Running head: CRIME DATA COMPARISON PAPER

Crime Data Comparison Paper
Willie Clark
University of Phoenix

Crime Data Comparison Paper In this paper, I will take a caparison look at the crime index for two metropolitan areas in the United States using statistical information provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Uniform Crime Report posted yearly will display the two geographical areas I choose to compare for the study is Memphis and Nashville TN. I will compare the violent crime of murder rate for Memphis versus the Property index rate for burglary for Nashville and how the two, which are just two, and half-hours apart vary so differently. A little history on the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting or UCR created in 1992 and the International Association of Police Chiefs is credited for its influences dating back to the 1920s to push for complete crime statistic yearly in order to combat the increasing crime rate. In the Uniform Crime Reporting system, there are seven main categories identified, manslaughter and non-negligent murder, burglary, aggravated assault forcible rape, larceny, arson, and motor vehicle theft. The Uniform Crime Report first was in January 1930, the UCR reported 400 cities throughout 43 states, covering more than 20 million individuals, approximately 20 percent of the total United States population. The city of Memphis is in the southwest portion of the state of TN. The city has a population as of September 2009 of more than 672,046 residents. The total of violent crimes overall for that reported year was 1,945 incidents. The crime index I choose for this city was Murder. Memphis over the years has made many headlines as one of the most violent cities to live in the United States. As recently as several years ago, the city was labeled the murder capital of the United States. It was reported that as of September of 2009 that the City of Memphis ranked in the top 20 cities at number 13 with a 20.5, which represented 132 murders. This has been a substantial drop in number from 2005 through 2008, which were 154,160,164 and 138. The city I choose to compare for this paper is Nashville, which is located in the middle of the state of Tennessee and is the state’s capital. The city has a population as of September 2009 of more than 602,181 residents. The total number of violent crimes overall for that reported year was 1,395.6 incidents as compared to Memphis. Nashville over the years has not made many headlines as Memphis has and is considered one of the fastest growing cities to live in the United States. It was reported that as of September of 2009 that the City of Nashville ranked outside the top 20 cities at number 25 with a 12.6. City officials of Memphis say the city's high crime rate is highly exaggerated because of the unfair reporting used to report crime. Memphis residents believe that there are many flaws in UCR system and that they are not being represented accurately or the years. Memphis is regularly listed among the most violent cities to live because of past statistics. Other cities have different reporting methods, criminal statutes vary from state to state, and some places do not report according to standard practices. According to The Commercial Appeal, another problem arises when city rankings are confused with metropolitan crime numbers. A cluster of wealthy suburbs, which tend to have less street crime, does not surround Memphis, unlike other major cities. Other discrepancies surface, which several crimes are committed in one incident. While Memphis reports each individual crime, some cities report only the worst offense (Commercial Appeal, 2009). The murder rate of Memphis was played out for the Media unlike Nashville in the Art and Entertainment Channel show called “First 48”, which followed the cities with the highest murder rates. Recently because of the negative attention, the show contract with city was not resign due to the overwhelming negative attention of Memphis being crime ridden. Nashville though smaller city size has a much larger metro area of 1.6 million versus Memphis area of 1.2 but has lower reported crime (Hendron, 2009). Over the last 10 years the statistic show a increasing drop in violent crimes in Nashville while Memphis remains almost even during that period. Today Memphis is considered one of the most deadly cities to live in (UCR, 2009). The next property index crime I choose for this region is burglary for Nashville as compared to Memphis TN. The number of reported property crimes in Nashville for 2008 through 2009 was 32,275 reported crimes and 28,911 reported crimes. Out of those reported crimes, the burglary offenses committed for Nashville for 2008 was 6,312 and for 2009 was 6,264. Burglary offenses for the past 10 years in this region have continued to increase with the size of population. The burglary statistic for Memphis from 2008 through 2009 shows a slit difference when compared to Nashville. The stats show that in 2008 the reported property index crimes 53,870 with burglary offenses number of 13,879. The following year for 2009 Memphis reported total property index reports 47,158 with al number of burglary offenses of 13,935. When you compare the two cities property index, statistics they are not too far apart in numbers. The crime rate for those offense roughly drop 100 reports in each year for each city. With these startling numbers, many residents of Nashville believe that their city crime rate in Murders and burglary will continue to rise and resemble the city of Memphis (UCR, 2009). I think of the politics of the need to "under report" all crime---particularly violent crime. In 2007, Nashville law enforcement reported 22,000+ thefts. Most criminologist scoff at this number, when statistically factored to a population of 542,000. Internal controls in law enforcement screen out many of the serious thefts, on the basis of known origin of theft, e.g. relatives, pre-emptive action on known theft occurrences, etc. a good deal of "see, but, don't see" is essential in many law enforcement agencies. Unfortunately, this is very true in Nashville and in its law enforcement agency. Nashville has experienced lags, as has some other cities in Tennessee, in funding dollars/officer in policing. Ultimately, the number of residents an officer is charged to protect affects his ability to adequately police that statistical charge. In theory, it is easier to be responsible for 2.03 citizen’s officer than to be responsible for 3.87 citizen’s officer. How does Nashville want resources spent in protection---and where? The "squeaky wheel gets the grease" is not always applicable in Nashville. Generally, crime can be targeted as an expected occurrence in certain given areas. Apparently, in Nashville, this is an ever-fading assumption of the past that keeps rearing its ugly head. One theory that must be considered for the good of our society is the crime rate for both cities are the poverty level and gun control laws. It tends to be seen that one closely follows the other especially examining these two metro areas. Memphis has one of the highest crimes in United states compared to other metro area it size, while Nashville is not too far behind on the national average. It is easy to determine that unfortunately the chance of a property or a violent crime happening is one in 10. Nashville violent crime rate does not compare to Memphis and has seen a drop in violent crimes in the last 10 years. Surrounding metro areas of Memphis does not come close to the crime index rate of property and violent crimes combine. It is clear to see that the comparison is Memphis crime index in property and violent crimes committed over a ten-year period remain steady and outweighs Nashville. Something has to be done more than compiling statistic on the increasing crime rate (Conley, 2009). If our society attacks the problem of poverty, gun control and economics our society might be able to put a substantial dent in the crime rate across the board. Only time will tell if the current crime rate will continue to rise while we as a society continue to drag our feet. Reporting crime accurately is beneficial but should not be the focus of our nation.

References
Conley, C. (2009, June 29). Memphis a Victim of Crime Reports. The Commercial Appeal. Retrieved from http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009
Glazer, Sarah. "Declining crime rates: does better policing account for the reduction?" CQ Researcher 4 Apr. 1997: 291+. General OneFile. Web. 30 June 2010.
Hendron, J. (2009). U.S. "Murder Capital “a tricky Figure... ABC News website. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/US/story
U.S. Department of Justice. (2009). Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/publications.htm
Freeh, L. (1994). Violent crime in the U.S. Vital Speeches of the Day, 60(14), 418. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.