The Bureau of Justice Statistics collects and presents data on crime in the US.
Browse the site: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm
Review this page: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=3 (notice the types of crimes linked in the left side menu)
Browse this document for things that interest you: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/cvus08.pdf
Summarize your experience with this website and your thoughts as a comment to this post.
I greatly enjoyed looking through the The Bureau of Justice Statistics website because I thought it gave brief but thorough descriptions of different types of crimes and statistics about those crimes being reported or unreported. It is also a very easy website for people who are not all that 'law educated', like myself, to browse around and read into different types of crimes and the latest on different crimes that have occurred in the last decade or so. Since it was very easy to browse around which made it more interesting to look at. I never really understood what the difference between a hate crime and violent crime were, and now I know it's simply using 'hate language' or 'hate tools' when committing a crime that separates the two. Additionally, I liked that it categorized statistics and facts into graphs or charts to make it easier to comprehend definitions and differences of each, such as the Drug Crimes category with the 'drug-related', 'drug-lifestyle", and so on. I found it interesting that rape crimes/violent crimes including rape have been reported more in the last few years, but is still one of the highest crimes to go unreported. Overall, if someone is curious to know someone law-related or crime-related this would be a website I would suggest. Also, if a crime happens to someone and they are not sure how to handle it or want to feel comfortable by reading how many others do not report the crimes that happen to them, once again I would suggest this website.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics is an interesting combination of two databases, the Uniform Crime Report generated by law enforcement and he National Crime Victimization Survey generated by households of crime victims. Together, we see the frequency and type of crimes from two different perspectives. The raw numbers are a helpful reminder that crime is often over-dramatized in the media. A look at the statistics reveals that firearms are used infrequently in the different crime types - unlike the highly publicized information like the shooting at the movie theatre in Colorado. The BJS site is a realistic overview of the crimes, the corrections system and the victimization. It is a user friendly site with clear categories of information and understandable tables.
I found the Bureau of Justice Statistics webpages to be very interesting. It is very useful for the general public to browse through and see what kinds of crimes are committed and who they are committed against. I really liked how the last website broke down various types of victims and crimes. It was interesting how they started with just crimes against people ages 12 and older and moved into crimes against the same age group but different ethnic backgrounds. I found this to be very helpful while browsing through the given information and charts. The first couple of websites were also very interesting to look at. They showed the statistics of crimes such as illegal immigration, crimes against the elderly and so on. I think that all of these websites are great for keeping the public informed on crime statistics in the United States. Without this knowledge, people may over generalize the types of crimes committed. This also may help or hinder stereotypes. It can help eliminate stereotypes by showing actual facts. This way people can see that it's not just one ethnic group committing the crimes and that it is a mix of all groups. It may also hinder the elimination of stereotypes because people can just scroll to the statistics they want to find about a given ethnic group and focus solely on that statistic without giving other charts any consideration. Overall, though, the websites are very interesting and I would definitely recommend them to anyone who wants to find out more about crime in the United States.
This website provides a vast amount of information concerning the law with topics ranging from actual crimes to the reporting of crimes, weapons, attempted crimes, and victimization separated by age, gender, and race. It is a little overwhelming searching through all of these statistics and graphs but it definitely is an eye opener to someone without much personal experience or background of criminal activity. I liked looking at the charts because I was able to compare numbers easily but I was not always sure what the numbers indicated. The link to the page about Crime Type was helpful because it defined what each type of category meant like aggravated assault, so I knew what criteria classified a crime as one thing and not another. I did not know there was 2 different ways to measure crimes: from the victim’s perspective and crimes reported by law enforcement. It seems like the crimes reported by the victim’s point of view (NCVS) are more detailed and thorough, perhaps not as reliable though depending on the specific case. I’m sure that this is a great resource to anyone searching for something specific who knows exactly what they are looking for. If I were to take a good amount of time and read though a bunch of these pages, I’m sure I would have a better understanding of the larger picture of how the law works and also be able to learn some more detail oriented things on specific crimes or cases. Something that I read further into was the tab on crime type: violent, property, drugs, gangs, hate, etc. and then I tried to compare that information to the charts on the third link in the Statistical Tables.
