Grading Your Crime Data Quiz
I'm not mad, just disappointed.
If any of you readers ever took one of my classes when I taught at Tulane than you should know that I’m a really easy grader. With that in mind, the results are in from last month’s crime data quiz and you folks had some struggles. You’ll need to do well on next month’s final exam if you’re going to avoid being grounded for the summer.
Questions a majority of readers got right:
Did murder roughly rise, fall, or stay the same nationally last year? Fell per big city data and GVA data.
What is the difference between a homicide and a murder? Murder is a non-negligent criminal offense. Has no connection to an arrest or prosecution.
What crime is reported to the FBI if someone is nonfatally shot? Aggravated assault.
Approximately what share of rapes/sexual assaults are reported to the police each year? It was around 20% in both 2020 and 2021 per NCVS.
Is property crime lower, higher, or about the same nationally compared to where it was 20 years ago? Lower. Much lower.
What share of murders were cleared in the US in 2020? 56% per the FBI. 2020 is the latest year with available data on clearances.
Question that I’ll give half credit for because I’m too kind.
What share of the US population is currently covered by an agency that submits data to the FBI via the National Incident-Based Reporting System? It’s around 70% right now but just over half of the US was covered by an agency that reported 12 months of data to the FBI for 2021. 62% of respondents gave ‘Under 60 percent’ as an answer but I’ll give a half-point for that.
Questions a majority of readers got wrong:
When did US law enforcement first start aggregating crime data at a national scale? The Uniform Crime Report was first published in 1930. 52% of respondents gave ‘1970s’ as their answer.
What state had the nation’s highest murder rate in 2021? This one was hard because Louisiana has led the nation in murder rate for three straight decades. But the switch to NIBRS means that we don’t have great insight into statewide murder rates and such a comparison can’t be made using 2021 data.
Which city with 100k+ people has the most sworn officers per capita? It’s DC followed by Chicago with NYC coming in at 5th per the FBI’s 2020 UCR data. I was surprised by this as well if that helps.
Your final tally is 6 correct, 3 incorrect, and 1 getting half credit. That’s a 65 in my book. Final grade: D.
If you assume that test-takers will be distributed on a bell curve, then 50% ought to be a C, right?
Someone in DC told me that DC has so many sworn officers because there's no county police or state police—just the District. In DC there's the Park Police, but their role is a little different. Is that true?