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Church Crime Statistics
Analysis of Uniform Crime Reports from the FBI
by
Chuck Chadwick
I don't know what sparked my interest in this
subject again other than a little common sense.
The pioneer in church security
statistics is Carl Chinn. He has been
tracking violent crime in churches since
1999. Carl and I were talking about the
enormity of trying to track crime
statistics for churches.
There were several web sites using
Goggle as there prime source of
church crime tracking. Those are
very helpful in making churches
aware of the daily trends. But those
numbers don't seem to reflect the
bigger picture I was looking for.
One study published put the number
at approximately 1,200 for the total
number of crimes at Christian
churches in 2009.
Carl brought
up the FBI's reports on Uniform
Crime Reports (UCRs). (see foot note
for details on UCRs)
Having over 17,000
departments inputting data on millions
of crimes each year has got to be
valuable data. All I had to do is find a
way to sort out the Church crimes.
With a couple of
days research into the National Archive
of Criminal Justice Data I seem to have
found it. The data files are huge and
you can't import a 5.4 million record
database into an Excel spreadsheet. You
have to use a database product like
Microsoft Access (at least).
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/NACJD/
The data file for
2008 has over 5 million records and
among the data structure is a field
called "Location".
Low-and-behold
location code 4 is for "Church/
Synagogue/Temple".
There were over
24,445 crimes attributed to location
code 4 (Churches/Synagogues/Temples).
I am willing
to concede that not all are going to
be Christian churches, but the
majority would be.
We will be
bringing you further analysis of the
data soon.
Here is the breakdown for 2008
according to the FBI.
|
# of offenses |
Offense Description |
|
7852 |
Destruction/Damage/Vandalism of
Property |
|
5239 |
Burglary/Breaking and Entering |
|
3646 |
All Other Larceny |
|
2043 |
Theft From Building |
|
1248 |
Theft From Motor Vehicle Theft of
Motor Vehicle |
|
1040 |
Simple Assault |
|
541 |
Parts/Accessories |
|
398 |
Intimidation |
|
367 |
Motor Vehicle Theft |
|
314 |
Drug/Narcotic Violations |
|
218 |
Aggravated Assault |
|
212 |
False Pretenses/Swindle/Confidence
Game |
|
139 |
Shoplifting |
|
136 |
Arson |
|
129 |
Counterfeiting/Forgery |
|
126 |
Drug Equipment Violations |
|
114 |
Forcible Fondling (Indecent
Liberties/Child Molesting) |
|
101 |
Robbery |
|
81 |
Weapon Law Violations |
|
76 |
Credit Card/Automatic Teller
Machine Fraud |
|
64 |
Forcible Rape |
|
63 |
Embezzlement |
|
58 |
Stolen Property Offenses
(Receiving, Selling, Etc.) |
|
49 |
Purse-snatching |
|
47 |
Impersonation |
|
34 |
Pocket-picking |
|
22 |
Forcible Sodomy |
|
21 |
Kidnapping/Abduction |
|
13 |
Theft From Coin-Operated Machine
or Device |
|
12 |
Pornography/Obscene Material |
|
11 |
Sexual Assault With An Object |
|
10 |
Statutory Rape |
|
8 |
Wire Fraud |
|
5 |
Murder/Non-negligent Manslaughter |
|
4 |
Extortion/Blackmail |
|
2 |
Prostitution |
|
1 |
Assisting or Promoting
Prostitution |
|
1 |
Bribery |
|
24,445 |
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Info on UCR
from the FBI Web Site
It is important for users of UCR data to remember that the FBI's
primary objective is to generate a reliable set of crime
statistics for use in law enforcement administration, operation,
and management. The FBI does not provide a ranking of agencies
but merely alphabetical tabulations of states, metropolitan
statistical areas, cities, metropolitan and nonmetropolitan
counties, and colleges and universities. Law enforcement
officials use this information for their designed purposes.
Additionally, the American public relies on these data sets for
information on the fluctuations in the level of crime from year
to year, and criminologists, sociologists, legislators, city
planners, the media, and other students of criminal justice use
them for a variety of research and planning purposes. Since
crime is a sociological phenomenon influenced by a variety of
factors, the FBI discourages ranking the agencies and using the
data as a measurement of law enforcement effectiveness.
To ensure these data are
uniformly reported, the FBI provides contributing law
enforcement agencies with a handbook that explains how to
classify and score offenses and provides uniform crime offense
definitions. Acknowledging that offense definitions may vary
from state to state, the FBI cautions agencies to report
offenses not according to local or state statutes but according
to those guidelines provided in the handbook. Most agencies make
a good faith effort to comply with established guidelines.
Finally, in a given year,
approximately 17,000 agencies contribute data to the FBI;
however, because of computer problems, changes in record
management systems, personnel shortages, or a number of other
reasons, some agencies cannot provide data for publication. The
FBI appreciates the conscientious efforts made by law
enforcement personnel throughout the nation to report accurate
and reliable crime data. Their efforts make it possible for the
FBI to provide assessments of the nature and type of crime in
the United States.
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