Personally, I found the Bureau of Justice Statistics website to be a little bit overwhelming. There was so much information to look at that it made it difficult for me to take everything in. Although I felt this way, the site would definitely be helpful and informative if one wanted to learn more about crime in the United States. The extensive amounts of charts were nice to look at because they made it easier to see the number of crimes committed, the type of crime, what type of person the victim was, and more. I will definitely come back to this site and use it as a resource if the need arises, solely based on how much data it contains.
The link that led to the Crime Type page was interesting to look at. I had no idea that cybercrime was its own type! I thought it tied into other types of crime, but apparently not! I also really liked looking through the link on gangs. It seems crazy to me that only about 5% of violent crime victims knew for sure that their offenders were affiliated with gangs. That number stuck out to me because it seemed sort of low.
The Statistical Tables on Criminal Victimization in the United States, 2008, was also a great resource. The tables were endless, and they provided information on just about anything you'd need to know when it comes to crime and the victims of crime. I would rather look at tables to figure information out than read a long paragraph with a bunch of numbers in it, so this link was beneficial to me because it was not confusing at all.
When I first arrived at the Bureau of Justice Statistics website, I was a little overwhelmed with how much information there was. I did not know what to click or even what I was really looking for. But once I clicked the other link that took me to the “crime type” section, things started making a little more sense. I noticed that there is a lot of information on this site, but that it is also broken down and made easy to read and understand if you actually try. All the links on the left hand side gave information on certain crimes or aspects of the Justice System, and statistics that correlated with them. I find this really interesting to have actual numbers to go along with crimes that have been committed. I constantly hear about different crimes occurring but to actually see the amount and compare crimes against other crimes was interesting. It was also interesting to see the different types of general crimes and the ways those can be broken down into a bunch of specific crimes. Besides just statistics about crimes, the website has a hundred different pieces of information. I think this site could be very helpful to people needing information for a report or for their personal benefit. I enjoyed this site and feel like it will not be long until I visit it again!
I have to admit, when first looking on the Bureau of Justice Statics website I was taken aback by the abundance of information provided, and a bit confused as to where to start looking first. I began looking at the FAQ’s to get a better understanding at the kinds of questions this site was hoping to help answer. It also helped to navigate to the specific links on the site, and gave a better distinction as to which branch dealt with what issues. One other item I came across on the site that I found to be extremely helpful was the Terms & Definitions tab, I frequently went back to this to cleat up any misunderstanding I had. I found that the organization of the site was very useful after being able to look around a bit, and see what the site had to offer. I also enjoyed the ‘Summary Findings” on the links, they allowed me to take a quick glance over the information that tab held without having to take the time to thoroughly read it all. I learned that the amount of information that this site holds is crucial to having a clear understanding of the law and information ranging from crime types, to corrections, to victims. I think that this site would be very useful for someone who is having legal issues, or is unsure about what to do about a crime.
The BJS was so interesting! I loved looking at all the stats. Some of them were shocking, and others I thought were just what I thought they would be. The BJS could be beneficial to anybody working in the Law field. The information is endless and provides more than enough for anybody that is wondering. I also really liked how the website was set up. It's very organized. This website show's us all just how complex the legal system is and how much information they have obtained over the years. Being able to compare this statistics would be beneficial in helping stop crime in areas, and which areas are doing okay. Overall, I loved the BJS and I would probably revisit it again for research and curious purposes.
I found the BJS website to be too much to take in at one time. If you can break it down and just go part by part it is a very interesting site. I didn't realize how many crimes go unreported each year and it is nice to have it broken down by category as they do. I think that the graphs provided within the different pdf files are what was most helpful when trying to understand the rates of reported crime. Reading a numerical statistic and seeing it have two different effects, at least for me they do. I was amazed at how many violent crimes and assaults go unreported each year, yet a large amount of vehicle thefts and crimes that don't cause physical damage to a victim do get reported at such a high rate. All in all, i feel like this website does a good job at giving the raw statistics in a manner that is fairly easy to understand.
