Crime Data Comparison Paper
Lisa Rice
CJA/314
July 18, 2014
Corry Powers

Crime data is reported through the UCR (Uniform Crime Reporting Program) recorded by the Federal Bureau of Investigations. Local law enforcement agencies report their yearly crime to the UCR. Crime data’s are divided into personal/violent crimes, property crimes, burglary, murder, arson, and robbery (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2014). The only way this report can remain accurate is if all crimes being commented are reported. There is crime everywhere in all parts of the world; some areas are higher than others. People use the UCR report when looking into moving to a new area. It can show what neighborhoods have a higher break in rate versus another neighborhood. Crime rates can vary from city to city, month to month, and year to year. If the economy is down crime rates normally shoot up, because people turn to crime to feed their families. The UCR report can also be altered if there is a high police patrol presence in one area versus another. I have chosen Augusta, Georgia and Savannah, Georgia as the two metropolitan areas to compare in crime statics. I have lived most of my life in the outer area of Richmond County, located in Augusta, Georgia. And Chatham County is located in Savannah, Georgia. My husband and I love visiting Savannah from time to time. In 2012, the population was 195,844 for Augusta, Georgia. The population had a slight increase of 0.2% from 2000 to 2012. The racial makeup breakdown is 45.01% are Caucasian; 50.12% are African American, and 4.87% make up other races. The population for Chatham County in 2012 was 276,434, which was a 14.3% increase from 2000. The racial makeup breakdown for Savannah, Georgia is 61% Caucasian, 33.7% African American, and 10.9% of other races. I will be comparing the murder statics for 2012 between Augusta and Savannah. There will comparisons to other crimes reported between the two as well. The murder count recorded for Augusta for the following months are as follows January- 5, February- 1, March- 3, April- 0, May-1, June- 2, July- 2, August- 4, September- 0, October-3, November- 2, and December- 5. The recorded murder count for Savannah is as follows January- 1, February- 2, March- 0, April-2, May- 0, June- 3, July- 1, August- 2, September- 8, October- 3, November- 2, and December- 0. Comparing these two metropolitan cities against one another both cities have a high- crime problem. In 2012 Augusta recorded 88-rape cases and Savannah only reported 39. The increase is double the rapes, and I think some rapes went unreported. Savannah recorded 537 robberies, while Augusta had 546. The recorded totals for Savannah on assaults were 474 while that almost doubled Augusta’s