Introduction
Whether you are scrolling through social media, watching the news, or listening to politicians it is probable the topics of crime and violence will arise. Because we are exposed to violence more often via news outlets, it is natural to assume crime is rising and America is becoming more dangerous. While we tirelessly watch another bullying video on Facebook, hear of the gang violence in our local cities, and listen to politician’s debate who is at fault, we do not see the raw data behind the arguments. What the media so often fails to report is the actual annual numbers and crime rates. I decided to do research on the real crime rate changes in America and the numbers were surprising.
I found the visualization below to be the most insightful and useful resource when reviewing crime in America over time.
Visualization
- The visualization uses FBI arrest database for crimes in 1975-2015 and allows users to interactively review crime rates and numbers over time.
Goal- Ultimately, this visualization aims to unbiasedly display the change in crime over time in major US Cities.
Audience- This particular article was posted during election time. The authors created this visualization in response to Donald Trump’s claims of American Crime being at an all-time high.
Claim- Despite popular belief, crime rates and numbers are widely decreasing. Though there are a few outliers, the general trends in the graphs are decreasing.
Rebuttal- The major opposing argument I can imagine would be the simultaneous change in populations. This virtualization attempts to limit these claims by allowing users to explore both raw numbers and change in rates per capita.
Pros
- Ease of Use: The virtualization allows users to explore a long list of cities, date ranges, crime types, and measurements in one concise graph.
- Thorough Definitions: The virtualization clearly states sources, data types, ranges, and its purpose.
- Simple: Though the virtualization is only a simple 2D, XY line graph, the contents are accessible to viewers and conclusions are easily made.
- Insightful: The virtualization presents the data in a strong manner, limiting opposing arguments.
Cons
- Axis: As the user adjusts the years, the y-axis does not change. When comparing recent years, it is very difficult for the user to see changes because the graph is zoomed-out too far.
- Crime Categories: Though it is useful to break up crimes by their types, it would be also useful to give overall violent crime numbers.
Conclusion
This article clearly defines the goal of displaying a downward trend in US crime. By keeping the audience and opposition in context, the visualization successfully presents data in a simple and interactive format that reinforces the goal and limits opposing arguments. The authors could go a step further and change a few cosmetics in the graph, but ultimately a compelling argument is represented.
http://www.informationisbeautifulawards.com/showcase/1543-crime-in-context