When I first got to the BJS, I had no idea where to start. After clicking around, I realized that this website is extremely resourceful. There was a lot of information that was readily available regarding all types of crimes and the statistics that coincide. The breakdown of specific types of crimes was particularly interesting to me because I could see how they all contribute to America’s crime rate as a whole, but on a more individualized level. The statistical tables also grabbed my attention because they were extremely detailed and simple to read. If someone needed information on a specific crime, they could easily see the number of documented cases, as well statistics based on race, age, income, and much more. I was somewhat surprised at the information regarding crimes that do not get reported to the police. Each page was very well-organized, each including an ‘About the Topic, Terms and Definitions, and Related Links’ section at the forefront. These resources on each page help the reader have a clear understanding about the information that they are about to read and it also helps them to navigate effectively. Though the information might not seem so overwhelming if someone were to go onto the site looking for specific information, it was very interesting nonetheless. I would definitely recommend this website to anyone in need of research regarding crime-related topics.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics website:
I found it very interesting that in the most recent data collection in the year of 2010 the prison releases (708,677) exceeded the number of prison admissions (703,798). This statistic shocked me, but it also made me feel good that it isn’t always about people getting put in prison and that some of these people will do their time and be able to get back out into the real world and hopefully start on a better path in their lives. It also makes me wonder what the statistic would be for the year 2012.
After reviewing the cybercrime topic, I found it devastating to see that in 2005 out of 7,818 businesses surveyed, about 68% of those businesses that had been victims of this type of crime reported a monetary loss of $10,000 or more. It really put into perspective how dangerous the internet can be and how careful a person must be when putting personal information online or purchasing anything online as well.
Also, I find it sad to think that identity theft has become more and more of an issue in our world today. It makes you feel as if you can’t trust to use your debit or credit cards anywhere anymore. Cash seems to be the way to go!
Overall, I thought this website was a great resource to be able to actually see statistical date pertaining to particular crimes that I was interested in learning more about. I never knew this website was out there, but I think it is helpful to have it as an available resource to everyone.
Criminal Victimization in the U.S. 2008 Statistical Tables:
After reviewing Table 4, it surprised me that for females the age that had the highest victimization rate was ages 35-49. Before looking at this table, I would have thought the younger ages would have had the higher victimization rates.
After reviewing Table 59, I was also surprised to see that most of the crimes of violence occurred in the daytime hours, not the nighttime hours.
Overall, the amount of information that this document provides was very interesting and is something a person could spend hours viewing! I thought it was entertaining to realize how much my perception of crime in the United States is not accurate with what these statistics show! Thanks for sharing this! :)
I definitely found the Bureau of Justice Statistics to be a bit overwhelming at first. I'm sure even after I'm done posting I will continue to look at this website even more indepth. The first link that I looked at was the Victim's link on the far left hand side. I found that interesting because it gave me a better understanding of what I was looking into. It gave the different defintion of what it was about, data collections and survey's, publications and products, and terms and definitions.
It was to my surprise that so many crimes go unreported each year. That was sad for me to hear. Especially the rape and and causing personal harm crimes. The more at I look at this website the better it becomes. I like how each tab goes more indepth than before. That makes it much easier to comprehend what they mean. This site have been very helpful for me to understand more about the different types of crime. For some of them I didn't know specially what types of crim would go into what category. This sight have made things more clear for me.
Overall, I found these three websites to be very interesting and informational. I know the longer I look at then the more I will understand. I never would have found these websites on my own, so this assignment has been very resourceful.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics was very informative and interesting. I particularly enjoyed looking under the crime tab and reviewing the studies and statistics regarding different crimes. The website is well-organized and provides numerous definitions to help the general public understand the different types of crimes committed. Thanks to the definitions, I now know the difference between hate crimes and violent crimes, and I am knowledgeable about the other types of crime as well. The graphs and statistics also help readers understand the severity and frequency of crimes in the U.S. The Criminal Victimization document contained a lot of information that interested me. I am currently taking a class called “Violence in Intimate Relationships”, so I was intrigued about the statistics regarding domestic abuse or violence against women.
