Crimes against Person and Crimes against Property

Introduction

Crimes are all illegal activities against the law and are punishable by law if one fails to abide by the rule. Criminal activities fall into three categories that include crime against persons, the crime against property and crimes against the society. Once an individual commits any crimes against the above categories, it is thus expected of the law to punish such people. This essay analyzes crimes against individuals and crimes against property providing sufficient evidence of activities under each category with the aim of identifying efforts made by the law enforcements ("Offenses Known to Law Enforcement", 2015).

Crimes against persons

“Crimes against persons” are the criminal acts that are perpetrated by directly harming an individual physically or by applying force to another person. These actions are performed against an individual’s will. The offenses against an individual include; battery, rape, murder, manslaughter and kidnapping an individual ("Offenses Known to Law Enforcement", 2015).

Crimes against property

On the other hand, “Crimes against property” are the criminal offenses that include taking of property in an illegal way without one's consent or the act of destroying one's property. Examples of crimes against property include; Burglary, arson, vandalism, shoplifting and larceny theft ("Offenses Known to Law Enforcement", 2015).

The Federal Bureau Investigation: Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics 2015

UCR is a program that was created by federal agencies to compile data on criminal offenses that is issued yearly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) annually in the United States. The data collection process is not done by the FBI but is done by other agencies and final reports are submitted to the FBI.

In 20115, a report released by the FBI showed that during that year, the crimes against individuals was 372.6 offenses per 100,000 occupants. These report indicated that the violent crimes had made an increase by 3.1% in that year as compared to 2014. While the crimes against persons had increased, criminal offenses against property had dropped by 3.4% from the previous year making the rate of property crimes ratio be 2, 487.0 per 100,000 persons ("FBI Releases 2015 Crime Statistics", 2016).

Out of the 18,439 countries, cities, states, universities, colleges and federal agencies that participated in data collection process by the UCR program, 16,643 of them made data submission. After data analysis, the FBI released a report that shows that; in 2015 the number of

Crimes against persons were up to 1,197,704. According to these estimates, the murder and manslaughter incidents had made an increase by 10.6% as compared to 2014 reports. The report also shows that rape and exasperated assault had also increased from the previous year by 6.3% and 4.6% correspondingly ("FBI Releases 2015 Crime Statistics", 2016).

Conversely, crimes against property made an estimate of up to 7,993,631. The estimation showed that, out of the three property offenses, burglary and larceny-thefts had dropped by 7.8% and 1.8% respectively in comparison to 20-14. However, the estimates showed that motor vehicle thefts had made an increase by 3.1% from the previous year’s estimates. In 2015, victims of property crimes with the exemption of arson made losses worth 14.3 billion dollars ("FBI Releases 2015 Crime Statistics", 2016).

The FBI after data estimates reportedly announced that Countrywide there were 10.8 million arrests excluding traffic felonies, in 2015. In crimes against persons, the arrest rate made on murder and man slaughtering was 3.5, the rape arrests were 7.91, robbery was 29.7, and aggravated assault was 117.0 per 100,000 citizens. Property crimes arrest estimates for larceny-theft was 364.5; arson was 2.8, motor vehicle theft was 24.2 and burglary was 67.5 all per 100,000 inhabitants. These factors led to an increase in staffing in 13,160 law enforcement organizations and by October 31, 2015, 635,781 officers were employed and 277,380 noncombatants got jobs increase the rate of employees per inhabitants to 3.3:1000 respectively ("FBI Releases 2015 Crime Statistics", 2016).

Law enforcements efforts in eliminating crimes

All over the country, law enforcement agencies including the FBI, the United States Department of Justice, United States Secret Service, Department of Public Safety, Homeland Security Department, and other law enforcement bodies are working together to fight criminal activities in the country. When one walks down the streets in the night, one can see police officers everywhere patrolling the city to ensure that no illegal activities are taking place. The police officers also take patrol in residential areas to make sure that, in the case of an emergency call they could get there in time to save the situation. The FBI and Local agencies educate and advise individuals in a society what ways to ensure that they are safe and that their properties are well monitored. With the use of technology, CCTV cameras have been put in various parts across cities, malls, banks, streets by the government to ensure that in the case of criminal violations happen within a particular area, the police can use the footage from the cameras to track offenders. The Judicial system also has ensured that prosecutions are made on violators of law with punishment in the form of lifetime sentencing, year sentencing, house arrests and community serving to individuals found guilty depending on the mistake. These are just, but a few efforts the law enhancement bodies have done. These efforts are not sufficient to end crimes in the nation in regards to advances in the criminal world. Thus, there should be a continuous progress in terms of making the rules better and stricter to fight crime. Closely in line with this, there should be more laws made to address the complexities that continue to come with developments in the criminal world ("Offenses Known to Law Enforcement", 2015).

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is clear that criminal activities happen daily all over the world. These events affect all individuals in a country and lead to massive destruction and at worst death. Crimes against the law will never end and it is thus everyone’s effort in the society to report any criminal activities from domestic violence to complex acts to the law enforcements bodies ("Offenses Known to Law Enforcement", 2015). All correctional centers should ensure that culprits are punished in accordance to the crimes. When everyone in a country is aware of the consequences that come with indulgence in criminal acts, it is clear that everyone will strive to not fall on the wrong side of the law. The government, law enhancement bodies and a country’s citizen should work harmoniously to eliminate and fight crime in a country and maintain peace.

References

FBI Releases 2015 Crime Statistics . (2016). Federal Bureau of Investigation . Retrieved 19 April 2017, from https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-releases-2015-crime-statistics

Offenses Known to Law Enforcement . (2015). FBI . Retrieved 19 April 2017, from https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2015/crime-in-the-u.s.-2015/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement