Free Essays on Crime

Crime Causes Poverty Throughout America there are it’s ghettos, the poverty stricken, the poor, or may you say the less fortunate. Everyone isn’t always fortunate enough to be mid-class, or rich with a two door garage and a white picket fence. Many people wonder why there are such ghettos, why there is so much poverty in America when America continues to hand out opportunities. The main issue is what causes poverty, crime causes poverty, making the poor even poorer, the unwise more ignorant etc. It was once a myth that poverty causes crime, but today I think it is clear that crime is causing poverty. Businesses are driven away from theses areas , taking jobs and opportunities with them. Potential investors and would-be employers are scared away. Existing owners are deterred from making improvements on their property, and as property values go down, owners disinvest in their property. What needs to occur for this to not happen is for the police to be more abundant in these areas. Do you see crime causing poverty in â€Å"white† mid-class areas? The answer to that is NO! Do you always see the police there, cruising the streets? The answer to that is Yes! Therefore there is no crime, causing more investors to come to their suburbs or cities. Causing more employment, more jobs, more money into people’s pockets and more economic welfare. This is the answer to the problem, the urban ghettos need more protection within their streets and maybe those cities wouldn’t be so poverty stricken.... Free Essays on Crime Free Essays on Crime Are juveniles as under control today as they were in the past? Crime plays a major role in today’s society. The government follows the policy and has always followed the policy that no crime goes unpunished. The controversy that surrounds the United States courtrooms today is whether or not a minor needs to stand trial as an adult for committing a serious offense. These decisions made by the judge or jury in the preliminary hearing affect the rest of the suspects life. The opposing argument to the issue of juveniles being tried as adults remains that the minor is too young and immature to understand the consequences of what he or she did wrong. Juveniles need to be punished according to the severity of the crime in which they committed. Ultimately, juveniles should stand trial as adults. The opposition believes that holding court cases where juveniles remain tried as adults undoubtedly violates the rights of the juvenile. Initially, the age of a person when the alleged crime occurred decides whether or not he or she will be tried as a juvenile. â€Å"Definitions of who is a juvenile vary for different purposes within individual states as well as among different states† (Rosenheim 36). Children, ages seven to seventeen, who are suspected of crime, must be treated as children in need of guidance and encouragement, and not as vicious criminals (Emerson 6). Also, the opposition feels that the juvenile cannot accept full responsibility for his or her actions. Some people insist that each minor who committed a crime was influenced in some way or another (Emerson 8). Not only does the opposition believe that the minor was influenced, but they also believe that the juvenile was not able to control his or herself (Emerson 8). In addition, juveniles have not yet reached the necessary maturity level to share a prison amongst other adults. Minors, isolated for punishment, do not deserve this radical treatment (Staff Report C13). Numerous lawsuit... Free Essays on Crime America's prisons have been called "graduate schools for crime." It stands to reason: Take a group of people, strip them of possessions and privacy, expose them to constant threats of violence, overcrowd their cell-block, deprive them of meaningful work, and the result is an embittered underclass more intent on getting even with society than contributing to it. Prisons take the nonviolent offender and make him live by violence. They take the nonviolent offender and make him a hardened killer. America has to wake up and realize that the current structure of our penal system is failing terribly. The government has to devise new ways to punish the guilty, and still manage to keep American citizens satisfied that our prison system is still effective. Americans pay a great deal for prisons to fail so badly. Like all big government solutions, they are expensive. In the course of my research dealing with the criminal justice system, I have learned that the government spends approximately eighty-thousand dollars to build one cell, and $28,000 per year to keep a prisoner locked up. That's about the same as the cost of sending a student to Harvard. Because of overcrowding, it is estimated that more than ten-billion dollars in construction is needed to create sufficient space for just the current prison population. And that’s not it, what about the future explosion of the prison population? Crime in the United Sates is rising. More prisons and more money will be spent if the crime rate keep rising and the inefficient way in which the government manages its prisons stays constant. The plain truth is that the very nature of prison, no matter how humane society attempts to make it, produces an environment that is inevitably devastating to its residents. By letting violent and nonviolent prisoners share cells they only produce more violent criminals. Violent criminals; murderers, rapists, and misguided youths sharing cells to... Free Essays on Crime Crime Causes Poverty Throughout America there are it’s ghettos, the poverty stricken, the poor, or may you say the less fortunate. Everyone isn’t always fortunate enough to be mid-class, or rich with a two door garage and a white picket fence. Many people wonder why there are such ghettos, why there is so much poverty in America when America continues to hand out opportunities. The main issue is what causes poverty, crime causes poverty, making the poor even poorer, the unwise more ignorant etc. It was once a myth that poverty causes crime, but today I think it is clear that crime is causing poverty. Businesses are driven away from theses areas , taking jobs and opportunities with them. Potential investors and would-be employers are scared away. Existing owners are deterred from making improvements on their property, and as property values go down, owners disinvest in their property. What needs to occur for this to not happen is for the police to be more abundant in these areas. Do you see crime causing poverty in â€Å"white† mid-class areas? The answer to that is NO! Do you always see the police there, cruising the streets? The answer to that is Yes! Therefore there is no crime, causing more investors to come to their suburbs or cities. Causing more employment, more jobs, more money into people’s pockets and more economic welfare. This is the answer to the problem, the urban ghettos need more protection within their streets and maybe those cities wouldn’t be so poverty stricken.... Free Essays on Crime Crime has been a defining characteristic of modern America. It has claimed thousands of lives and has cost billions of dollars. The U.S. â€Å"correctional† population is at a record high. During the past two decades, the prison population has grown more rapidly than at any noted time in history. This growth resulted in the massive new prison expansion program, which was implemented in order to deal with overcrowding