Crime Statistics

Crime statistics are among the least reliable social data. However, since they deal with an issue of grave concern to the American public, they are frequently cited as if they are quite accurate. Such statistics do serve as an indicator of police activity, as well as an approximate indication of the level of certain crimes. Yet it would be a mistake to interpret these data as an exact representation of the incidence of crime.

Use and Meaning of Crime Statistics Typically, the data used are based on the index crimes de­scribed earlier. The crime index, published annu­ally by the FBI as part of the Uniform Crime Re­ports, includes statistics on murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. Obviously, many serious offenses, such as those referred to as white-collar crimes, are not included in this index. In addition, the crime index is dis­proportionately devoted to property crimes, whereas most citizens are more worried about violent crimes against people. Thus, owing to the priorities of the index, a significant decrease in the number of rapes and robberies could be over­shadowed by a slightly larger increase in the number of automobiles stolen.

The most serious limitation of such official crime statistics is that they include only those crimes actually reported to law enforcement agen­cies. Many crimes are not reported, includ­ing at least half of all assaults and robberies. In these instances, victims typically feel that the ex­perience has been too personal to share with po­lice officers and other strangers or that the crime is "not important enough."

The FBI has noted that forcible rape is one of the nation's most underreported crimes, primar­ily owing to the victims' feelings of fear, embar­rassment, or both (Brownmiller, 1975:175). The rate of reported rapes has increased by 28 percent since 1977. Yet the Uni­form Crime Reports cannot tell us how much of this increase was due to an actual rise in the frequency of rape and how much was due to greater report­ing of rape. As this example illustrates, use of of­ficial police statistics presents major methodologi­cal problems for sociologists in understanding crime.

Partly because of the deficiencies of police data, the National Crime Survey was introduced in 1972 as a means of learning how much crime actually takes place in the United States. The FBI, in com­piling this report, seeks information from law enforcement agencies but also interviews members of 120,000 households annually and asks if they have been victims of a specific set of crimes during the preceding year. In general, victimiza­tion surveys question ordinary people, and not police officers, to learn how much crime occurs. Using these surveys, we can better assess the underreporting of rape. Growing attention has been given to this offense in the media, and law enforcement agencies have sensitized their offi­cers to the plight of victims. Partly as a result, victimization surveys showed an increase in re­porting of rapes from 41 percent in 1980 to 61 percent in 1985. Thus, victimization data docu­ment the fact that while many rapes still are not reported, the proportion of rapes that are re­ported is higher than it was in the past (Depart­ment of Justice, 1986a:4).

Victimization data are also useful in developing a cross-cultural picture of the frequency of crime. According to a 1984 international Gallup poll conducted in 19 nations, the United States ranked sixth in terms of frequency of crime, with 12 percent of adults reporting that they had had money or property stolen during the previous year. Five nations had higher proportions of crime victims: Colombia (33 percent), Brazil (21 percent), the Netherlands (14 percent), Canada (13 percent), and the United Kingdom (13 per­cent). By contrast, in Belgium, South Korea, and Japan, 5 percent or less of adults reported that they had had money or property stolen in the last year (John, 1985a).

Unfortunately, like other crime data, victimiza­tion surveys have particular limitations. They require first that victims understand what has happened to them and also that victims disclose such information to interviewers. Fraud, income tax evasion, and blackmail are examples of crimes that are unlikely to be reported in victimization studies. Nevertheless, virtually all households have been willing to cooperate with investigators for the National Crime Survey (see Skogan, 1981, for a detailed analysis of victimization surveys).

Who Commits Index Crimes? Is the United States currently experiencing a crime wave, or has there actually been an increase in law-abiding behavior? As reported in the FBI's crime index, crime rates rose steadily during the 1970s. However, while the FBI has reported occasional rises in crime in the 1980s (such as the 5 percent increase in 1986), the de­cade has seen a general decline in index crime. Increases in crime rates may reflect a gradual ten­dency of the public to report a higher proportion of crimes to the police. At the same time, observ­ers believe that the overall decline in crime in the 1980s is the result of a decrease in the number of males in the high-crime age group of 14 to 24 years (Department of Justice, 1987a:41; Schapiro and Ahlburg, 1986; Schiffren, 1985; M. Smith, 1986; Steffensmeier et al., 1987).

Even with its weaknesses, the Uniform Crime Reports offer useful insights into the profile of people convicted of index crimes. Sociologists are especially interested in how factors of gender, age, race, and social class shape the profile of law­breakers.

By gender Most index crimes are committed by males. This is hardly surprising, since our society gives distinct encouragement to boys to become "masculine"—meaning, among other things, physically strong, aggressive, and "tough". Over 89 percent of all persons arrested for murder, rape, robbery, and assault in 1986 were male.

By contrast, women are socialized to be physi­cally weak, more passive, and "sweet," which con­tributes to their being less involved in criminal behavior. Among crimes tabulated nationally females account for the majority of those arrested only in the cases of prostitutes and runaways. However, arrests of females are growing at a somewhat faster rate than arrests of males, and so traditional patterns may be changing somewhat. In 1986, of those arrested, 21 percent were fe­male, compared with only 13 percent in 1965 (Department of Justice, 1987a: 181).

