According to the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) program, violent crime refers to the illegal acts by people that involve using force. Therefore, violent crime encompasses of four offenses that include the following. First, there is forcible rape, aggravated assault, robbery, and murder. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has published reports on violent crimes in the USA. However, the statistics for the last two years (2012 and2013) are summarized below. The United States uses the Hierarchy Rule to represent its data on crime. According to the rule, out of the multiple crimes committed, only the most serious ones are counted (US Department of Justice, The Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2009).

The violent crimes statistics of the last two reporting years show some quite an improvement. The 2013 record shows an estimated 1,163,146 violent crimes occurred as compared to the estimated 1,214,462 violent crimes that occurred nationwide in 2012 (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2013). Therefore, the above figures indicate that the 2013 violent crimes occurrence decreased by 4.4% from the 2012 estimate. Given a population sample, it is estimated that 367.9 violent crimes occurred per 100,000 inhabitants during the year of 2013. Similarly, the rate is considered to have reduced by 5.1% in comparison with the 2012 estimates. Precisely, the 2012 estimate was approximately 386.9 per 100,000 inhabitants. The statistics for the 2012 violent crimes that were reported to the law enforcement authority by the victims and also the police are as follows. Aggravated assault had the highest percentage of report cases, and it stood at 62.6%. However, robbery had 29.2%, and rape had 6.9%, and lastly murder was the least reported with 1.2%. In 2013, the report was as follows, aggravated assault had the highest reported case with an approximately 62.3%, the robbery was second with 29.7%, rape had 6.9%, and murder had 1.2%.

The demographic information on the number of the arrests made by the law enforcement group includes data on race, gender, and age. In 2012, approximately 402,470 arrests were made based on races. However, 58.7% were whites, 38.5% were blacks, 1.3% were American Indian, and 1.4% were Asian. In 2013, there was a positive change. A total of 391,467 arrests were made based on races. Approximately, 58.4% of people arrested were whites, 38.7% were blacks, 1.3% were American Indian and 1.4% were Asians. Based on gender, the statistics were as follows. A total of 404,037 arrests were made, and 80.1% were male while 19.9% were female. On the other hand, in 2013, a total of 392,778 arrests were made, and 79.9% were male while 20.1% were female. The arrests of juveniles and adults for 2012 and 2013 violent crimes were as follows. In 2012, a total arrest for all ages was 329,703 while 2012 recorded approximately 343,222 arrests. The data indicates a decrease of 3.9%. The persons arrested below the age of 15 years declined by 8.8% from 2012. Similarly, criminals arrested under the age of 18 years dropped by 8.6% from 2012. Ultimately, the persons arrested at the age of 18 years and above also declined by 3.4%.

In situations when we have a correlation of variables, then the variable that will have an effect on the relationship between the first two variables is referred to as the moderator variable. For this case, a moderator variable tries to influence how an individual variable correlates with a criminal act. There is a valid relationship between gender and violent crimes in the US. According to the reports, males have a higher percentage of engaging in violent behavior. In this situation, the moderator variable would be age, with the highest rate of violent people being above the age of 18 years. Similarly, there is a relationship between employment and violent crimes with a higher percentage of unemployed engaging in violent behaviors. The moderator variable would be marital status, with the highest percentage of single people engaging in the violent act. Lastly, race relates to violent crimes with white people recording the highest number of violent behaviors. However, the socioeconomic status is the moderator variable. It is because persons with a lower socioeconomic status have a higher percentage of violent crime.

The criminal statistics reported by the FBI are not accurate, and hence they are not reliable. The FBI often gives the elected officials and police chiefs to cite the crime data that provides the citizens measures of safety (Douglas, Burgess & Burgess, 2013). The statistics are not accurate since they receive little scrutiny and also, they are subjected to manipulation by the local police. Similarly, the lack of serious scrutiny of the data leads to crimes being undercounted. In the last five years, the FBI has not audited approximately two-thirds of the 30 largest cities in the U.S.A. Therefore, the report on the crime that the FBI provides is inaccurate and not reliable. The Uniform Crime Report is entitled to provide a reliable and accurate set of crime statistics to the public; however that is not the case.

Over the last decades, discrimination has reduced in the criminal justice department. However, the twenty-first has brought some reality of fairness in the judiciary system. The UCR crime statistics shows that male than females represents most crimes (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2013). However, the Native Americans are disproportionately represented as having the highest number of criminal offending than the white community. Similarly, the data system creates statistical support for stereotyping by showing blacks are prone to crime hence this leads to racism. The juvenile group represents a lower number of criminal offending than the adults. Therefore, most of the crimes are committed by the adult population, and they are widely represented in the criminal justice system. Lastly, the difference in socioeconomic status in a country has a relationship with offending. Therefore, the groups of people with low socioeconomic status commit more crimes since most of them have little income and they are poor.

According to the analysis of the report, the minority populations who are the African American are significantly overrepresented in the criminal justice system. They are over-represented from the arrests to sentencing and confinement. When comparing their numbers, the whites are under-represented. The blacks are over-represented because of the following reasons. First, the studies carried out are based on different timeframes, design, and jurisdictions. Second, the crime counting system is biased. The official statistics focuses only on crimes that are committed by the blacks rather than all offences. The discrimination against the minority has a relationship with the U.S. history. The blacks were held as slaves and hence were oppressed and brutalized through the legal system. The blacks being victimized by the discriminatory laws has led to the population being over-represented.

References

Douglas, J. E., Burgess, A. W., & Burgess, A. G. (2013). Crime classification manual: A standard system for investigating and classifying violent crimes.

Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2013). Crime in the Unites States, 2013. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crimes-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s-2013

US Department of Justice, The Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2009). 2008 crime in the United States: About crime in the U.S. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2008

 
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