Research Paper on the Crime Trend for Violent and Property Related Crimes in the USA

Violent and property crimes have been present in the United States since colonization. It is a social issue that is not only present in America but across the world (Roeder et al., 2015). The rates of these crimes have varied with the country experiencing a sharp rise in the rates in 1963, which reached their peak in the 1970s and early 1990s (Roeder et al., 2015). However the United States have experienced a steady decrease since the 1990s, and the current rates remain stable.

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According to the FBI UCR (Uniform Crime Reporting) program, violent crime offenses are classified into four categories including aggravated assault, robbery, nonnegligent and manslaughter and murder, and rape (FBI, 2015b). The program defines these crimes as those offenses that involve force or a threat of force. The program estimates that up to one million, one hundred and ninety-seven, seven hundred and four violent crimes were committed in 2015 (FBI, 2015b). It was a three point nine increase in the estimates from 2014. The rates had however dropped by 0.7 percent from the estimates of 2011 and by sixteen point five percent from the estimated rates of 2006. In a population of one hundred thousand inhabitants, the rates were at three hundred and seventy-two point six, which was an increase of three point one percent of the 2014 estimates. Aggravated assaults were at 63.8 percent of the reported cases; robbery offenses were at 27.3 percent, rape was at seven point five percent and murder at 1.3 percent (FBI, 2015b).

The report also provided estimates for property crime. THE UCR program classifies various offenses under the property crime including arson, motor vehicle theft, burglary, and larceny-theft (FBI, 2015a). The reported indicated there was up to seven million, nine hundred and ninety-three, six hundred and thirty-one property crime offenses in the United States in 2015. When compared with statistics from 2014 there was a 2.5% decline in the property crime rates (FBI, 2015a). For every one hundred thousand inhabitants, the property crime estimations were at two thousand four hundred and eighty-seven. It was a three point four percent decrease from the 2014 estimates. The rates were 14.4 percent less than those of 2011 and 25.7 percent of the estimations from 2006 (FBI, 2015a). Larceny-theft was at 71.4 percent of the total property crimes reported; burglary accounted for 19.8% while motor vehicle theft was at 8.9 percent (FBI, 2015a).

The statistics indicated that there had been an overall decrease in the violent and property crime rates from 2011 to 2015. Violent crime rates had increased in the one year period of 2014-2015, but the rates had decreased during the five-year period between 2011 and 2015. Favorable economic factors especially increased employment opportunities and an increase in income are the factors associated with the decrease in the crime rates during the period (Tonry, 2014). America has experienced an overall growth in its economy, which means that more jobs are available for its citizens and that they get better pay from their income-generating endeavors. These factors result in economic stability for the individuals and therefore keep them away from engaging in property and violent crime. Alcohol is often one of the predisposing factors for criminal activity (Tonry, 2014). Therefore the period experience a decrease in the alcohol abuse rates, which in turn decreased the property, and violent crime rates.

It is clear that the crime rates especially violent and property crimes continue to decrease in the United States. The trends that were observed during the 2011-2015 period indicate that the future will have lower rates. Economic strain, which is often one of the main causes of crime in any society, has been observed to decrease from 2011 and they continued to decrease as the United States economy becomes stable. It is, therefore, precise that the trend will continue to be observed in the future.

References

FBI. (2015a). Uniform Crime Rates: Property Crime.

FBI. (2015b). Uniform Crime Rates. Violent Crimes.

Tonry, M. (2014). Why crime rates are falling throughout the Western world. Crime and Justice, 43(1), 1-63.

Roeder, O. K., Eisen, L. B., Bowling, J., Stiglitz, J. E., & Chettiar, I. M. (2015). What caused the crime decline?