Criminal Justice
Property Crime
Property crimes are the more common type of criminal offense, and range from impulse shoplifting to highly organized multi-million-dollar thefts. The numbers in this section are taken from the nation’s most commonly cited source, the Uniform Crime Reports published annually by the FBI. This compilation defines property crimes as burglary, larceny-theft, auto theft, and arson. In using these numbers, four important caveats should be kept in mind:
- These numbers are based on voluntary reporting from U.S. law enforcement agencies
- They include only the four crimes mentioned above, and say nothing about other offenses
- They are measures of reported crimes only; most crimes—especially minor crimes—go unreported
- The FBI urges caution in using these data to make conclusive comparisons between places, as many different factors—including differences in reporting practices by police agencies—can influence these numbers.
