There are three major sources of crime data in the

United States, and knowing the strengths and

weaknesses of these data sources helps explain

why crime rates derived from them often vary.