The first thing that came to mind when I opened the BJS website was, holy crap! I had no idea on where to start so I just closed my eyes and randomly clicked on the first link and it brought me to a link of resent crimes committed on the elderly 65 years or older. When looking through it I did not know that so many violent crimes happened to the elderly. As I slowly went through the website I started getting a better understanding on what is going on with the website. Looking at the Criminal Victimization pdf it shows there are a lot and I mean a lot of different types of crimes and even several subcategories for crimes. When looking at the charts I think it helped give me an even little better understanding on all the crimes that had happened to so many different ages, and the ones I was more interested in were the ones for children twelve years of age.
I enjoyed looking at all of the websites listed for this assignment. It is good to know that these resources are available. The first website that I looked at was just the Bureau of Justice Statistics homepage. There were so many aspects to this website that it would have been possible to spend hours on this website. Since there was so much information, I focused on looking at the variety of statistics available. There was some information on immigration offenses, cyber crime, correctional facility populations, and much more. What I greatly appreciated was that the website provided information on the actual research process the Bureau utilized to develop their statistics. Every site I checked contained information on when the data was collected and what the changes have been over time to the collection method.
After getting an overview of the bureau of Justice Statistics I looked at the “Crime Type” portion of the website. The nation uses two different measures. The Bureau of Justice Statistics gathers reported and unreported crime from the perspective of the victim and the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports gathers information on crimes reported by law enforcement. Both look at the nation but the FBI also looks at state estimates and local agencies. The Bureau of Justice Statistics uses surveys to gather its information. When looking at the different topics under Crime Type, “Gangs” caught my eye. I grew up in a town with a well-known gang. However, I never really understood the big deal when I was young. I figured that gangs committed many crimes. However, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that most cases of violent crimes were not committed by gangs. This website is great because it provides statistics based off of information received from victims whether they reported the crime or not. That enables us to get a bigger view of crimes committed. However, it is all based on surveys. I personally prefer hard facts and that is something that would need to be received from the actual police reports because those would contain actual information that can be counted and determined.
The final thing I read was the .PDF from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Since there were 135 pages, I focused on the “big picture.” I was surprised to see that over 21 million people have been victims of crimes with almost 5 million of those being personal crimes. With such a large number it was amazing to see that only about 100,000 cases were purse snatching or pocket picking. The rest of the personal crimes were crimes of violence. The majority of crimes were property crimes (16 million). Majority of the property crimes were theft. The .PDF was a very thorough document with its different breakdowns of so many different crimes. They even had the breakdowns by age and race. It would be an excellent resource for gathering specific information.
Overall, I thought that the site was very thorough and informative. I couldn’t think of any information regarding crime that wouldn’t be on their website. The aspect that I enjoyed the most was the transparency. They gave enough information that you knew exactly what sort of information you were looking at and how that information was gathered.
Terms Used: No psychological terms utilized in this blog posting.
When I first opened the link for this website I was so overwhelmed and had no idea where to go on the site or what I should even look for. There is just an overload of information on that website. I went to the FAQ to see if that could help me a little bit better to figure out my way around this website. Then I just decided to click on random things that looked interesting and read about them. I read a lot into the gangs section of the website and also the violent crimes. It provided me with a lot of interesting information. I really did enjoy looking at the last website you gave us about the statistical tables. It was very interesting looking at how many crimes were committed and the number of victims of crimes. Some were surprising to me but others were just as I suspected for example looking at the victims of rape there were 40,000 more cases for women than men. Which is something that I figured would be true. I liked looking at the charts and tables because I could understand better at what I was looking at and it gave me a clearer picture. Overall the websites were full of tons of information and very interesting to look at.
These links were all very intriguing. I enjoyed the simplicity of the site and also the information on it. I enjoy reading about statistics like the ones provided on the website. It always blows my mind the number of crimes that are actually committed. I expect them, but it's still overwhelming! What is even more overwhelming is the number of crimes that go unreported to the police. It sickens me to know that so many people are getting away with so many crimes. This site is a great resource for anyone that would want to dig up some statistics on anything that the NCVS and the UCR have put together.
