Interpreting Results

Most of the text incorporated into this section comes from the Crime in Washington 2004 Annual Report published by WASPC. Text obtained directly from that report is bordered by a gray bar to the left below.

Use of Crime Statistics. Increasing attention has been focused on the problem of crime in our communities in recent years. Because of this attention, many segments of our population need more complete information for a variety of reasons. Citizens are understandably concerned about the possibility of becoming victims of crime but may not know what the real probability is. Law enforcement professionals, managers and administrators who must focus on crime in their own jurisdictions, also need to know what is occurring in surrounding jurisdictions in order to deploy personnel and equipment more efficiently to protect citizens and bring criminals to justice. Legislators need statewide information about crime in order to pass realistic laws that will increase the stability of our society. Researchers and planners need to know what is actually happening to predict trends and recommend changes.

Crime Factors. Care should be taken in drawing conclusions and making decisions about problems based solely on crime and arrest data that is reported to WUCR. Factors relating to crime reporting practices, law enforcement policies, population characteristics and attitudes all contribute to variation in reported data. Some general factors which may affect the amount of crime reported and type of crime committed are:

• The density and size of the community population and of its surrounding area.
• The variations in composition of the population, particularly to age.
• The economic status, education and recreation characteristics of the community population.
• The stability of population with respect to residents' mobility, commuting patterns, and transient factors.
• The climate, including seasonal weather conditions, and other geographical variations.
• The religious characteristics of the population.
• The effective strength of law enforcement agencies.
• The policies of other components of the criminal justice system (i.e., prosecutorial, judicial, correctional and probational).
• The attitude of the public toward law enforcement problems.
• The crime reporting practices of the citizenry.
• The administrative and investigative follow-up of the local law enforcement agency, including the degree of adherence to crime reporting standards.

Washington UCR (WUCR) Statistical Interpretation. Statistics are a tool used to summarize information so that patterns or trends become clearer. All statistics must be interpreted with an understanding of just what it is that they can say. Too often, numbers of the type in this report are used incorrectly to draw conclusions that the statistics simply do not support. In order to avoid this error, it is necessary to know what information is included and how it is reported. To obtain accurate information from many different agencies, the national UCR program has to precisely define the methods for counting the number of offenses, arrests, clearances and value of stolen or recovered property. The methods of counting and some resulting limitations are explained below.

Classification of Offenses. UCR divides offenses into two major classifications which are designated Part I and Part II offenses. This distinction is important to keep in mind because different information is collected for each. Part I offenses include (1) violent crimes: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault; and (2) property crimes: burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and (since January, 1979) arson. These reported Part I offenses comprise the FBI crime index. All other offenses are classified under Part II offenses (Note: Only Part I offense statistics are available on WACrimeStats.net).

All offenses are classified on the basis of law enforcement investigation in accordance with UCR offense definitions (which are not necessarily identical to the revised code of Washington definitions). Because WUCR identifies and tallies a police problem, offense classifications are not based on the findings of a court, medical examiner, jury or other judicial findings.

Counting the Offenses. The number of offenses is counted only for Part I crimes and simple assault (Note: statistics on simple assault are not available on WACrimeStats.net). The method of counting varies with the type of crime committed, and it is important to remember that the number of offenders does not determine the number of offenses.

For murder, non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape and aggravated assault, one offense is counted for EACH VICTIM, regardless of the number of offenders involved.

For robbery and larceny, one offense is counted for EACH DISTINCT OPERATION that is separate in time and place. The number of victims in any one operation does not determine the number of offenses. For example, if 20 people are robbed in a bar at the same time, only one offense has occurred. However, if that robber leaves the bar and holds up a passerby, a second offense has occurred. For burglary, one offense is counted for each structure that is illegally entered. However, when the structure is an apartment house, business, or office building in which units are leased for a period of time, one offense is counted for each unit burglarized.

For motor vehicle theft, one offense is counted for each vehicle stolen.

NOTE: Attempts to commit any of the crime index offenses are counted as actual offenses, except that attempts to kill and assault to kill are counted as aggravated assaults.

For multiple offenses that occur in one crime incident, only the most serious offense is counted. Part I crimes are ranked according to seriousness and appear in order from most serious to least serious crimes. Example: a robber takes a man's wallet and then beats him causing serious injury. Both a robbery and an aggravated assault have occurred, but because robbery is considered by UCR to be more serious, only the robbery is counted. This is known as the HIERARCHY RULE. From one perspective, this method of counting seriously understates the crime problem, but from another, it prevents undue inflation of crime statistics.

NOTE:

1. Arson is an exception to the above rule and is counted separately from other offenses.
2. The number of offenses is not reported for Part II offenses.

Additional information from the Washington State UCR program.

Prior to calculating annual state crime totals, WASPC makes special effort to contact all non-reporting agencies for counts of homicides. Any reported homicides determined to have occurred in non-reporting jurisdictions are added to the state totals for that year. A table of such homicides is shown below:

Additional information from the Washington State UCR program. Additional information, reports, and data files from the Washington UCR program can be found at: http://www.waspc.org/index.php?c=Criminal%20Justice%20Information%20Support

A handbook describing the rules and considerations for collecting data can be found at: http://www.waspc.org/documents/cjis/UCRhandbookSmall.pdf.

A caveat note appearing in Washington State UCR Reports produced by WASPC includes the following text and should be considered by users of this website:

“PLEASE NOTE: Figures used in this release are submitted voluntarily by law enforcement agencies throughout the State of Washington. Individuals using these tabulations are cautioned against drawing conclusions by making direct comparisons between cities/counties due to the existence of numerous factors which affect the amount and type of crime from place to place. Some of these factors are listed in the Annual Uniform Crime Reports. More valid use can be made of these figures by determining deviations from national averages for cities in similar population groups. It is important to remember that crime is a social problem and, therefore, a concern of the entire community. The efforts of law enforcement are limited to factors within its control.”

Additional Information from the National UCR program.

Some useful notes from the national program on completeness and interpretation of UCR data can be found at: http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/word.htm .

You can find out more about the history of the UCR program and obtain national reports at: http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm .