In recent years, violent crime has declined both at the national level and in several major U.S. cities, including Pittsburgh. This has led law enforcement officials and government leaders to declare that their policies and strategies on crime and apprehending alleged offenders are proving effective. However, in an editorial in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, attorney Matt Mangino argues that "underground" crime may be going unreported, which means that the crime rate has actually increased in recent years.

According to the FBI's annual Crime in the United States Report, violent crime dropped by 6 percent in 2010, marking the fourth consecutive year of such a decline. A second report, called the National Crime Victimization Survey, claims that crime decreased by 12 percent last year. The two reports differ in the way they gather information: the FBI report is made using data from federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, while the victimization survey is conducted using a nationally representative sample of households in the U.S.

Neither of these research methods, Mangino argues, is accurately assessing the actual crime rate. This is because many crimes go unreported, especially when they take place as part of gang activity or in neighborhoods or cities where crime is a regular occurrence. In addition, he says, there is a "culture in some neighborhoods of not cooperating with police," which results in crimes going unreported and uninvestigated.

In Pittsburgh, there was a 9 percent decline in violent crime in 2010, which a 13 percent decline in robberies and a 4 percent decline in aggravated assaults. However, the murder rate rose by 41 percent in the city. This, Mangino hypothesizes, is because murders rarely go unreported, while property crimes and assaults often do. Therefore, he concludes, the overall crime rate, including the unreported crimes, may actually be on the rise.

What do you think? Do violent crimes go unreported in your neighborhood? Or do you believe that the crime rate has actually dropped in Pennsylvania?

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "The Cautionary Instruction: Falling crime rates: Do we know what we think we know?" Matt Mangino, Sept. 23, 2011