I appreciated the last document you had us look at because the graphs made it extremely easy to look at and comprehend. I think the sites were very informative and enjoyable to browse through!
While reviewing the BJS website, I found there to be an overwhelming amount of information for someone who might not know what they are looking for, or someone who might not know much about the legal system in general. After clicking on various links, not knowing how I got to them, I was intrigued by the Data Analysis Tools. I thought that this was the most direct way to gain information to what exactly you might be looking for. For example, if I was searching for the national statistics of females from the ages of 13-14 who have committed burglary, I could specify the search for that and receive my results, which indicate that females ranging in the ages of 13-14 are committing much less burglary now than they were around the peak in 1993-1994. Overall, I found this site to have an abundance of information that could be extremely helpful if you know what you're looking for.
On the corrections page, I appreciated how it went through and explained what corrections is, gave data to go along with it, gave publications to search, and also presented terms and definitions that a reader or researcher would benefit from knowing as they continue their readings/research. This website is so specific to each and every crime and follows them in detail. There are many specific crimes under the umbrella of a category and so on. This website is so extremely detailed.
On the final document of the statistics in 2007 of criminal victimization, I found it to be easy comprehend and a quicker approach at finding what I might have been searching for in the beginning. I was interested and wasn't surprised to see that attempted/threatened violence was the highest type of crime committed across most, if not all statistics. I think it is that way because whether a person is intoxicated, mentally ill, furious, or just talking to hear themselves talk, it is easy to threaten and not always follow up. How many times have we said to someone in joking, "I'm going to kill you!" Technically, that could be considered a threat of violence. That being said, this statistic did not surprise me.
Although overwhelming, the BJS website is very informative and interesting. Whatever a person might be searching for within crime statistics, victimization, etc. could be found on this site without a doubt.
When first getting to the BJS website, you could just tell that it was going to be full of information that will be overwhelming at first. The site is very well organized so it was a little more easy than I thought it would be. Being a Criminology major, I kind of know what categories interest me as opposed to others. I like to read more into the violent crimes, drugs, and maybe even a little bit about gangs. I don't care so much for categories such as identity theft or even the courts. This website breaks things down so that I can read into the stuff that I'm interested in and not have to look through everything. However, one of the biggest parts of this website that doesn't interest me at all is all of the charts and the statistical data. I see a lot of these tables with the classes that I take and it's just something that I haven't been able to get interested in. I think that I'm used to seeing a lot of this type of data that it honestly doesn't surprise me much anymore. It's a great website to give us a better understanding of the Criminal Justice System and all of the reporting that has to be done. The UCR and the NCVS are very important reports when it comes to criminology. Even though they are two different reports and not all crimes are reported, it still gives us a better understanding of crime overall.
The Gang section under the crime tab is extraordinarily underwhelming, and even searching the BJS website for the word gang only yields eleven results, most of which are on the far side of ten years old.
It seems incredibly low for this particular kind of website, but when thinking about it, gang members committing crimes aren't really any different from any other person committing the same crime.
Couple that with the underreporting of members of a gang because of the social stigma of doing so and gang on gang violence is only heard about by the pedestrians in the surrounding area. That would also only be in the case of visible violence.
Academic research from external sources is much more prevalent. It was easy to find a ton of studies relating to gangs, from their formation to how they sustain their numbers and occasionally, what happens when they dissolve. It really just highlights how this particular section of the BJS website could probably use some updating.
On a side note: One of the more interesting ideas about gang activity is the idea that the social unit of a gang could be modeled toward positive influences. It's definitely correct that gangs get awful press and that the media is quick to jump on any idea of gang violence. Same with movies, gangs make appealing antagonists.
While this viewpoint is something of a pipe dream, there are a few valid points to it. We aren't going to utterly defeat gangs as a whole. Reshaping the definition of a gang and what they can do, as unrealistic as that is, is still more realistic than attempting to extinguish them.
