Introduction
The inferential analysis refers to a method that allows examining the relationship between the two phenomena. The most common approach used by analysts using inferential methods is a regression coefficient. One example of this method is the correlation between neighborhood characteristics and crime rates collected by the Office of Policy Development and Research (“About PD&R”, n.d.). The following is the example of the report that presents readers with the findings of inferential analysis – “strong social organization, youth job opportunities, immigration, and residential stability are among several neighborhood characteristics associated with lower crime rates” (“Neighborhoods and violent crime,” 2016, para. 5). Hence, this method is valuable when a need for evaluating the correlation between the two factors is present. One should note that this is not the only approach to the matter, and alternative strategies such as the correlation coefficient exist (Ganti, 2019). This method allows the analyst to see a statistically significant relationship between the variables explored. In the case discussed above, the national agency would be able to examine the nature of the correlation between different factors, or to what extent socioeconomic factors impact crime rates.
Descriptive methods are appropriate when there is a need to assess information about specific demographic characteristics and explored phenomena. One example is the Bureau of Justice National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), which is a questionnaire distributed to crime victims (“Data collection: National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS),” 2017). From it, one can find out which percentage of a specific crime was reported to the police in a given time. Usually, this approach to statistics is applied when there is a necessity to present percentages, rates, or counts. Hence, in this case, the public safety agency used the measures of frequency to conduct the analysis. An alternative to this approach would be to include statistics from other countries and apply the measure of position for comparing the data, which would allow determining the relationship between data sets.
Report
The following report aims to explain the main trends of crimes gathered from data collected as part of the Uniform Crime Report. Firstly, the total violent crime committed from 1985, when the data was first collected until the timeframe for which one has a recent statistics, which is 2014, a total number of 1,514,701 cases of violent crimes were reported by this Police department (“Estimated crime in California,” n.d.; “Uniform crime reporting,” n.d.). Next, the median of these crimes is 50968, suggesting that this is the average value for the crimes between 1985 and 2014, and the mean is 50490. Over the course of calculating the mode, an error occurred suggesting that there the number of violent crimes each year differ and no repetitions occur. The maximum number of crimes occurred in 1991 and totaled 89,875 cases. A record low minimum number of violent crimes was recorded in 2013 with 16,524 instances, and the range is for this data set is 56214.
Murder and non-negligent manslaughter can be defined as an act of killing a person by another individual. This incorporates instances during which individuals were harmed, such as arguments or fights. For this data, the mean is 611, the median is 563, and the latter usually serves as a better representation for population statistics because it allows seeing the actual middle range of criminal cases, instead of the summed and divided aggregate. As with the previous component of the Unified Crime Report, no mode, or a number that can be seen the most often in a data set is present with murder and non-negligent manslaughter statistics. The maximum was 1094 in 1992, the minimum was 252 in 2013, and the range of 577, which is the difference between the years with the most significant number of reported murder cases and the least significant one. It is evident that Los Angeles is subjected to a significant decrease in the context of murder and non-negligent manslaughter cases since 1985. However, in 2014, the city experienced an increase since 260 cases were reported by the police department.
Legacy rape is a term under which data of reported rape cases are aggregated prior to 2013 when the legal definition of this term was changed. The mean for the data set is 1457, and the median is 1413. This difference is enabled by the definitions of the two concepts since the mean is the amount of all reported cases, which is divided by the number of years, and the median provides the average number in the data set. The fact that the two are very similar suggests that the data set is balanced. The median cannot be calculated since all the year has a defend count of legacy rape cases. Calculation of the model results in an error, suggesting that the amount of case reports is unique for each year and the range is 12. The max is 2330 cases, which accounts for the year 1986, and the min is 764 cases reported in 2014. However, one should note that this significant drop in the crime rates is due to the change of the legal definition. Hence these cases account only for the rape crimes that fall under the old definition.
In some cases, the interpretation of data, especially that related to similar reports or national safety, depends on the legal definitions of terms. One example is revised rape, the concept that presents a revised definition of rape that occurred in 2013. Hence, data regarding the instances of revised rape is available only from 2013, while other cases that fall under the previous definition were discussed above. The mean, median, max, and min for this statistic are 1126, and the range is 0 since the data is available only for one year.
Robbery statistics is another aspect of the Los Angeles crime that will be examined. Firstly, the mean value of this element is 20824, and the median is 16874. This suggests that at a certain point in time, the levels of robbery crime is that the city increased significantly since the two values are very different. Another explanation is a significant decrease experienced since 2012. The mod cannot be established, and the max value is 39,778 consistent with the reports from 1994 with the min of 7885 in 2013, and the range of 19,789.
Aggravated assault data has to be interpreted in different ways when compared to other criminal cases examined in this report. This is because, in 2005, the Los Angeles Police Department altered its practices of data collection and reporting; hence, the structure and outcomes from this year and those that follow differ.
The mean number of aggravated assault cases is 27608, the median is 31987, the model cannot be calculated with this data, the maximum is 47104, which relates to the crimes conducted in 1991, and the minimum was 7624 in 2013, and range 35,141.
The mean number of property crimes in Los Angeles is 158,340, with a median of 136,408 and no mode. The maximum amount could be seen in 1991 with 256,349 cases and the minimum in 2014 with 83,139. The range is 97,916, indicating a significant difference between the years with the most substantial amount of reported cases and those with the least property crimes committed in the city.
Burglary statistics’ mean is 33504, and the median is 25,534. The calculation of mode results in an error, which is consistent with the specifics of the dataset. The maximum is 64,201, and these cases were reported in 1986, while the minimum amount of burglary occurred in 2014 with 15,070. The range for this dataset is 15308, which means that there is a significant difference when comparing the years where most of these crimes were reported and those with the minimum occurrences of burglary.
Larceny-theft’s mean in Lost Angeles is 87,269 with a median of 79,667 cases for the examined years. Similar to the previous datasets, the model cannot be calculated since all the report cases are unique for each year. The maximum number of these crimes is 130,234 in 1991, and the minimum is 53469 in 2011, with the range 58,547. This indicates a significant decrease of larceny-theft in Lost Angeles.
Conclusion
Motor vehicle theft’s mean is 37,566 and median is 32,687, while the mode cannot be calculated for this dataset. The maximum of reported burglary cases is 68,655 in 1991, and the minimum was 13,788 in 2013, and the range for this data set is 30,802. Overall, when comparing these statistics, one can argue that the examined statistic indicates a significant decrease in the number of crimes committed from 1986 until 2014.
References
About PD&R.(n.d.). Web.
Data collection: National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS).(2017). Web.
Estimated crime in California. (n.d.). Web.
Ganti, A. (2019).Correlation coefficient. Web.
Neighborhoods and violent crime. (2016). Web.
Uniform crime reporting. (n.d.). Web.