Crime in the USA

US society, sinking into ever-deepening crisis, generates a staggering amount of crime. It is necessary to have a clear picture of the extent of this phenomenon and how the various classes and strata are affected by it.

Official statistics on crime understate the extent of the problem. This was shown by President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice, which carried interviews of the heads of 10,000 households to determine how much crime occurs which is never reported to police authorities.

They found that depending on the category of crime only one-fourth to one-half of all criminal acts are reported. Since the Commission published the exact extent of unreported crime for each category, it is possible to use FBI statistics of reported crime to calculate how much crime actually does occur.

The following table gives the story for New York City for the seven major crimes listed in the FBI statistics:

Category Amount Average time interval

between crimes

Burglary 574,000 1 min

Larceny 284,000 2 min

Robbery 136,000 4 min

Auto Theft 97,000 5 min

Assault 69,000 7 min

Rape 8,850 1 hour

Murder 1,470 6 hours

Thus, victimization by crime is a mass phenomenon. In fact, these figures, for technical reasons given in the Commission’s report, are still conservative.

Such high crime rates are unique in the world and probably in the world history. The National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence reported that the US is the “clear leader” in the world in violent crime. The rates of robbery, aggravated assault, rape and murder are at least twice that of any other country, and in most countries the crime rates do not even approach what has become current here.

The President’s Commission found that 43 percent of the people in high crime areas stay off the streets at night because of fear and 35 percent of the people say they have firearms for protection and 28 percent have watchdogs.

It is young people, black people, workers and the poor who are affected the most. The rate of victimization by violent crimes is 60 percent higher for people earning less than 6,000 dollars than for those earning above this amount. The National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence found that in two-thirds of all homicides and aggravated assaults and in three-fifths of all rapes the victim is black.

In Central Harlem half the people interviewed stated they had been victims of criminal assault. The same report found that 2 billion dollar worth of property was stolen that year from community residents and small businessmen. “Ninety percent of all businesses in Central Harlem have been robbed, held up or pilfered, the report stated. For nearly all of these businesses this occurred repeatedly.

The people in Harlem bitterly complain about the inadequate police protection.

Date: 2015-01-12; view: 1418