For instance, picture the people you hung out with growing up. Your close friends, the people that you spent time with regularly. The only real difference between that clique and a gang is what they're called. Almost unilaterally, you break a few rules, maybe even a few laws while you're growing up.
At their very worst, gangs are that to an extreme. It's probably exacerbated by the negative press and the ways we as a society choose to respond. They rebel harder because we're pushing the wrong way. If we could find better ways to push or nudge them, I think we'd be better overall as a society.
The idea that came to mind was a simulation of the hard labor that is often depicted in prison. Breaking rocks is my favorite, but I could liken it to an apprenticeship in construction or in demolitions, though it could be just about anything. At the end of the week, pay them as per normal (Or maybe slightly reduced), and talk about how in Prison they wouldn't get paid where obtaining that job (which, construction doesn't pay too poorly) outside of Prison isn't unrealistic.
This philosophy does have it's own problems. It's expensive in terms of manpower, difficult to regulate, and it requires outside assistance from open minded companies who are willing to take the risk of backlash from the people they temporarily employed. The current prison system is already two out of three of those things and has a horde of other problems and an awful recidivism rate. We already know that the prison system is a problem, so we should be looking for other solutions.
My experience with the BJS website was very eye opening. This was the first time I had seen so many statistics based on our national crimes. The first webpage drew me in, I wanted to know more about the numbers behind the percentages. I was interested in the fact that most of the crimes not reported broke down to only theft and sexual assault. I also was interested in the fact that our rate of immigration offenders was at its lowest point, I looked further into the race statistics on the last document because of this. The crime rate on elderly made me absolutely sick, I would have never imagined numbers being this high. Seeing things from a more psychological point it made me very curious and interested. Learning how the statistics changed so much when they divided out the nations crime problem based on sex, race, status, household, income, and further more intrigued me. This overall experience just made me want to learn more and be more aware of the statistics around me.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics website is a wealth of information, however it can also be difficult to navigate due to its size. I think the site would be very practical and useful if you are looking for research information on a specific topic, but simply browsing can make the database seem overwhelming.
The site can be very useful because it gives detailed descriptions of what constitutes a given crime, as well as statistical figures to shed light on the details of how these crimes are committed. One page that interested me in particular was a documentation of weapon use by crime type. I was very surprised to learn that only 47% of robberies involved any type of weapon, and only 22% of violent crime involved a weapon.
These statistics gave me a much clearer picture of how crimes are actually happening in our country. Movies and television can give you a very warped indication of how crimes are committed, and this site can provide a much more accurate information about actual crimes.
Statistics has never been a subject that has interested me due to the fact that when presented it is usually just a bunch of numbers piled together. However when looking at the Bureau of Justice Statistics website, the creators do a nice job of not only presenting the numbers in an understandable way but also putting the reason as to why these statistics are important. The site was a little overwhelming at first with all the data that is presented and all the different categories in which you could choose from, however after looking around the website for a little bit it became a lot easier to process the data and to maneuver the site. As a sophomore I have not quite figured out what aspects of the criminal justice system interest me the most, so when searching around the website I just decided to look at a little of everything. To my surprise the statistics that interested me the most were the statistics about corrections. I found it interesting that so many inmates died while in prison, most waiting for their sentencing. I assumed that many deaths in the corrections system would come from suicides but the other highest cause of death is from heart diseases. Knowing this statistic makes me wonder if the strain of being in jail (physically and mentally) has an impact on the prisoner’s health, specifically the health of their hearts. I was also surprised at the number of prisoners who were reincarcerated after being released. As a consumer of the media I hear about stories where the inmates are being rehabilitated while in prison or that prisoners are getting out for good behavior. However these stories as compared to the data that is presented now seem few and far between. What intrigued me the most however, when looking at this site as a whole is looking at the statistics from a psychological perspective. When looking at the statistics for a certain crime, location, race, or gender it made me question what variables could contribute to the statistics being that way. Why is one gender more apt to commit a crime or be a victim of a crime, or why does one location have more crime then all the others. Overall I enjoyed looking at this website; it made me open my eyes to the other parts of psychology and the criminal justice system rather than the obvious. The BJS website made statistics more interesting and made me want to become more conscious of statistics and what they really mean.
