Insight into crime ratings (Memphis: 2009, law, statistics)

[clobbersaurus01]

I would hesitate to call Memphis a victim of its decision. It appears to be a deliberate decision to hold itself to a stricter standard. If so, it should be commended, as it appears they are trying to improve and don't apologize for the standard they use.

This article exposes how the rankings rely on the municipalities to report their own crime.

While no one claims that Memphis is crime free, it is important to educate oneself about the total picture to get an objective perspective to judge and, for some, demonize, certain cities. This article helps shed light on the rankings we use to judge ourselves.

Memphis a victim of crime reports : Local News : Memphis Commercial Appeal

Memphis a victim of crime reports

Excerpt:

While Memphis had the 14th highest rate of major crimes in 2007, for 2008 there's a good chance the city won't crack the top 20, officials say. Final numbers will be released by the FBI in the fall.
Years before most other cities, Memphis adopted the FBI's more detailed measuring stick for crimes -- the National Incident-Based Reporting System. The measure is a major refinement of the Uniform Crime Report, which has been in use since 1929.
It's a useful tool, officials here say, but it makes the city look like a den of crime when ranked with those numbers.
For instance, unlike Memphis, Chicago's method of collecting information on forcible rapes has been rejected by the FBI, so no rapes are counted in that city's preliminary numbers for 2008.
And New York City doesn't report thefts under $1,000, according to its public information office, while Memphis reports all thefts, even the smallest.

...

[clobbersaurus01]

Also, the comments show that not everyone trusts this article. Some are quite committed to their own views. So take the article with a grain of salt.

Although, I think that the underlying truth is that the rankings depend on self-reporting by jurisdictions.

[Pearlbob]

Yes, the comments were (as always) quite obnoxious. I think the people who comment on the CA's articles are 100x worse than those on here! Let's hope they don't find their way to this forum.

I'm sure there is at least some truth to this. I imagine the crime reports from any city are somewhat incorrect, maybe some more incorrect than others.

[JoeCartpath]

Statistics are only as good as the underlying data. Since there is no nationwide standard for collecting and reporting the data, any statistics derived from that data are pretty much meaningless for the purposes of comparing one place to another. Some law enforcement agencies are most likely under pressure from their governing bodies to shed the best light possible on their locality.