In some provinces of Russia, where alcohol consumption has been a cultural norm, driving under the influence of alcohol isn’t a crime unless the driver crashes and causes an injury. This leniency contrasts sharply with the United States, where the permissible blood alcohol content (BAC) for adults dropped from 0.10 percent in some states to 0.08 percent in all 50 states. (In other words, driving with a BAC of more than 0.08 percent now constitutes a crime throughout the United States.)
Realizing that politics play a role
Theoretically, laws in the United States reflect the will of the people, as carried out by their elected representatives in the legislature. But the passage of laws doesn’t always play out so neatly. Criminologists fall into at least two different camps on the issue of what influences the passage of laws in the United States:
One group believes that, generally speaking, criminal laws reflect a consensus of the values of the citizens.
Another group contends that the legislative process isn’t so clean and that the passage of criminal laws actually reflects conflicts between different interest groups.
Criminologists in the second group point to the scarcity of laws regulating large businesses or the wealthy because those interest groups wield lots of political power. These criminologists see conflict, rather than consensus, as the method by which criminal laws are passed. They argue that the more powerful and wealthy a group of people is, the less likely that group is to be regulated.
Having witnessed the passage of criminal laws firsthand, I argue that both views are partially right. With mala in se crimes — the crimes that most of us agree are evil (such as murder and rape) — the political process usually reflects the will of the people. However, in terms of malum in prohibita acts (the ones that aren’t necessarily evil but do need to be regulated), powerful and wealthy interest groups can sometimes sway legislators who are debating those acts.
Consider gun-control laws as an example: The National Rifle Association (NRA) devotes a good deal of time and money to influencing these laws. Depending on your personal views, you may see this fact as either good or bad. If you’re an NRA member, you may argue that the organization tries to ensure that individuals maintain their Second Amendment rights to own guns, hunt, and protect personal property. If you’re not an NRA member, you may consider the NRA an aggressive political advocacy group that prevents the reasonable regulation of firearms.
Almost every industry commits significant resources to protecting its corporate interests by lobbying (or influencing) legislators. And lobbying can sometimes mean trying to prevent the passage of criminal laws that may punish industry misconduct.
Nonetheless, U.S. society is far more regulated through criminal laws today than it was just 50 years ago. In a society that continues to grow more and more complex, new laws are often necessary to protect food and drug sources, the environment, civil rights, and personal safety.
Chapter 3
How Crime Is Measured and Why It Matters
IN THIS CHAPTER
Documenting how much crime occurs in the United States and calculating its impact on society is an incredibly difficult — some would say impossible — task. Yet, understanding how crime statistics are gathered and how reliable those statistics are is essential because politicians and other policymakers rely heavily on crime stats to make decisions that impact the rest of society.
Should money be diverted from social services to build more prisons? Should inmates be released early from prison to free up money to provide social services? Should schools develop Internet safety programs to protect kids from sexual predators? Crime stats, even imperfect ones, help people answer tough questions like these.
People who rely on statistics without really understanding them can make serious policy mistakes that waste money and may even risk lives. Reading this chapter is a great first step toward truly understanding where crime stats come from and what their flaws may be.
Gathering Crime Stats: How Much Crime Is There?
Knowing about every crime that occurs is impossible because many crimes go unreported. For example, a typical cocaine sale involves two willing parties, and neither party is likely to share news of the exchange with the police.
Even with a violent crime, the victim doesn’t always report it. For example, rival gang members involved in a fight aren’t likely to call the police, and victims of domestic violence often don’t report their abuse. (See Chapter 5 for more info about why domestic violence victims often keep quiet.) Similarly, rape victims may not want to endure the emotional trauma of making a report to police.
Fraud and property crimes present other challenges. For instance, you probably don’t call the police every time you receive a fraudulent email that asks you to cash a large check for a “Nigerian official.” (See Chapter 6 for a discussion of the infamous Nigerian scams.) And you may not even call the police when someone steals your wallet or purse. After all, many people believe that, at least for property crimes, filing a police report simply doesn’t do any good.
Even though many crimes don’t get reported to the police, crime reports are still one of the most important sources for gathering crime stats.
Relying on crime reports
In 2018, the United States had more than 18,000 police agencies, and about 13,000 of them participated in a voluntary program that reports statistics to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The compiled statistics are published annually in the Uniform Crime Report (UCR). You can access the most recent UCR at the FBI’s website: https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2018/crime-in-the-u.s.-2018.
The UCR contains information about only certain types of serious crimes, known as Part 1 crimes:
Murder and non-negligent manslaughter
Rape
Robbery
Aggravated assault
Burglary
Larceny-theft
Motor vehicle theft
Arson
Because Part 1 crimes are so serious in nature, experts believe that they’re reported more reliably than less-serious crimes. The UCR purposely excludes crimes that people aren’t likely to report, such as drug offenses or embezzlement, as well as crimes that occur infrequently, such as kidnapping.