Crime Statistics Comparison

Crime statistics endeavour to provide statistical measures of crime in societies. They provide a point of analysis and comparison, allow countries to form long-term patterns and trends and can help to develop and reform criminal justice policies as well as being more meaningful than raw numbers. Using the countries of Bahrain and the United States as a comparison point for the following issues which surround crime statistics such as biases, agendas and general influences like education and religion; this essay will be focused around analysing the statistical factors and wider influences which can allow a country to have low or high crime rates. Crime Definitions Definitions of what exactly constitutes being a crime differ not only across countries but even across states. This can be an issue with statistics as in order to measure and compare crime consistently crimes need to be classified and placed into groups of similar offences. While murder is a crime recognized and agreed upon by most nations, what makes up a homicide may be more challenging and then even simply just a ‘crime against the person’ can vary widely. This often means that what makes up a crime for many offences can vary throughout jurisdictions. This is a problem when categorizing offences for international statistical comparison. An example of this is the way that laws differ state to state within the United States, while ‘offences known to police’ is a statistic seen as quite a high representative figure of the offences, a lot of researches see that no official measure can ever come close to the actual amount of criminality that exists in any form in society (Archer, 1984) Definitional problems are concerned with whether or not crimes have equivalent meanings between nations, which in most cases a lot of crimes seem not to have. Countries most often vary in behaviours which can sometimes be seen as coming within the space of the law. So for any kind of comparison of crime rates to work at all, it is crucial that the definitions of crimes and the categories they are placed in are similar. The next issue with definitions is that even the different organizations that compile crime statistics differ within their own definitions. Interpol for example defines murder as: Any act performed with the purpose of taking human life, excluding abortion but including infanticide (and including attempts). Kalish, 1988) While the World Health Organization (WHO) does not distinguish between intentional or unintentional homicides but does not include attempts under this organization attempts fall under a separate legal distinction(Kalish, 1988). And again, the United Nations have a different definition for homicide: Death purposely inflicted by another person, including infanticide. (Kalish, 1988) Due to major issues with the above topics across all countries, due to definitional and categorical differences, crime statistics can differ significantly. In Bahrain, crimes against the individual are ranked in relation to the seriousness of the offence, murder, attempted murder, murder by error, assault, threatening and others. In the United States, offences are not classed separately, but into broad categories which are homicides, robberies and assaults. Bahrain does not report rape as a single category and in response, no reports of rape have been sent to their criminal investigation unit (Ministry of Information, 1985). Reporting Issues The quality of the way crime is reported is likely to be influenced by a wide range of practices and techniques in different jurisdictions. For example in Bahrain, individual police departments participation in reporting crime rates is compulsory, but neither the numbers of convictions or the final outcome of cases are reported, whereas, local police departments in the United States are under no obligation to report back crime rates from their areas as participation is voluntary (Newman, 1993). Honesty or dishonesty of police who are involved in the collection and compilation process of statistics (Adler, 1983) and the manipulation of the data compiled for political reasons – which will be discussed later – are some other examples of things than can influence the quality of the crime that is reported. In the United States for example, every case involving multiple offences by the same person that are compiled by police, the statistic noted down is only in relation to the most serious offence that has occurred (Reichel, 1994). Underreporting is an influence on the reporting of crime as it affects basically every area and any data that is compiled by police. In many occasions and for many different reasons people do not report offenses they are victims of or that they witness. There is a ‘dark-figure’ of crime in both Bahrain and the United States, there have been no victimisation studies conducted in Bahrain to date, but on the opposite side, the victimisation surveys that have been conducted in the United States show higher crime rates than the Uniform Crime Reporting System shows (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1981-1987). Another reason there are issues with extremely low or quite high crime rates is the issue of political influences. Police may exaggerate statistics in their areas to draw funding to their area for upgrades and to gain more police numbers, or even down the crime statistics to reflect success of their force, to show the people of the country and the world that they are doing their job correctly and well. The government can also do the above, by altering the statistics, they can create a sense of fear in there people to gain votes through public advertising that they will combat the high rates of crime in certain areas, or downgrade the rates to adhere to international requirements, to attempt to get the country placed on the ‘best of’ lists within international media as a way to gain tourism by showing they are a safe place to visit. Wider Influences: Bahrain is a country which operates on all levels in relation to the teachings of the Qur’an. This makes up the fabric of life for the Bahraini people, the influence of the Islamic religion can be seen in the economic, political and social pathways of life within the culture of the country. In Bahrain, religion is the most important structure. The Islamic religion opposes wrongdoing in all its forms and that any wrongdoing can lead to the downfall of society. The teachings of the Prophet attempt to get rid of all forms of crime before it happens by influencing the individuals who follow the religion. Acts against the law therefore is not only a crime against society in the eyes of Bahraini people it is also a violation of the principles of God. In Bahrain there are even ‘moral police officers’ who regulate the dress and public behaviour of citizens (Helal, 1991). As the Qur’an provides the basis for society, it also provides the base for which laws are made. All laws however have major influence from the Western cultures, apart from marriage, divorce and succession which all fall under the Shari’ah. Souryal, 1988)Therefore religion is a major influence in relation to everything, right down to helping explain the low crime rate in Bahrain. Citizens are able to speak directly to the ruler of Bahrain for a few days each month this allows the people to feel that they are in touch with their government as they are able to voice their concerns directly (Helal, 1991). Therefore crimes against the state are less likely to be committed as people feel as if they play a greater role than just an individual in a wider community. Souryal (1988) has noted in his studies that since firearms, drugs and alcohol are all banned, the opportunity for violence is reduced. Ontop of this, the way the law is applied to Muslim offenders acts as a deterrent to the Bahraini citizens. The penalty for committing a crime is harsher if the offender is Muslim and has committed an offence against a Muslim, the Islamic penal code is also enforced against non-Muslims in the country. Some punishments that can be given out include amputation, stoning, flogging and death which can be executed in public (Moore, 1987). The influence of education within Bahrain is a major factor that can be related back to the low crime rate of the country. Islam religion is tied tightly into the education at all levels in Bahrain, and education is compulsory for all children living in the country also (Helal, 1991). The United States however has a separation between church and state, which is not the case in Bahrain. Within the United States, there is a separation of powers, it is a multicultural society which also makes it multi-faith, to base all laws on just the one religion within the United States would most likely cause more crime rather than decrease the rate. Within the United States alcohol and firearms are legal once of a certain age, therefore the high crime rate within the country can be related back to the availability to things that aid criminal acts and violence. Education within the United States changes in relation to the age of compulsory education, it ranges from between 14 to 18 (State Compulsory Attendance Laws, 2007). Religion is not taught within all schools due to the adversity of religions within each state and the country as a whole. There are schools which focus on specific religions, these however are private schools and advertise that they do these teachings (Religion in Schools, 2004). The major difference between the two countries, other than the rate of crime, Bahrain’s crime rate being quite low compared to the United States, is the issue of religion within not just the country, but as the basis for all the laws and the way the entire community of Bahrain lives their life. In conclusion, there are so many reasons by which crime statistics can be altered due to not only issues with reporting and recording, but definitional issues and wider societal influences. It is not until recently that any one organization has attempted to compile and compare cross-national crime statistics, for this to be done however, organizations need to find a way to combat the above issues outlined. The United Nations have pushed for a standard level of classification of offences and the collection of statistics across continents which would set out minimum standards for the collection, analysis and presentation of the statistics. (Vetere, 1977). This is just one way we can start to remove bias and definitional errors. The true rate of crime is impossible to compare or even start to determine. The amounts of crime reported demonstrate that there is a major difference between the two countries in terms of crime rates. The Islamic religion within Bahrain lays the foundations for life and can be seen woven into critical social areas within the community, all in which can create the basis for crime to become a realty; within Bahrain however, due to the tight influence religion has on one’s conscience, it has the opposite impact (Helal, 1991). The United States has the separation of church and state, therefore fewer values are shared throughout the country, which allows for breaks within society and these can be seen as the basis for crime to be committed, therefore raising the crime rate rather than lowering it. It would be simply ridiculous to implement the way Bahraini society is run into the United States(Helal, 1991). But the influence that the combination of church and state within a country like Bahrain has on the Bahraini people is simply just one way in which can be shown to keep crime rates low.References http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/religion-in-schools http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0112617.html