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If you have issues viewing or accessing this file contact us at NCJRS.gov. <C, --~ I I; ALABAMA ~ STATISTICAL ( ANALYSIS CENTER CR1ME'I'N'ALABAMA 1969-1~77,: . A PRECIS·J~ \), /'\ U.S. Department of Justice National Institute of Justice This document has been reproduced exactly as received from the person or organizatkm originating it. Points of view or opinions stated in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the National Institute of Justice. Permission to reproduce this copyrighted material has been I~ granted by • • • Alabama Crlmlnal Justlce '" Informatlon Center " ., ~ to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS). Further reproduction outside of the NCJRS system r!lquires permis '\) sion of the copyright owner. II ~ STATE"OF ALABAMA CRIMINAL JUSTICE INFORMATION CENTER R~W.BLAVl.OCK ""Director o \\ r1 () eb- <l ' CRIME IN ALABAMA ., o INTRODUCTION Crime in Alabama, as in the rest of the un:iilieall$'t@:J?'§"~\{g~,:]~corded in the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports. County~and municipal law enforce- ment agencies submit monthly crime summaries to the Uniform Crime Reporting Section (UCR) of the FBI which generates automated reports for Alabama1 • () Of the 3542 identified law enforcement agencies in Alabama in 1975, 33% of the agencies, representing 75% of the state's population, sub- o " mitted UCR data. (For the first quarter of 1976, reporting has increased to include 98.2% of the state's population.) The Uniform Crime Reports deal with the FBI's seven index crimes which are grouped into person, or " C? violent crimes,3 and property crimes. 4 Crime in Alabama, as in other states, has risen dramatically in the past few years and this trend is expected to continue through the remainder of 1976. This report concentrates on 1975's index crimes on a o statewide basis and the index crimes in the three high crime areas: o Birmingham, Jefferson County, and Mobile/Mobile County. The preceding years' crime rates will be considered along with some projected figures @ D for the future. f:.' '0 " As of January 1, 1976, the State of Alabama 9 s Criminal Justice Information Center took over operation of UCR in accordance with state o law. Q 2 The number of law enforcement agencies in Alabama varies due to the ", d fact that very small police departments phase in and out of existence. ".,. ..: G ,~ 3 Person crimes include: homicide, rape, robbery and assault. Property crimes include: burglary, larceny and auto theft. " l\ 1 \\' .r···· ) 1/ ' l' " ./ (Alabama) Rape, climbing 49% fr~m 1969 to 1975, increased more rapidly,! than Total crime in Alabama rose from 72,889 reported cases in 1969 to \\ any other yio1ent crime except for robbery. 0Actual incidents of rape t 125,488 in 1975, producing an increaseoof 72Z. According to 1976 I I rose from 494 .. in 1969 to 736 in 1975. Projections for 1976 indicat,e a = I' projections, it is estimated that total crime will increase by 110% over " it/ 35% increase over 1969, with!665 estim~~ incigents of rape. 1969. Robbery is the most rapidly rising violent crime in Alabama. It In absolute numbers, property crime is the chief problem for law rose consistently from 1969 (1,446 cases) to 1975 (4,443 cases) or an enforcement agencies in this state. " In 1975, property crimes accounted (/.p increase for the period of 2,997 cases or 207%. Through 1976, the for 89% of the reported crimes as compared with 1969's 88%. the actual relative increase over 1969 is expected to be 314%, representing 5,984 number of reported property crimes for 1975 was 111,296; the 1969 total jJ projected cases. for reported property crimes was 64,045, an increase of 74%. Property Assault, the most common violent crime, represented 59% of the crime is projected to reach 135,504 for 1976, a 112% increase over 1969. violent crimes reported in 1975. The number of as.o~;&u/1ts.~ reported in In 1975, one out of" every nine reported crimes was a crime of 1975, (8,348) is aC:re1ative increase of 31% over 1969's total of 6,418. violence or 11% of the law enforcement officer's caseload. Ac~~rding to Projected fig~res for 1976 indicate 9,934 assaults for an estimated the reported crimes shown on Fig. I-I, violent (persdh) crimes incr~ased increase of 55%. I' ~~!~ in 1975 to 14,192, an increase of 60%~over 1969's total of 8,844. Burglary increased in 1975 to a level 82% high~r than the 1969 Vio1eI).t crime is expected to increase to 17,504 for 1976, representing a level. The 1969 number of reported incidents, 23,160, increased to 98% increase over 1969. 42, 05_9 cases ~n. 1975 • Burglary is expected to increase to 51,626 cases Individual Index Crimes (Alabama) \ in 1976, for a total relative increase of 123% oV'~r 1969. \> Ail of the individual index crimes 5 showed a ma~ked increase from The 59,471 larceny incidents reported in 1975 represent an increase 1969 through 1975; projections for 1976 indicate a rise of 110% in the of 71% over the 1969 figure of 34,833. The 1976 projected larceny index crimes over 1969. figure is 72,188 for a projected ,increase of 107% over 1969. Homicide in Alabama rose from ·486 reported homic~des in 1969 to 575 0 Auto theft showed the least relative increase from 1969 to 1975. \'1 in 1975, an increase of 18%. A projected increase of 27% is expected In 1969, reported auto thefts numbered 6,052; in 1975, auto thefts for 1976 over the 1969 figure. The projected number of reported inci- rea~hed 9,766, representing an increase of 61%. In 1976,. the projected dents for 1976 is 615. 0 c, increase over 1969 is expected to be ~2%, or 11,601 cases. b'. 5 Homicide dropped from 485 in 1969 to 404 in 1970, a"decrease of 8l. 3 (See Fig. I-2) :~i 2 -'-",.,..,..,....t... IIIi; It''''Ll!IIllZ!l!I, '1;.':1'l1li2.2.2111;•• 1,11:,. ' I:; _:.&---•• /, I j.' ! 1 fUJW!'A ... TOTAL CRHE VIOLHIT CRWEJ & PROPERlY CRIff HID . 1969 - 1977 .. ., CRI~ IN 1HE STA1L 1969 - 1977 ARI="A 11QhQ lq7n lq71 19n lq73 1974 1971) . ]976(.) lq77* ITotal CRIM:: 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976* 1977* r' I) Crime Index 72;,889 82,960 84,495 81,662 110,241 107,303 25,488 153,056 167,568 '. 405 iYl01ent . Homicide 486 517 495 464 534 575 615 644 Crime Index 8,844 10,185 10,826 10,991 12,331 13.326 14,192 17,504 18,996 Rape 494 636 659 660 749 807 736 665 664 Property Robbery 1,446 1,730 2,006 2.404 2,809 3,555 4,443 5,984 6,323 Crime Index 64 045 72,775 73 669 70,671 97,860 93,977 11,296 135,504 148,512 -- IAc;c;aul t 7."-"l? .Q "lI;O Q. (nil 6 IV I I /.) I 75 I I I" 6.418 7.414 7.6411 8 Ll"ln .Q Ll'lA 11n.IIAIl *ProJected Burglary 23,160 26,279 27,072 27.240 31,212 37,845 42,059 51,626 56,858 Larceny 34,833 38,806 38,899 36,588 58,602 46,811 59,471 72,188 79,020 Auto Theft 6,052 7,690 7,698 6,843 8,046 9,321 9,766 11,601 12,522 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 * 77 Total *Projected * ., /Crime / Index / / 800. I' / Property .--.--______ Rape I ):rime _-------;:--- Homicid / Index 600 I / I // / 400 / I I I 200 / / ./ Larceny ./ ./ / 75,000 ./ II 70,000 _. / / / \~\ 65,000 \\ 60,000 .'. \\ : /Burgl 55,000 , .... ,.../' 50,000 . ./ / 45,000 ./ 40,000 35,000 30,000 25,000 V;o1ent 20,000 Auto Crime Theft _------thdex. 15,000 _------Assault ~----------~----------- 10,000 L=========:::::::::::==::----"'=====:::.... ::------- Robbery. 5,000 ----~---- FIG. I w.,l " FIG. II w' 2 (I"" ., 4 \, , 5 I i& ." ___ .. ____ ~~_~_-':. ___________----l..-----------"\o'------ , , ~,. \~ Alabama and Contiguous States ~) ~\ '0, \\'\\ 6 In comparison with the neighboring s~ates , Alabama has consis-:. TOTAL CRIME INDEX \~ 1069 - 1977 tently remciined lowest in percentage of i;or reported index incte~se ALABA~1A AND CONTIGUOUS STATES <1974 & 1975 INCLUDES LARCENY UNDER $50.00) \ " cl;ime and next to lowest* in absolute number\of reported index crimes. 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976* 1977* \ Alabama 55647 64249 65843 64662 88910 167314 125497 161440 181366 Property crim~ in Alabama, as well as in the ~\est of the southeast, is Florida 201160 244399 284401 284566 457631 597636 645263 940531 078691 ,\ )' Georgia 82750 101279 111081 116533 164175 191004 227874 309023 4013 95 the crime problem. In Alabama, property crime~\'\ a1:'e increasing at a Mississippi 171J.76 19n1 24828 29874 439~9 52271 56556 85477 S8125 ,'t Tennessee 66371 74101 82207 84713 12621)9 151085 178850 242987 higher rate than violent crimes, 74% to 60%,' re~pectivelY, In 1969, 2764,6 )::1 ';$ I';) //7< ,\ '\ 70 71 7: I Ib" ,\ * Projected property crimes made up 88% of the total crfmes t~ported, while in 197'5 ,100,000 }lorida they comprise989% (See Fig. III-l through III-3) \' / \ / Although property crime/violent ratios ,e\ extreme, the ,000,000 / c~i"'e , / , I / problem may be greater than is apparent. Violent cr;\mes have much / 900,000 I higher rate~ of clep'rance aTld~!,-=st- ranging from 45%<\ to 100% _ while I ~-",c~~-C-,\ " / / " property crimes ~,re cleared at a much lower rate.