in prisons. The present day role of our prison system is one of deterrence. By being â€Å"tough on crime† with stiffer drug laws, tougher parole requirements, mandatory minimum sentences, â€Å"three strikes† laws and other legislation, our nation, supposedly, strives to lower the crime rate. The millions of Americans behind bars, the majority of them nonviolent offenders, means jobs for depressed regions and major profits for private contractors wanting to â€Å"cash in† on the opportunity. Our current prison-based rehabilitation prog rams have not kept up with this growing number of offenders. Our â€Å"corrections† system is failing; we are not rehabilitating prisoners. Instead, we are simply housing inmates, then releasing them back into society having received little or no job training, drug treatment, or education. Many are unable to find jobs and are barred by law from living in public housing projects, so they quickly return to crime. This pattern is a major factor in recidivism rates which have barely changed in over twenty years. (The Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics.) There are many promising therapeutic programs that, if properly and sufficiently implemented, could deal with these issues. These programs have the potential to help maintain control of and improve the safety in prisons, reduce recidivism rates, and help inmates address a range of problems that can affect their ability to become productive members of society. Almost 6.6 million men and women made up the correctiona... Free Essays on Crime A crime is a wrong involving the violation of the peace and dignity of the state. In theory, it is committed against the interest of all of the people of the sate. Accordingly, the prosecutor in the name of the state, people, or commonwealth prosecutes crimes. A person who commits crime must not be punished. We must adopt a therapeutic attitude towards crime. People who commit crime must be cared for so that their willingness and behavior be treated. All too often many people view the study of deviance and criminology synonymously. Though the two are related they are not the same. Yes, those who commit crime are considered deviant by those who do not commit crimes, Yet the members of any given â€Å" criminal† subculture (ie: Gangs, organized crime) do not necessarily consider themselves deviant, rather it is their way of life, just as the law-abiding citizens consider their own behavior to be just and normal. Whether or not a criminal is considered a deviant is a matter of perspective. To the criminal, committing the crimes is usually seen as a normal whereas this type of activity is considered deviant to the non-criminal. Taking this one step further, Emile Durkheim, though not condoning criminal behavior, explained how crime is normal in society and actually serves many functions. This too is deviant behavior in general. However, the study of deviant behavior is far more than an analysis of crime and criminals. All humans are, or have been deviant is someway, whether or not has committed a societal- defined crime, we all will continue to be considered deviant by others so long as we live on Earth. As with criminal behavior, the nature of deviant behavior is a matter of perspective In order for us to function as a society crime must occur but at the same time we all must work to keep it down for our own safety. Crime prevention is defined not by intentions or methods, but by results. There is scientific evidence, for example, th... Free Essays on Crime How does Class, state ,and social controls within a capitalistic society lead to increase crime due to the criminal laws and criminal justice system imposed on the lower middle class. Social conflict theory is the only one out of the vast number of criminology theories that deals directly with this problem. From out of it’s Marxist roots arose a theory which challenges the way in which today’s society views it’s legal system and the implications it has on it’s working class citizens. The nature and purpose of social conflict theories is to examine the social controls made by the ruling class and imposed on the rest of society. Some theorists say that class order has nothing to do with crime rates in society, but Richard Quinney have made great strides in proving that social class has a direct correlation with crime due to the social controls of a capitalist government. Social conflict theory focuses on why governments make and enforce rules of law and mora lity then why an individual violates the law. Conflict theorists do not view those who commit deviant behavior as rebels who can’t conform to social norms, they show how criminal law is used as a mechanism for social change. Conflict theory flourished during the widespread social and political changes of the 1960's, because it challenged the legitimacy of the government’s creation and implication of laws designed to keep the middle- class down. Social Conflict Theory came out of the Marxist thought. â€Å"Marx believed that the character of every civilization is determined by its mode of production the way its people develop and produce material goods.†( Senna, pg 226) This concept has two main components: productive forces and productive relationships. Productive forces include things such as technology, energy sources, and material resources. Productive relationships are relationships between the people producing the goods and services. The most important rela tionship in ... Free Essays on Crime TMA7 X3112220 When attempting to explain the question of what is crime? Two predominate theories emerge, that of a structural explanation and that of an agency. These theories form one of the fundamental debates in Social Science and each offers its own perspective on how free individuals are to act as they chose with out social intervention. As such in this essay I intend to illustrate the key points of each explanation and in turn highlight key methods of evidence used to support them. Those who would describe crime with the foundation on social structures, focus on the collective influences, which drive individuals to behave or conform in certain manners. These structures can vary from an individual’s family background and genetics to their cultural surroundings and beliefs. Even with in this one branch of explanation there may be several contrasting opinions. However, essentially they all believe that â€Å"it is possible to identify structures, constraining and determining forces which are beyond the control of individuals or groups, and that these structures dispose us to behave in certain ways.† (Introductory Chapter, 2004, p28). This explanation can then be used to explain crime with the notion that people can be influenced into crime by structures, which exist around them. For example one structure, which could be considered to pressure people into crime, is the family structure. Social Psychologist David Farrington has conducted in-depth research into the way that â€Å"pathological or problem families can transmit criminal carers within them.† (Farrington, D, 1994, p31). His claims put focus on the concept that families are able to pass criminal careers through generations and that children can from an early age display behaviour, which can predict a future criminal lifestyle. Before these claims can be considered a reasonable explanation there must be supporting fact and evidence to maintain them. With out the ...