Introduction to Law Enforcement

David H. McElreath, Daniel Adrian Doss, Carl J. Jensen III, Michael Wigginton Jr., Ralph Kennedy, Kenneth R. Winter, Robert E. Mongue, Janice Bounds, J. Michelle Estis-Sumerel

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781482201499
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Droit
• Subtopic: Droit pénal

Modern perspectives of law enforcement are both complex and diverse. They integrate management and statistical analysis functions, public and business administration functions, and applications of psychology, natural science, physical fitness, and marksmanship. They also assimilate theories of education, organizational behavior, economics, law and

Crime in the United States

1

Short of war, our society is faced with no more important problem than crime.¹

O. W. Wilson (1950)

Learning Objectives

The objectives of the chapter are to

• Explain the differences between civil and criminal law

• Explain the Uniform Crime Report and other sources of crime data

• Identify the categorization of crime

• Recognize the trends of crime affecting the United States

• Define the concept of recidivism

• Define the societal impacts of crime

Introduction

One thing is certain: we shall always have crime and will always need dedicated and honest individuals who are willing to place themselves in harm’s way in the struggle to make our communities a safer place for us all to live. Across the United States, crime and criminal behavior continues to be a pervasive problem that receives considerable attention from the media, law enforcement, and social science researchers. Crime touches every segment of our society. In 2008, there were over 14 million crimes that came to the attention of law enforcement officials.²

Crime can be defined as any act that is punishable by law. Typically, criminal behavior is considered to be acts that our society does not condone. As a society, we feel strongly that some behavior is so unacceptable that it should be prohibited by law. To make this happen, elected officials vote to make something punishable by criminal law; each of our 50 states and the federal government have developed statutes that describe what behaviors are considered illegal and what the punishments for these behaviors should be.

Deviant behavior also comes to the attention of the police but is different from criminal behavior in that it is not against the law. Behavior that our society labels as deviant includes any behavior that does not conform to the expectations of society. This could be as simple as deviant forms of dress to a group becoming too loud in a public place. Depending on the situation and how disruptive the group becomes, this deviant behavior can quickly turn into criminal behavior such as disorderly conduct. Although deviant behavior can be troublesome to a community, as it applies to law enforcement, it is not the primary focus of resources. It is behavior that has been defined as violating a law or ordnance that will be the focus for police and law enforcement professionals.

Crimes can be divided into categories based on their seriousness. The first two categories are misdemeanors and felonies. Misdemeanors are crimes that are less serious and punishable with a range of sentences from fines to incarceration in a jail for up to a year. Examples of misdemeanors include disorderly conduct, vandalism, and trespassing. Felonies are more serious crimes that carry a penalty ranging from a year or more in prison to the most extreme sentence of death. Examples of felonies include aggravated assault, rape, and murder.

Status offenses are a third category of crime that applies only to individuals who are under a certain age. These behaviors are typically not against the law for an adult but hold a special status for juveniles. Examples of these offenses include truancy, drinking alcohol, curfew violations, and smoking. Most states have specific age limits set for each offense.

Criminal Law and Civil Law

Law in the United States can be classified either as criminal law or civil law. Criminal law is concerned with behaviors that are considered to be harmful to society as well as the victim. These laws have been codified at the local, state, and federal level. Criminal law identifies the behavior and the associated punishment with that crime. Because criminal law is considered to include behavior that is harmful to society, the state prosecutes an individual who has violated a criminal law.

Civil law, on the other hand, includes actions that are not criminal. These usually involve disputes between individuals or private organizations, and the remedy sought typically includes monetary or property compensation. Law enforcement is rarely involved in civil law, with the exception of serving court papers that deal with civil cases.

The same act can constitute both a crime and a civil wrong. For example, when a person steals an item, the government is entitled to prosecute the offender for the crime of theft and the victim is entitled to bring a civil action against the thief for the tort of conversion. These actions proceed separately. The government seeks the appropriate fine, jail sentence, or other penalty for the harm to society, in general, and to deter future criminal conduct. The victim seeks return of the stolen object or monetary compensation for the value of the item.

