Crime rate<\/p>\n
The National Police chief recently made a statement that crime
\nin 1996 had declined compared to the previous year.<\/p>\n
Everybody should be happy to hear that; but I was not, because
\nthere was no explanation of what kind of crimes are declining.
\nOnly numbers were mentioned.<\/p>\n
Almost every day during 1996 we read about crimes committed
\nall over Indonesia, which are new compared to crimes committed
\nthe previous year. In 1996 we had senseless killings, robberies
\nwith or without rape, sodomy (a new crime), daylight bank
\nrobberies, and of course the normal crimes of corruption, theft
\nand so on.<\/p>\n
I can accept that crime rates are falling, but is this a cause
\nto rejoice? We are talking about numbers here, not about the
\nseriousness of crimes committed. Numbers do not give the exact
\npicture. Another possible cause of the decline in numbers is
\nbecause so many crimes go undetected and\/or unreported or
\noverlooked.<\/p>\n
We should not only make judgments based on numbers. Perhaps
\nratings could be given to the kind of crimes committed. For
\ninstance, the rating for corruption could be 20, murder 18, rape
\n17, robbery 15, theft 14, and so on. At the end of the year
\neverything could be added up. For instance in 1995 there were
\n1,000 thefts, the rating would then be 14,000. In 1996 we have
\nonly 800 cases of crime but those consist of 600 cases of
\ncorruption, 100 rapes and 100 murders. Total rating would then be
\n600 times 20, equals 12,000, 100 rapes mean 1,700, and 100
\nmurders mean 1,800, altogether makes 15,500. The number of crimes
\ndeclined from 1,000 to 800, but the seriousness increased from
\n14,000 to 15,500.<\/p>\n
This might be a silly idea, but it is worth considering. Happy
\nNew Year.<\/p>\n
SOEGIH ARTO<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/crime-rate-1447899208", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }