NCJ Number
203235
Date Published
October 2003
Length
479 pages
Annotation
This report presents the nationwide Uniform Crime Reports for 2002, which are based on crime statistics contributed by State and local law enforcement agencies.
Abstract
The seven sections in this report present a summary of the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program; the reported crime index offenses; crime index offenses that have been cleared; statistics on persons arrested; special reports on bank robbery in the United States and reported sniper attacks from 1982 through 2001; law enforcement personnel statistics; and appendices. The UCR Program is a voluntary, nationwide effort to compile statistical information on crimes from around the country. More than 17,000 city, county, and State agencies routinely report data on known crimes in their jurisdictions. According to the 2002 data on index offenses, there has been an increase of less than one-tenth of 1 percent in the number of index offenses compared to 2001. In 2001, there were a reported 11,876,669 index offenses in the United States, compared with a reported 11,877,218 index offenses in 2002. Law enforcement personnel made an estimated 2,234,464 arrests for index offenses, including arson, during 2002, which represents approximately 16.3 percent of the total number of arrests made during the year and also represents a 0.2 percent increase in index arrests compared to 2001. According to additional data presented in the report, violent crimes have decreased 0.9 percent, murders have increased 1.0 percent, forcible rapes have increased 4.7 percent, robberies have decreased 0.7 percent, aggravated assaults have decreased 1.6 percent, property crime has increased 1.0 percent, burglary has increased 1.7 percent, larceny-theft has decreased 0.6 percent, and motor vehicle theft has increased 1.4 percent compared to 2001 crime data. Statistics on crimes cleared by law enforcement indicate that 20.0 percent of index crimes were cleared in 2002. Violent crimes, which are more rigorously investigated than property crimes, had a clearance rate of 46.8 percent compared to the 16.5 percent clearance rate for property crimes. In 2002, there were an estimated 13.7 million persons arrested for criminal infractions, including traffic violations. Statistics on persons arrested is broken down by age, sex, race, and regional placement. Finally, the report presents findings from two studies -- one on bank robberies and one on sniper attacks from 1982 through 2001 -- and also provides statistical data on law enforcement personnel from across the country. Figures, tables, appendix