By age Index crimes are predominantly an activity of the young. This reflects in part the strenuous nature of many index crimes, but it also stems from the visibility of juveniles, which makes them more subject to supervision and ap­prehension and, thus, more likely to be included in statistics on criminal activity. About half the per­sons arrested for index offenses in the United States are under 25 years of age. Of course, young Americans are less heavily represented among white-collar criminals, since it generally re­quires time and skill to achieve the status of a white-collar position (Department of Justice, 1987a: 180). By race and social class According to the Uni­form Crime Reports, blacks account for 27 percent of all arrests even though they represent only about 12 percent of the American population (Department of Justice, 1987a: 182). This higher arrest rate is not surprising for a group that is disproportionately poor—and therefore much less able to afford private attorneys who might be able to prevent formal arrests from taking place. Even more significantly, the high arrest rate of blacks reflects the Uniform Crime Reports' focus on index crimes (mainly property crimes), which are the crimes most often committed by low-income persons. In contrast to certain popular misconceptions about crime, minorities and the poor are espe­cially likely to become the victims of serious crimes. According to victimization surveys, black and Hispanic households were more likely to be touched by crime in 1986 than were white house­holds. Members of families in the lowest income category surveyed (less than $7500 per year) were more likely to be victims of rape, robbery, or as­sault.

At the same time, property crimes present a slightly different picture, with rates of theft and larceny increasing as the level of income rises. The wealthy are more vulnerable to these types of crimes, since they own more valuable property (Department of Justice, 1987b).

♦ SUMMARY

Conformity and deviance are two responses people make to real pressures or to imagined pressures from others. In this chapter, we examine the relationships between conformity, deviance, and mechanisms of so­cial control.

1 A society uses social control to bring about accept­ance of basic norms.

2. Stanley Milgram defined conformity as going along with one's peers, whereas obedience is defined as compliance with higher authorities in a hierarchical structure.

3. Examples of informal social control include smiles, laughter, raising of an eyebrow, and ridicule.

4. Some norms are considered so important that they are formalized into laws controlling people's behavior.

5. Socialization is the primary source for effecting conforming and obedient behavior, including obedi­ence to law.

6. Standards of deviance vary from group to group and also vary over time.

7. For functionalist theorists, deviance helps to de­fine the limits of proper behavior.

8. The theory of differential association holds that deviance results from exposure to attitudes favorable to criminal acts.

9. An important aspect of labeling theory is the rec­ognition that some individuals are viewed as deviant while others engaged in the same behavior are not.

10. The conflict perspective views laws and punish­ments as reflecting the interests of the powerful.

11. Crime represents a deviation from formal social norms administered by the state.

12. The category of index crimes includes murder, rape, assault, and other serious offenses that people think of when they express concern about crime.

13. White-collar crimes have serious economic and social costs for American society.

14. Crime statistics are among the least reliable social data, partly because so many crimes are not reported.

15. The debate over the death penalty in the United States has centered on such issues as cruelty of punish­ment and differential justice.

♦ KEY TERMS

Anomie Durkheim's term for the loss of direction felt in a society when social control of individual behav­ior has become ineffective, (page 180)

Anomie theory of deviance A theory developed by Rob­ert Merton which explains deviance as an adaptation either of socially prescribed goals or of the norms governing their attainment. (180)

Bond A term used by Travis Hirschi to refer to the ties of an individual to society and, in particular, to standards of proper behavior. (180)

Conformity Going along with one's peers, individuals of a person's own status, who have no special right to direct that person's behavior. (174)

Crime A violation of criminal law for which formal penalties are applied by some governmental author­ity. (188)

Cultural transmission A school of criminology which argues that criminal behavior is learned through so­cial interactions. (182)

Deviance Behavior that violates the standards of con­duct or expectations of a group or society. (178)

Differential association A theory of deviance pro­posed by Edwin Sutherland which holds that viola­tion of rules results from exposure to attitudes favor­able to criminal acts. (182)

Formal social control Social control carried out by au­thorized agents, such as police officers, judges, school administrators, and employers. (176)

Index crimes The eight types of crime reported annu­ally by the FBI in the Uniform Crime Reports. These are murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. (188)

Informal social control Social control carried out by people casually through such means as laughter, smiles, and ridicule. (176)

Labeling theory An approach to deviance popularized by Howard S. Becker which attempts to explain why certain people are viewed as deviants while others engaging in the same behavior are not. (185)

Law In a political sense, the body of rules made by government for society, interpreted by the courts, and backed by the power of the state. (176)

Obedience Compliance with higher authorities in a hierarchical structure. (174)

Organized crime The work of a group that regulates relations between various criminal enterprises in­volved in narcotics wholesaling, gambling, and other activities. (189)

Primary deviance In the view of Edwin Lemert, ra­tionalized violation of rules that is dealt with as ac­ceptable behavior. (185)

Professional criminal A person who pursues crime as a day-by-day occupation, developing skilled tech­niques and enjoying a certain degree of status among other criminals. (189)

Sanctions Penalties and rewards for conduct concern­ing a social norm. (173)

Secondary deviance In the view of Edwin Eemert, an act of deviance which leads the individual to accept a deviant identity. (185)

Social control The techniques and strategies for regu­lating human behavior in any society. (173)

Societal-reaction approach Another name for labeling theory. (185)

Techniques of neutralization Justifications for deviant behavior. (184)

Victimization surveys Questionnaires or interviews used to determine whether people have been victims of crime. (195)

Victimless crimes A term used by sociologists to de­scribe the willing exchange among adults of widely desired, but illegal, goods and services. (192)

White-collar crimes. Crimes committed by affluent individuals or corporations in the course of their daily business activities. (190)