Comparison of FBI Uniform Crime Report and National Crime Victims Survey

This article compares and contrasts the FBI Uniform Crime Report and National Crime Victims Survey. It also defines and discusses important terms in criminology such as Positivist school, Classical school, Cesare Lombroso, Auguste Comte, Born criminal, Anomie, Somatotype School, Emile Durkheim, Phrenology, and Eugenics.

Running head: CRIMINOLOGY 1
Criminology
Name
Institution

CRIMINOLOGY 2
ASSIGNMENT: 1
After you have read the FBI Uniform Crime Report you need to define and describe it
along with the National Crime Victims Survey. Compare and contrast the two.
The Uniform Crime Report (UCR) is a programme which compiles official data
specifically on crime in the United States. These reports are published by the Federal Bureau
of Investigation (FBI) who does not necessarily collect the data but relies on law enforcement
agencies across the United States to do so. The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program is
a cooperative, nationwide and statistical determination of more than 17000 state law
agencies, counties, and cities voluntarily reporting information on crimes brought to their
attention. UCR is considered as a standard source of data relied on by criminologists to
monitor the patterns and trends in crime rate.
The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is an annual data collection carried out
by the United States Census Bureau for the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). Generally it’s a
national survey of about 49,000 to 74,000 households twice a year on characteristics,
frequency of crime victimization as well as consequences of victimization in the United
States. The National Crime Victimization Survey is administered to individuals of 12 years of
age and above from a nationally representative section of households in the United States
(Powers, 2015).
Victimization under the National Crime Victimization Survey is committing a crime
against a person or household. Crimes monitored NCVS includes crimes of rape, sexual
assault, violence, both categories includes attempted and complete crime
(Ruback, Gladfelter, & Lantz, 2018).

CRIMINOLOGY 3
Point out at least three criticisms of each and then give your opinion about which method
you feel is most valuable for criminologists to use as a crime measuring device.
Uniform Crime Report relies on victims’ memory and honesty which could in one way or
another be inaccurate or biased which could mislead the public. The report omits substance
abuse and patterns in crime rate are somehow linked to ecological factors and temporal in a
way.
Uniform Crime Report data mainly contains crimes labelled as Part I crimes by the FBI
including rape, aggravated assault, motor vehicle theft, larceny, arson, robbery, burglary and
homicide which are considered as the most serious. Less time and attention is taken on other
crimes which could result to wrongful image of what crime is to the public.
Uniform Crime Report has been criticized for covering only reports that police discover
with crimes not reported left out of the records. This may not reflect what crime is in the
society as incidents not reported could play a major role in determining the patterns and
trends in crime. This programme is also associated with recording fewer details on crimes as
a result more accurate information becomes hard to achieve and also could be subject of
misinterpretation by the public (Lauritsen, 2015). Uniform Crime report is not 100% accurate
as changes in local laws can cause information spikes. The data in most cases is slow in
coming out and also omits crimes on drug usage along with reporting errors.
National Crime Victimization Survey has been criticized for being unable to reach
important groups such as people without phones. This leads to omission of important data as
some fraction of the society fails to be taken into account when assessing crime in relation to
what victims go through (Zaykowski, 2011). NCVS considers robbery and aggravated assault
as some of the serious crimes leaving out murder and kidnapping which are not estimated;
this leads to false image of crime given that some crimes are omitted yet most of them affect

CRIMINOLOGY 4
the larger percentage in the society (Lauritsen & Rezey, 2013). The data collected has high
possibility of errors given that they are based on human memories which could prove less
reliable. This method further leaves out children of 12 years of age and below and homeless
persons which could also play a major role in determining the patterns and trends of crime.
Uniform Crime Report is the most valuable method in measuring crimes to criminologist
since it collects data on many crimes compare to National Crime Victimization Survey. UCR
concentrates on both offenders and victims while NCVS mainly focuses on the victims and
outcome of crime.
Compare and contrast
Similarities
Both the Uniform Crime Reports and the National Crime Victimization Survey were
created to collect and report on the United States national crime rates and patterns. Rape,
motor vehicle, robbery and theft are defined nearly identically by both the UCR and the
NCVS (Block & Maxfield, 2019).
Differences
In as much as both UCR and NCVS have inaccurate data but the NCVS has far much
inaccurate data compared to UCR due to its method of collecting data. UCR is a cooperative
work for nation-wide law enforcement organizations to report on crime data hence improving
the accuracy.
UCR mainly collects data from the law enforcement agencies while NCVS collects data
from household within a specified period of time hence they have different methods of
collection of data.

