Below you will find the following material related to deviance rates:

1. An article reporting recent trends in the crime rate

2. An article describing the impact of technology on the conviction rate, in this case DNA testing

3. An article on fraternity and sorority hazing

4. A link to the FBI site containing Uniform Crime Report data

5. A link to a site that will allow you to check the crime rate for your place of residence

Crime Rate Continues to Drop
2002 Levels Are Lowest in 30 Years, Justice Department Says
washingtonpost.com

By Curt Anderson
Associated Press
Monday, August 25, 2003; Page A06

Violent and property crimes dipped in 2002 to their lowest levels since records started being compiled 30 years ago, and have dropped more than 50 percent in the past decade, the Justice Department reported yesterday.

The annual survey by the Bureau of Justice Statistics identified about 23 million crime victims last year, down slightly from the year before and far below the 44 million recorded when studies began in 1973.

The rate of violent crimes -- rapes, robberies and assaults -- was about 23 victims for every 1,000 U.S. residents 12 or older last year. That compares with 25 victims per 1,000 in 2001 and 50 in 1993.

For property crimes such as burglary and car theft, the rate was 159 crimes per 1,000 last year, down from 167 the previous year and 319 in 1993.

The study examined property and violent crimes except homicide, which is measured separately by the FBI. Preliminary FBI statistics for 2002 -- based on reports from police across the country -- reported a 0.8 percentage point rise in the homicide rate compared with 2001.

The Justice Department survey, however, found continuing decreases in major property and violent crimes, crossing all household income, racial and ethnic lines. Crime is down in cities, suburbs and rural areas.

Attorney General John D. Ashcroft credited citizens for being more willing to report crimes and said the numbers are a tribute to the work of police, prosecutors and judges.

Experts say many factors have driven the crime rate down, including a less violent illegal drug trade, a drop in gang membership and even improved home locks and alarms.

Even so, the continuing drop in crime surprises some.

"Everyone thought the numbers would bottom out and then go back up, but it hasn't happened," said James Lynch, professor at the American University Center for Justice, Law and Society.

Some criminologists say tougher prison sentences and more prisons are key factors. The Justice Department reported last week that at the end of 2001, more than 5.6 million adults -- one in every 37 U.S. adults -- were either in state or federal prison or had done prison time during their lives.

Others say that theory is refuted by the government's own data. The Justice Policy Institute, which favors alternatives to prison, pointed out that regions with higher prison expansion rates, such as the South and West, experienced more homicides in 2002.

"We need to separate political rhetoric from sound crime and corrections policy," said Vincent Schiraldi, the institute's executive director.

The Justice Department figures on nonfatal crimes for 2002 are based on interviews of a nationally representative sample of 76,050 U.S. residents age 12 or older. The previously released FBI Uniform Crime Reports, which also showed an overall drop in crime in 2002, is based on crimes reported to police.

© 2003 The Washington Post Company

DNA Leads To Arrest in Va. Killing

By Tom Jackman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday , June 24, 2000 ; A01

A DNA match has identified the suspected killer in one of Fairfax County's most gruesome unsolved slayings, linking blood from a convicted robber to evidence gathered at the 1992 crime scene, police said yesterday.

Yesterday, police charged the robber, Mack Reaves III, 30, with murder in the stabbing death of Marilyn M. Bandera.

"We've been working on this case for years," said Capt. John J. Tomaselli, commander of Fairfax's major crimes division. "It's never been forgotten."

Bandera, who owned two canvas goods stores in Old Town Alexandria, was stabbed more than 150 times inside her Mount Vernon home on March 18, 1992. She was a 45-year-old mother of three, well known as a shopkeeper and a friendly neighbor in the Belle View community--and she apparently struggled mightily with her killer.

Detectives believe that struggle left the killer's blood at the crime scene. Fairfax police had submitted the blood to the state's DNA data bank years ago, to no avail. But as the data bank has expanded to more than 120,000 samples and DNA technology has improved, the detectives decided this month to try again.

