Citation

Epperlein T, Nienstedt BC. J. Crim. Justice 1989; 17(5): 343-360.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1989, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0047-2352(89)90046-9

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The index of crime has become one of the most important social measurements for political jurisdictions in the United States. To characterize their crime problems, national, state, and local governments rely on a single index of crime, which is invariably constructed from crime statistics reported to the FBI known as Uniform Crime Reports (UCRs). The UCR index, composed of seven general crime categories, is often criticized for failing to account for the relative seriousness of its components. Blumstein (1974) examined whether the national UCR index could be improved by adding crime seriousness weights but found that the weighted index contributed no further information to national crime trends. This study replicated that research using recent Arizona UCRs to address criticisms of Blumstein's study. It also considered the appropriateness of a single index of crime, the UCRs, and how they might best be used. The findings support the conclusions of the original study.