CRIMINOLOGY 5
ASSIGNMENT 2
Define the following terms and discuss their importance to our studies in Criminology.
Positivist school
According to positivist school of thought, criminals are born and not made criminals later
in their lives, in other words it is the nature of the person and not what they have been
nurtured to become which eventually results to criminal propensities.
This is important in criminology because it helps us understand sources of crime and
origin of some criminal behaviour in the society.
Classical school
This school of thought proposes that individuals make rational decisions regarding their
behaviour. This is significant in criminology because it enables us understand every
individuals’ right in relation to crime.
Cesare Lombroso
He was as an Italian criminologist; Lombroso attempted to distinguish a possible
connection between criminal psychopathology and constitutional defects. His findings help
us to understand the hereditary and biological effects in criminology in relation to crime.
Auguste Comte
He was a French philosopher and writer who conveyed the doctrine of positivism. He
came up with the idea of the law of three stages. His idea helps us understand in criminology
the stages under which the society develops in to include the positive stage, metaphysical
stage and theological stage.
Born criminal

CRIMINOLOGY 6
The relation of environment to crime is examined as a possibility for change is considered
due to some environmental factors for those believed to descend from families having crime
record. This helps us understand in criminology how a criminal can change due to
environmental factors.
Anomie
The idea of anomie could be defined to mean the lack of usual ethical or social standards
expected of someone in a society. Anomie plays a major role in criminology since it helps
criminologists understand why frustration, despair and worthlessness can influence a person
to become a criminal.
Somatotype School
Somatotype relates typical body types to personality features and links criminal behavior
to the body types (Hagan, 2010). In criminology this important since it helps criminologists
in understanding better the relationship between body types and crime.
Emile Durkheim
He was a French sociologist. Durkheim came up with theories of social structure that
included anomie, functionalism and division of labour. His ideas helps criminologist in
comprehending how the society operates and functions in relation to crime.
Phrenology
Phenology is mainly based on characters and personality of a person and is important in
criminology since it helps a person understand how personality and character are related to
crime.
Eugenics

CRIMINOLOGY 7
Eugenics is an effort that is designed to improve the genetic configuration of the human
race. It is important in criminology in that it enlightens people on ways through which
criminal traits could be eradicated.

CRIMINOLOGY 8
References
Block, S., & Maxfield, M. (2019). The US Uniform Crime Reports and the National Crime
Victimization Survey. International and Transnational Crime and Justice, 464-468.
doi:10.1017/9781108597296.076
Hagan, F. (2010). Introduction to Criminology: Theories, Methods, and Criminal Behavior.
Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Lauritsen, L. (2015). The Devil Is in the Details: Crime and Victimization Research with the
National Crime Victimization Survey. Envisioning Criminology, 191-197.
doi:10.1007/978-3-319-15868-6_20
Lauritsen, L., & Rezey, M. (2013). Measuring the Prevalence of Crime with the National
Crime Victimization Survey.
Powers, R. (2015). National Crime Victimization Survey. The Encyclopedia of Crime and
Punishment, 1-5. doi:10.1002/9781118519639.wbecpx065
Ruback, B., Gladfelter, S., & Lantz, B. (2018). Hate Crime Victimization Data in
Pennsylvania: A Useful Complement to the Uniform Crime Reports. Violence and
Victims, 33(2), 330-350. doi:10.1891/0886-6708.vv-d-16-00173
Zaykowski, H. (2011). Reconceptualizing Victimization and Victimization Responses. Crime
& Delinquency, 61(2), 271-296. doi:10.1177/0011128711398022