Measuring Crime

Information about crime in the United States is gathered from several sources and published in many different formats. We look at a few of these sources for information about criminal offending and victimization as well as specific crimes and variations in crime trends over time in the United States. Specifically, we look at the Uniform Crime Report (UCR), National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), and self-report surveys.

One of the most widely used official sources of crime data is the UCR. The UCR contains data that has been collected, analyzed, and published annually by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) since 1930.³ There are over 17,000 law enforcement agencies that voluntarily contribute arrest incident data to the FBI for compilation and dissemination. As of 2003, approximately 93% of the nation’s agencies were participating in the program.⁴ The primary goal of the UCR is to provide a consistent and reliable set of crime statistics for law enforcement professionals and researchers.

From the data collected by the UCR, the FBI produces a comprehensive report, Crime in the United States, which is published annually, including several crimes that have been divided into Part I and Part II crimes. Part I crimes are also referred to as index crimes and include eight of the most serious crimes that are the most likely to come to the attention of the police. Part I crimes are further divided into violent crimes against persons and property crimes. Violent crimes include murder, rape, assault, and robbery. Property crimes include burglary, motor vehicle theft, larceny-theft, and arson. Part II crimes include all other crimes reported that are not listed as part of the index crimes. Examples of these crimes include gambling, drug violations, and vandalism.⁵

The Crime in the United States publication reports information on crimes cleared and arrest characteristics, including the offender’s age, sex, and race. Information is available on the number of law enforcement personnel as well as on the number of sworn officers killed or assaulted each year. There is detailed information on homicides included in this report. Although characteristics are available for arrestees of other crimes, information on the crime of homicide includes the age, sex, and race of both the victims and the offenders. Information is also collected on the victim–offender relationship, weapons used, and other circumstances surrounding this crime.⁶

To increase the reliability of data on the crimes being reported by individual departments, the FBI provides standardized definitions for the offenses. The definition for criminal homicide includes murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, which is the willful killing of one human being by another. Manslaughter by negligence is the killing of another person through gross negligence. Robbery is the taking or attempted taking of anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of force or violence and/or by putting the victim in fear. Aggravated assault is an unlawful attack by one person upon another for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injury. Burglary is the unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or a theft. Larceny-theft is the unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession of another. Motor vehicle theft is the theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle. Arson is any willful or malicious burning or attempt to burn, with or without intent to defraud, a dwelling house, public building, motor vehicle or aircraft, or the personal property of another (Table 1.1).

As with any source of crime data, there are some precautions that law enforcement professionals need to take into consideration. The data collected in the UCR include crimes that have been reported to police and do not include crimes that fail to come to the attention of law enforcement. This phenomenon is referred to as the “dark figure of crime.” The dark figure of crime is the actual number of crimes committed in the United States of which we do not have an accurate count. This number fluctuates depending on the seriousness of the crime, relationship between the offender and the victim, and attitudes toward law enforcement within a community.

Citizens are more likely to report crimes that are more serious. There also appears to be a relationship in how often crimes are reported and the victim–offender relationship. We tend to find that victims are less likely to report crimes such as theft and assault when a family member or close acquaintance is responsible. Finally, there appears to be an association between a citizen’s reluctance to report crime and his or her views of the police department within their community. When community residents have low levels of trust in law enforcement, they tend to be more reluctant to report crime. This may be from a fear of law enforcement, the belief that the police will not respond or will not act in a manner to resolve the issue for the citizen.

Table 1.1 Offense Summaries

Part I Offenses

Criminal homicide

(a) Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter: the willful (nonnegligent) killing of one human being by another. Deaths caused by negligence, attempts to kill, assaults to kill, suicides, and accidental deaths are excluded. Justifiable homicides are classified separately and the definition is limited to (1) the killing of a felon by a law enforcement officer in the line of duty or (2) the killing of a felon, during the commission of a felony, by a private citizen. (b) Manslaughter by negligence: the killing of anoth...