Crime/Social control. Current Crime in the U.S Law Essay

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Current Crime in the U.S
One of the central issues of focus for Donald Trump’s campaign was fighting crime, which he also cited during his inauguration in January 2017. Since then, his administration has made considerable steps towards addressing crime in American communities. Some of the steps include instructing federal prosecutors to ensure their pursuit is focused on the strongest possible criminal charges against suspects. Although the efforts have faced challenges, considerable change has been achieved as shown in the current crime rates and trends in the U.S.
Crime Rate has fallen
Two of the major sources of statistics on crime in America now show a significant decline in violent crime rate despite peaking in the early 1990s. One is the FBI annual report on serious crimes that are reported to police in over 18,500 jurisdictions, while the second is the annual survey compiled and presented by the Bureau of Justice Statistics ("The Nation’S Two Crime Measures" 1). The FBI numbers show that crime rate fell by 51% between 1993 and 2018, while data from the BJS shows that the rate reduced by around 71% during the same period. However, there have been disruptions to the decline in crime rates. For instance, the FBI data showed that crime rate increased between 2004 and 2006, and later between 2014 and 2016 ("Bureau Of Justice Statistics (BJS) - National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)" 1). Examples of violent crime include robbery, rape, and assault. All these have yet fallen again since January 2017.


Long Term Decline in Property Crime
Property crime is similar to violent crime rate since it is below its peak level. Data from FBI shows that between 1993 and 2018, the rate dropped by 54%, while BJS data shows the decline was 69% between the same period. Currently, the rate continues to fall due to the social control policies in place. Examples of property crime are theft, burglary, and theft of motor vehicles.


Public perception on Crime differs from the Data
Opinion surveys show that Americans believe that crime rate is increasing, de...