Introduction
According to Bowling et al., 2008 the Bureau of Justice Statistic in U.S.A is a statistical agency in the Department of Justice bestowed with the responsibility of compiling various kinds of statistics in the filed of Criminal Justice. Criminal victimization is an important aspect in the analysis of criminal events (Rand, 2009). The report is a summary of a survey carried out between 1972 and 2009 concerning criminal victimization.
Crime victimization
At the end of 2009, Americans aged twelve years and above did experience according to NCVS approximately twenty million violent crimes, property crimes and personal theft. The types of violent crimes were categorized as follows; rape, robbery, assault (aggravated or simple), personal theft, property theft comprising of household burglary, motor vehicle theft and theft (Jennifer & Rand, 2010).
According to Truman& Rand, 2010, between the year 2000 and 2009 violent crimes and property crimes went down by 39% and 29% respectively. For rape/sexual assault, it declined by between 57% and 19%. It is worth noting that the findings are in line with what FBI and UCR got; the two found out that violent crime and property crime declined by 6% and 5.6% respectively. Concerning reporting of crimes, 49 % reported violent crimes while 39% reported property crimes. Similarly, violet crimes against males (45%) were less reported compared to those against female which stood at 53%.
Other kind of crimes declined as follows between 2000 and 2008; robbery 35%, aggravated sexual assault 43%, simple sexual assault 37% personal theft 57%, household burglary 19%, motor vehicle theft 31% and theft 30%. The study established that the characteristics of victims in 2009 were the same with those in the past. This was based on age, gender and race. Black males as well as individuals under the age of 24 years were the high culprits as compared to white female and individuals of over 24 years old (Truman & Rand, 2010). Its worth noting that families that had lower rates of income as well as those receiving larger income suffered higher rates of property crimes. The former (a household with an income of below $ 7,500) had almost two times chances of experiencing property crime than those with income of $75,000 (Matson, 2010).
Additionally, 45% of the males victims of violent crimes new those who wronged them; on the other hand, 68% of females new those who assaulted them this also coincide with other previous findings. In 22% of violent crimes, weapons were used. The weapon that was mostly used in carrying out crime was firearms represented by 28%. Although the study seek to represent crime victimization in United States of America, exclusion of the Armed Forces population as well as those in institutions such as inmates leaves us in the dark when it comes to violent crimes in such populace. Thus there is need to carry similar studies in institutionalized environment and make such data available. Nevertheless, the study is very insightful on rates of crimes in U.S.A (Baum et al. 2009).
Conclusion
Based on suggestions of Cullen, & Ball, 2011 the data accessible in the webpage of office of justice programs is very vital for me while I carry out my activities that are tied to the field of criminal justice. It provides me with an opportunity to quickly analyze issues relating to criminal justice either locally, nationally and even internationally. Similarly the data in the web page can help us develop models as well as come up with ideas that can help the relevant stakeholders adequately and rationally address issues that keep on emerging in criminal justice.
References
Baum, K. et al. (2009). “Stalking Victimization in the United States,” Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2009. Web.
Bowling et al. (2008). “Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2007,” Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics. Web.
Cullen, L & Ball, R. (2011). Criminological Theory. New York: Sage Publications.
Matson, C. (2010). “Criminal Victimization in the United States, 2007 – Statistical Tables.”
Rand, M. (2009). “Criminal Victimization, 2008,”Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Truman, J. & Rand, M. (2010). “Criminal Victimization, 2009”. Bureau of Justice Statistics.