When I first clicked on the links I had no idea what I was looking at. There was just so much to browse through. I felt a little intimidated and overwhelmed at the same time. So I decided to look around. I found that this site is very informational and helpful. It was very organized and gave out a lot of statistics and definitions of what some crimes are.
I was very attracted to the types of crime. My attention was drawn to human trafficking. I found out that about 62% of labor trafficking victims were over the age of 25 and that 83% of sex trafficking victims were citizens of the United States. After reading these stats I felt very shocked that human trafficking does truly exist, even in our own country. These are only the confirmed cases, imagined how much more there is going on that we don't know about.
The other thing I liked was reading the Criminal Victimization in the United States, 2008 Stats Tables. I found it very appalling. So many victims that have went through the littlest and biggest of situations. I think this as well was very organized and provided great statistics separated by sex, age, and type of crimes. I want to say if anybody need a good and reliable source for any research project/paper of crimes this would be a good place to check out.
I thought the BJS was very insightful. There is so much to look at on that website and the others. Anything you can think of was accounted for. Some of the crimes rates were outrageous. I couldn't believe how high they were. To me it was most interesting to see the "youth" crimes and the younger ages group, what they were accounted for, and the numbers. You could literally find any statistic of you worked in this field. The website was very user friendly and accessible to the average individual. I liked how they provided terms throughout the website so a browser would understand and know the true definition of a crime. I clicked on the link for crimes against those with disabilities due to my major and interest with that population. I couldn't believe that 12 and older individuals with a disabilities experience an estimated 567,000 nonfatal violent crimes (2010).
In 2010, the age-adjusted violent victimization rate for persons with disabilities was almost twice the rate among persons without disabilities.
All of these links were quite interesting, but the BJS site was initially hard to navigate. The difficulty I had is due, in part, to my unfamiliarity with the subject matter of the website. However, once I started exploring the website I quickly learned a lot about types of crimes and the demographics of criminals and victims. The most interesting section was the demographics of the reported and unreported types of crime. I was surprised large percentage disparity between male and female offenders. Additionally, the number of unreported home robberies was much higher than I had expected. Now that I am comfortable with the BJS website I believe I can easily navigate it for research purposes.
Browsing the Bureau of Justice Statistics website was both interesting and disturbing. The website itself was very descriptive, easy to use, and provided useful information. It was interesting to look at the different statistics such as how many crimes go unreported, census of forensic crime labs, and more.
What disturbed me however, was the statistics of how many crimes go unreported. From 1994- 2010 the percentage of serious violent unreported crimes dropped from 50% to 42%. Although the statistic has favorably decreased, 42% is still a relatively high number; especially when the statics involve serious crimes in which the perpetrator is not punished. When the perpetrator is not punished by law, the incident could continue to reoccur and justice is not served.
Overall I was fascinated by this website and the statistics it portrays. Although crime has been reported lower than in the past, it still occurs. We as Americans are lucky enough to have a relatively fair justice system and advantaged technology. This website was very intriguing and I may refer to in the future.
While browsing through the Bureau of Justice Statistics website, I found myself becoming more and more engrossed. I'm not entirely sure why, but statistics, especially ones relating to crime, intrigues me and I like looking at the numbers and percentages of how many people do this, or what types of people do that, etc. The site was fairly easy to navigate, at least when you account for my technology handicap. I was especially interested in the report about the unreported victimizations that occur. I was astounded to see that MORE victimizations go unreported than are reported. This raises a few questions in my mind: Is our society that apathetic that they cannot report what is being done to them? Or is our society that afraid to report because of authority corruption or potential retaliation? Either way, this is a problem that needs to be addressed. One statistic that stands out is that 17% of unreported victimizations are for auto thefts, which dumbfounds me because vehicles are so expensive.
