Crime Data Comparison

Crime Data Comparison

Jyn Santiago

University Of Phoenix

CAJ 314

August 31, 2010

Shantrice Murphy

Crime Data Comparison

Crime is any act or omission that violates a law which results in a punishment and the problem with the crime statistics is the majority of crime is not reported to law enforcement agencies. Crime data in the Unites States are calculated by two primary sources state level crime reports and federal level crime reports. In this paper, I will identify the number of occurrences of aggravated assault reported to law enforcement agencies in Chicago, Illinois and New York, New York; and compare the crime reports of aggravated assault in these two areas. I will also evaluate the data to determine what city had more reported incidents, did any rate change over a period of time, and explain what factor may cause a difference in the rate. Aggravated assault is an unlawful attack on one individual by another individual causing harm or death usually by using a weapon (Schmalleger, 2009).

The crime data statistics for 2010 stated Chicago has a population of 2,833,649 and New York has a population of 8,336,002 (The Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2011). Chicago reported 13,757 aggravated assault and New York reported 27,309, aggravated assault for the year 2010. In comparing the two data there is a difference of 13,552 reported aggravated assault incident with New York doubling in the amount of reported incidences. An individual would say the crime rate in New York is higher; in evaluating the difference in population New York crime rate is lower than Chicago because New York has a population of 5,502,353 more than Chicago. With a population of eight million people in New York the percentages of aggravated assault reported is 328% and Chicago has a percentage of 485.4% in the year 2010. New York and Chicago has a difference of 157% showing Chicago has more occurrences than New York.

The rates in Chicago and New York change, in Chicago aggravated assault rate decreased by 1.1% and in New York increased by 1% from 2009 and 2010; however, taking into consideration New York has a higher population. When comparing reported statistics in New York form 2001 and 2010 the aggravated assault rate decreased 24%; however, New York has reported a decline of reporting crimes (The Division of Criminal Justice Services, 2011). According to The Division of Criminal Justice Services (2011), "There were 108,622 fewer crimes reported in 2010 than in 2001, while the population of the State increased by approximately 360,000 residents during the same time period" (Change in Crime Volume: 2001 vs. 2010, p. 2).