Last week, they got the news: An apparent match was found with the DNA of Reaves, who pleaded guilty in August 1996 to robbing a Fairfax City gas station of $660. Reaves was sentenced to five years in prison in November 1996, and his blood was drawn. Virginia law has required felons to give a blood sample since 1990.

Virginia was the first state to create such a program, but now all 50 states are doing it, said Paul Ferrara, director of the Virginia Division of Forensic Science.

Even as the exoneration of convicted felons through DNA testing has dominated headlines recently, Virginia's data bank has quietly been the key to solving about 30 killings and more than 150 other crimes, officials said.

"We feel the state of Virginia is in the forefront in these data banks making comparisons of crime," Tomaselli said. "We can only ask that the state continue to fund these programs."

Reaves was released from prison in February 1999 and placed on five years' probation. By coincidence, he was already being pursued by the courts for missing visits with his probation officer and failing drug tests. When police learned of the DNA match, they moved quickly to arrest him for allegedly violating probation. Leesburg police picked up Reaves on Tuesday in an apartment on Fort Evans Road.

Later that night, Fairfax homicide Detective Robert J. Murphy obtained a search warrant and took a new sample of Reaves's blood. The sample corroborated the match from the state database, police said. It was the first time an arrest has been made in a killing in Fairfax County using the bank.

Tomaselli said detectives have begun routinely resubmitting DNA samples in old cases for possible matches now that the state data bank has had 10 years to grow and newer technology allows analysis of even minute samples.

For several months in 1992, Fairfax police assigned six detectives to work the Bandera case full time. Witnesses had seen a man running from the direction of the Bandera house about 12:45 p.m., blood was found at a nearby gas station, and there was an "abundance" of physical evidence, police said at the time. Tomaselli said yesterday that police plan to submit the blood from the gas station for analysis.

Detective Thomas J. Lyons, the lead investigator in 1992, said at the time, "It's the most violent death I've seen in 23 years."

Police would not discuss a motive for the killing or say whether Bandera had been robbed or sexually assaulted.
 
Bandera had left one of her stores, Canvas Cutters, about 11:30 a.m., dropped her car off at a gas station for repairs, and spoke to a friend on the phone at 12:15 p.m. that day. Her husband, John Bandera, who happened to come home about 1:30 p.m., discovered her body. He declined to be interviewed yesterday. Three months after the killing, he told The Washington Post, "The hurt of not having her here every day just seems to get worse rather than better."

Ferrara said the number of matches from the state data bank has been soaring in recent years. Since the data bank was established, 177 DNA matches have been found, and 144 of those have occurred since 1999.

"There's been a lot of foundation work these last 10 years," Ferrara said. "You put in all the pieces for a number of years, you start rocking and rolling, and the hits just keep on coming."

© 2000 The Washington Post Company
 

The following material was compiled from the web site on fraternity and sorority hazing:  http://stophazing.org/
 

Recent Incidents

"A Morehouse College chapter was suspended indefinitely following the death of a pledge, who was apparently a victim of hazing. The pledge, who had a heart condition, was apparently shoved around with other pledges when they failed to correctly answer questions about the fraternity. Two of the members were immediately expelled from school and eight others were suspended for a year."

"A chapter at Dickinson College has been closed for a minimum of four years following the death of a rushee. The young man fell from a window of the university-owned fraternity residence hall after he consumed a large quantity of alcoholic beverages. As a result of the incident, a campus committee made recommendations for changes in the Greek system, including an end to freshman pledging and an end to preferential housing arrangements for Greek affiliated students."

"A University of Colorado fraternity has been suspended indefinitely by their national headquarters. The action followed the reported alcohol poisoning of a pledge who was made to drink a shot of vodka every time he missed a trivia question asked by active members. The student was hospitalized after he was found staggering down the street close to the fraternity house."

"A West Texas University freshman is back at his Dallas home recovering from a beating that bruised his kidney. The 21-year-old freshman said he and three pledge brothers were hit and kicked in the back while forced to squat and recite fraternity information during a social at the fraternity lodge. The Dallas freshman checked into the West Texas Clinic with blood in his urine, where a physician determined he had bruised his only kidney."

