Age Specific Arrest Rates -and- Race Specific Arrest Rates for Selected Offenses 1993-2001

Age Specific Arrest Rates -and- Race Specific Arrest Rates for Selected Offenses 1993-2001

Uniform Crime Reports
November 2003

Introduction
The objective of this publication is to supplement the statistics published in Crime in the United States by providing users of Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program data with age-specific arrest rates and race-specific arrest rates for the years 1993–2001. The current tabulations update the December 1993 publication, which presented these data for the years 1965–1992. The UCR Program’s statisticians have tabulated the data for the Crime Index, violent crime, property crime, and each Part I offense (murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson). Age and race specific arrest rates are also tabulated for select Part II offenses (forgery and counterfeiting, fraud, embezzlement, stolen property, weapons violations, sex offenses, gambling, and drug abuse violations). Additionally, for each of the offenses, the statisticians have calculated age breakdowns representing juveniles and adults by race (white and all other races, black and all other minorities). A separate table lists the average age of arrestees for each of the Part I and Part II offenses by year.

An age-specific arrest rate refers to the number of arrests made per 100,000 inhabitants belonging to a defined age group. Technical Note A describes the computational procedures used to derive age-specific arrest rates. Technical Note B describes the methodology used to compute the average age of the arrestees. The reader should be aware that the average age of the arrestees is based on the age composition of the U.S. population. Therefore, any shift in the average age of the arrestees should not immediately be associated with a change in criminal pattern since the data may, in fact, reflect a shift in the population.

A race-specific arrest rate refers to the number of arrests per 100,000 inhabitants belonging to a defined race. The statisticians have updated the race-specific data used in this publication, and therefore, figures may differ slightly from the national averages published in earlier editions of Crime in the United States. The rates represent that portion of the population covered by all agencies that contributed race data for the given offenses. The UCR Program requires that reporting agencies supply the age of arrestees; however, the Program stipulates that the submission of race data is voluntary. Therefore, the population coverage for race statistics is lower than that for age statistics.

This publication will be updated annually and published in electronic format beginning with the 2002 data, which will be posted on the FBI’s Web site in the spring of 2004. ..more.. by FBI