CUNY QUAN201 Signature Assignment: Crime Trend Lines

Consider this:

You have earned a promotion at your job that requires you to move from your house in the suburbs of Minneapolis to either New York City or Los Angeles. As a suburban resident you are particularly concerned with urban crime, associating city-living and high crime. Although you are considering other factors for the move, such as weather patterns and the public schools, you recognize that associating cities and crime is biased and you think it wise to research what crime is “really” like in LA and NYC before making your final choice.

As a first stop, you discover that many police departments participate in making their crime data available to the public so that residents, local businesses, and future residents and commerce can be fully informed about the crime within the community. This assignment requires that you work with available official crime data from New York City and Los Angeles to conduct a basic statistical comparison by creating a chart or graph that will allow you to compare crime that you care about in the two cities. You will use the module readings to write a critical response to the questions below, as well as search for additional resources to support your argument(s).

Preparation:

STEP 1

Select an Index Crime that would concern you as a potential resident.

· Index Crime: a crime type from the Part I crimes coded for the Uniform Crime Report – see Beirne&MesserschmidtCh 2

· Think carefully about what crime would be most important to you while you’re living and working in a place

o As you select the crime type that concerns you most for this move note that not all crime is predominantly committed by strangers; i.e. homicide and rape have higher rates of involving acquainted victims and offenders.

STEP 2

Do some rigorous online research to locate at least two (2) valid, current news reports that discuss crime statistics in Los Angeles.

§ One (1) article should be a general investigation of crime statistics in Los Angeles

§ The second (1) article should address the particular index crime that you’ve identified as most meaningful to you, and its incidence in Los Angeles. (the articles should be similar to the NYPD articles from Module 2 published by The New York Times, in terms of length and quality of information/research presented)

§ DUE: Friday, June 17, 2016, 11:59pm EST: Submission of two (2 min.) articles/resources

STEP 3

Use the official crime data provided by the New York City and Los Angeles Police Departments to analyze and visually represent a chosen Index Crime in the two areas of interest. Your visualization (graphical representation) and analysis should allow you to compare and contrast the index crime in question over a specific period of time – in this case a 10-year period (2001-2010).

§ Data visualization: Chart (graph)

o Title, data source footnote, legend, labeled axes/units of measurement

o See chart demo in Module 2-Week 3 for using Excel

o Two (2) trend lines within the graph: one trend line per city on one chart – this means, one LA and one NYC

§ Ordered chronologically by year for 10 years for one index crime: 2001-2010

o DUE: Tuesday, June 21, 2016, 11:59pm EST: Submission of Chart Image

§ Data analysis

o Clearly identify when your period begins and ends, to calculate the following for New York City and L.A. independently:

§ Range for Year 1 (2001) through Year 10 (2010) for each city

§ Rate of change between 2010 and 2001 as a percent for each city

§ Rate of change between 2010 and 2009 as a percent for each city

§ Mean of incident count for the 10-year period, Median of incident count for the 10year period for each city

§ Create a table with the frequency of your index crime per city per year (see below)

Analysis Guidelines:

Using the module readings and your two additional media sources as context, begin to analyze the summary statistics you calculated.

§ Write an introductory statement about measuring crime, specifically the index crime of your choice.

o Explain why it is important for residents to know the data about the index crime you chose; and if it is realistically possible to account for all incidents.

§ Introduce the NYC and LA context; how does each municipality measure and report crime data?

§ In a paragraph form, discuss changes in crime during the period you have identified by introducing your summary statistics.

§ Explain your data visualization in the context of your analysis (see requirements below).

§ Consider the measurability of the given index crime and report how the numbers may be incomplete or are as complete as possible.

§ Compare and contrast your summary statistics to those reported / evaluated in the media pieces from the module and research.

§ Discuss the generalizations, if any, that can be drawn about the crime from the various sources (i.e. textbook chapter, media analyses/journalism, official data, your summary statistics and visualization)

§ Answer the question: Is it appropriate to compare Los Angeles to New York City?

o Explain why it is appropriate and why it may not be appropriate (think of the social!)

§ Conclude by

o Making a decision about where you prefer to move to and

o Defend that position by contextualizing the decision on the quantitative analysis you have completed (using the data to support the decision made).

Paper requirements:

Synopsis of arguments from Measuring Crime, NYTimes (media) pieces on NYPD statistics and LAPD statistics from your own research

Summary Statistics about your chosen Index Crime

· Range for Year 1 (2001) through Year 10 (2010) for each city

· Rate of change between 2010 and 2001 as a percent for each city

· Rate of change between 2010 and 2009 as a percent for each city

· Mean of incident count for the 10-year period, Median of incident count for the 10year period for each city

· Create a table with the frequency of your index crime per city per year (see above)

Analysis detailed above

Appropriate comparative Excel chart for New York City and Los Angeles incidents (2 series of data in 1 chart)

(hint: the x-axis should represent time and the y-axis should equal totals) The chart should be pasted within the body of the text-but note that it does not count toward the page count

Paper Formatting (standard):

· Word Document file – attached for assignment submission

· 3 pages of text (approximately 1650 words, excluding charts and reference list)

· 1” Margins

· Standard font (i.e. 12pt Times New Roman, 11pt Calibri)

· Introduction – Body – Conclusion

· 1 Chart (NYC to LA incident timeline)

o Units

o Labeled x-axis

o Labeled y-axis

o Legend

o Title

o Data source footnote

· Reference List

· APA formatting

Remember: Edit your work before submitting it to ensure correct use of grammar, spelling and word choice, and a cohesive narrative. Avoid simply responding to the guideline questions in succession; your writing should form a narrative guided by the questions above. This means that in addition to your work being accurate it should read smoothly in your unique analytical voice.

Signature Assignment I Paper is DUE: Sunday, June 26, 2016 11:59pm EST