The only difficulty I had with the site was I sometimes had trouble determining exactly what the statistic meant. For example, at first, I was unsure of whether the statistics on the report regarding elderly victimizations were those being victimized or doing the victimizing. Also, I wasn't (and am still fairly unsure) of whether 17% of stolen cars were unreported or 17% of unreported victimizations were for auto theft (THough I'm pretty sure it is the latter).
After browsing the Bureau of Justice Statistics website, I found that it was very interesting and had a lot of information. At first, the website seemed overwhelming and I got a bit confused, but after more browsing, I got used to it. I thought the website could've been better organized, but maybe that was the best way because of the vast amount of information that it provides.
I really liked how specific you can be with your searches on this website. You could sort any type of crime by age, race, and gender. I really like the charts and statistics that are given. I also liked how it gives you a summary of what you are about to read so you have a better idea if that is what you are specifically looking for. I also liked how there was a section just for special topics within the area you are searching for.
As I browsed further, I eventually started searching for specific things in my home area. I wasn't shocked at any results, but I did find some things that raised my attention. But I liked how I could get this powerful information about my home town and county.
Overall i think this website is a very useful tool in finding information and statistics about general crimes and areas to specific crimes and areas. It also has statistics about the victims. With stats, you can compare crime rates of a certain crime from one area to the next.
When I first started browsing the BJS site, I was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of content. They seem to record just about everything. After a bit of looking, the organization of the information started to make sense. They have done a very good job paying attention to detail. Whether its comparing a certain stat to a previous year and then stating the trend or if its just clearly discussing what the percentages mean. At first I was thinking I wouldn't understand a thing. I always knew that male officers outnumber female officers but I didn't expect female officers to account for only about 15% of them. I think the coolest part of it is where it talks about the two measures of of crime. The National Crime Victimization survey and the Uniform Crime Reports which are done by the victims and law inforcement respectively. Using these two measure together would really paint a clear picture of the crime that had occurred.
I think that the BJS website, although huge as many other people have mentioned, is required to be big because of all the information it has. It was amazing all of the data that the BJS has pulled together throughout the years on topics that probably no one has ever even heard of but are still important to some aspect of the justice system.
I looked through the types of courts that were on the list in the website and I found special interest in the tribal courts because I hadn't realize those existed anymore. What I found was that many of the tribal courts are integrated in a way to many other courts and many courts use aspects of tribal law when hearing cases where it effects members of a tribe or ethnic group. I then went on to look at the jails in the tribal community and it turns out they have a survey that they send out periodically to ask about the jail facilities and what services they offer. This survey is available online and I took a look at it. It basically asks questions about what programs in counseling are offered at your facility as well as how many deaths, inmates based on age, race and gender have been through the facility. For this survey, data collection areas include reservations, pueblos, rancherias, and other appropriate areas. Although these courts and jails may operate on slightly different principles then say civil court they still have many of the same standards that they must uphold. My experience with the BJS website was kind of a specific one but it was interesting nonetheless and taught me about a court system that many people may not know is still out there.
When looking at the BJS document I skimmed a little bit and found a lot of surprising information about the severity (or percieved severity) of crime in the lower classes versus the middle and upper classes. One table mentioned that though only about 6 million people live on an income of less than 7,500 they have 44 personal crimes per 1,000 people ages 12 and over. The population with an income of 75,000 or more consists of about 60 million people (10 times more!) and they only report having 12.9 personal crimes per 1,000 people. Although I'm not an expert on statistics and i know you have to account for many factors when looking at these types of tables that is a drastic difference when grouping people by income. It raises the question of how many resources we actually offer for people with a low income and if they have the ability to access those resources effectively. These resources being safe housing and a way to find a job or a way to support themselves.
In the following table it shows those same crime rates but separates the population into whites only and blacks only. Although there is a hike in crime on blacks versus whites it seems as though (at first glance) income has a greater effect then race. This was a surprising statistic to me because I had always assumed that even though income did play a part that the racial discrimination was a bigger reason for discrepancy in crime. I believe this may be because it isn't always reported in the media how bad of an area the person lived in or their income, but the race/ethnicity of the victim as well as the criminal is always reported.