NCJ Number
98971
Date Published
1984
Length
13 pages
Annotation
Following a comparison of black and white attitudes toward crime, statistics from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the National Crime Survey (NCS) are compared.
Abstract
In general, blacks and whites share similar attitudes toward fear of crime, leniency in sentencing, confidence in the courts, control of pornography and drugs, and gun ownership. Striking differences can be found in their perceptions of the acceptability of police use of physical force, gun control, teenage gangs, capital punishment, and satisfaction with law enforcement officials. These differences can be explained in terms of differences in the nature of the question, the residential context of the respondent, and cultural and value differences. Although these data suffer from many biases, both UCR and arrest data show a disproportionately high involvement of blacks in crime, especially violent crime. In contrast to UCR data, which include only crimes reported to police, NCS data examine victimization and unreported crimes. Analysis based on seriousness of victimization suggests that the strongest relationships are to age, sex, and race, with blacks suffering more serious victimization than whites. Blacks experienced more motor vehicle thefts and burglaries than whites, but larceny rates were similar for the groups. Finally, data show that a majority of all crimes are not reported. Theft crimes appeared to be reported at virtually the same rate for black and white households, while blacks reported a higher rate of violent crimes. Factors affecting reporting are complex, and include victim age, sex, and type of crime. Correlations (or their lack) between UCR and NCS data suggest that race/crime relationships are complex, and that the official picture of black crime is unrepresentative and too simplistic. Six data tables and four references are provided.