From Gary E. Powell, Fraternal Law, Number 33, September 1990

 
"A fraternity pledge at a Texas university was taken for a ride, handcuffed, and forced to drink large quantities of rum. He was found dead the next morning, and an autopsy showed his blood alcohol level to be more than four times the legal level of intoxication."

"A fraternity pledge at a Louisiana university became blind after he was hit on the head with a frying pan during an initiation meeting."

"Sixteen sorority pledges at a Maine university were branded with a metal stamp containing the sorority's Greek letters."

From the University of Texas at Austin Hazing Statement
 

Hazing Policy

The following is a publication of the
Dean of Students Office
University of Florida, P202 Peabody Hall
P.O. Box 114075, Gainesville, FL 32611
(352) 392-1261 (V), (352) 392-3008 (TDD)
 

Hazing destroys:

     Self-esteem
     Self-confidence
     Feelings of Self-worth
     Chapter Unity
     Respect
     Greek Communities
     People
     Sisterhood
     Brotherhood
 

Hazing. What is it?

Hazing is a broad term encompassing any action or activity which does not contribute to the positive development of a person; which inflicts or intends to cause physical or mental harm or anxieties; and/or which demeans, degrades, or disgraces any person regardless of location, intent or consent of participants. Hazing can also be defined as any action or situation which intentionally or unintentionally endangers a student for admission into or affiliation with any student organization.

What chapter activities can be considered hazing?

Depending on the circumstances, these activities have at one time or another been construed as hazing by the courts and/or institutions of higher education.

Keeping the date of initiation activities secret
Requiring new members to use separate entrances to the chapter house
Paddling or striking in any manner
Marking or branding
Phone duty
Treasure/scavenger hunts or road trips
Forcing exercise or strenuous physical activities
Requiring the carrying of items such as rocks, matches, coins, books, paddles, etc.
Preventing/restricting class attendance or sleep
Requiring personal servitude
Forcing members to eat or drink
Work parties for new members only
Staging any form of lineup
Preventing/restricting normal personal hygiene
Causing indecent exposure
Applying a substance to someone's body
Physical harassment such as pushing, cursing, shouting, etc.
Requiring uncomfortable, ridiculous, or embarrassing dress (i.e., suits/dresses to class)
Treating a person in a degrading manner
Conducting any type of Hell Week activities or calling any pre-initiation activity Hell Week
Requiring new members to practice periods of silence
 

Many people think they know what constitutes hazing and what does not. However, some activities may not be easily identified as hazing. What do you think?

Check those items you feel are hazing activities:

     Telling new members to wear specific clothing
     Sending new members on scavenger hunts
     Scheduling new member work duties to clean the chapter house
     Having new members run errands for actives
     Yelling at new members
     Encouraging or forcing new members to participate in an event where alcohol is served
     Maintaining secrecy of the initiation date from new members
     Requiring study hours for new members only
     Keeping new members up late at night
     Not allowing new members to speak to others
     Suggesting new members acquire campus paraphernalia or the property of another chapter
     Requiring new members to road trip to other chapters
     Requiring signature books as a condition of initiation

Depending on the circumstances, ALL of these activities can be identifed as hazing. Requirements for members of your organization should not be divided across class lines. Minimum standards of performance should be consistent for ALL chapter members at ALL times.
 

What is the University's position on hazing?

Florida State Statutes, Board of Regents Policy, Interfraternity, Panhellenic, and National Pan-Hellenic Council Policies, and University Policy all prohibit students from engaging in any activity that may be considered hazing.
 

Hazing is a crime in Florida.

Individual penalties for hazing include University probation, suspension, or expulsion of individual students involved. Penalties imposed on organizations found guilty of hazing include, but are not limited to: probation, suspension, dismissal from campus, and the loss of University recognition.

Cases involving hazing or alleged hazing may be forwarded to the State Attorney's Office for further prosecution. Sanctioning by the University does not preclude civil and criminal prosecution.
 

The following link is to the current Uniform Crime Report data compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation:

If you would like to check the risk of crime victimization in your residential neighborhood, check the "APB Neighborhood Crimecheck" at the following link: