Offenses reported are classified by UCR definitions designed to eliminate differences among various states in penal code definitions of crimes. The FBI Crime Index Offenses, selected by UCR because of their seriousness, frequency of occurrence, and likelihood of being reported to the police are willful homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. Except for larceny-theft, UCR does not count misdemeanors and infractions. These offenses are listed in an attempt to indicate, in more detail than allowed by the UCR program, the types of offenses that occur on the University of California campuses. Definitions Definitions of the offenses in both categories are listed in the glossary of this report.
Most crimes occur singly as opposed to many crimes being committed simultaneously.
For example, if one person were to enter a store, rob eight customers and kill the cashier, only the homicide would be reported. The hierarchy rule assigns a value to each of the crimes and requires that only the single most serious offenses be reported. Arson is the exception. Since arson frequently occurs in conjunction with other crimes reported in the UCR system, it was felt that valuable information would be lost using the hierarchy rule. The UCR system collects information in summary form which shows one count for each offense reported.