NCJ Number
69804
Date Published
1969
Length
90 pages
Annotation
This Pennsylvania Crime Commision report of crime and its control in Pennsylvania is derived from testimony of law enforcement, court, corrections, and academic persons and from research and statistics from 1960 to 1967.
Abstract
An overview of the status of crime in Pennsylvania reveals the magnitude, scope, kinds, and definitions of crime. Graphs document reported and estimated rates of index crimes, and attention is given to the problem of unreported and undetected crime. Tables illustrate the numbers of stolen property offenses, the value of property stolen, and the geographical distribution of index crime reported in 1967. Discussions deal with the social and economic impacts of crime, the relation of crime to other social indicators, and the location of crime. Case examples expand on the themes of professional, white-collar, and organized crime and their threats to society. Further tables portray numbers and rates of drunkenness and narcotics offenses, traffic offenses, arson, forgery and counterfeiting, embezzlement, and gambling in Pennsylvania. A look at the causes of crime leads into an examination of the characteristics of criminal offenders, their age, sex, and race. Further graphs chart trends in crime from 1960 through 1967 with respect to index crimes against the person, against property, in the U.S. as compared with the State of Pennsylvania, and as distributed geographically. Finally, a flow chart summarizes Pennsylvania's system of criminal justice and descriptions detail the roles of the police, the magistrate, the prosecutor, the court, and corrections. Seventeen references are provided.