Unit Scholarly Activity

For this scholarly activity, you will do further research on patterns of offenses and victimization. Research the crime rates in both your local area and in the nation. Include responses to the following points in your scholarly activity:

1. Research the murder and aggravated assault data for the past four years. Find national data as well as data in your current city or town (or nearest metropolitan area).

2. Explain the national and local rates. Have they gone up or down? How do they compare? Do you see trends? To what do you attribute the differences?

3. Explain the terminology/definition of each crime. How do they differ?

4. Describe the characteristics of the crime, the offenders, the victims, and the event (location, weapon, and when it occurred).

5. What are the differences in arrest and clearance rates?

6. After learning more about these crimes, pick a theory from an earlier unit, and use it to explain the possible reasons people commit these crimes in your area. Your scholarly activity must be a minimum of two pages in length, not counting the title and reference pages.