How does humanity govern its self? The world, as seen today, is an extremely diverse nation with various, backgrounds, traditions, and customs. The aforementioned are informal social controls used to help govern citizens in an unceremonious way. These informal controls developed over time into formal controls, laws, to try and restore harmony within a society and punish those who are in violation of laws. Laws are defined as a set of rules developed by a body of legislation to maintain order and peace of an organized people. Laws can be used as an umbrella to blanket a multitude of subsets, such as, political, administrative, financial, and civil infractions. Public Order crimes can also be placed in to a subcategory of criminal legislation. When defining a criminal infraction there are two sides of the spectrum, the victim and the offender. Drug usage and drug-related crimes have the most relevant association when it comes to violation of federal and state statutes. So what happens when there is not apparent “victim?” Is there a thing as a “victimless” crime? Public order and drug crimes may not seem to have an effect in an instant, but over time it damages our nation as a whole. In criminology Larry Siegel defines public-order crimes as “crimes which involves acts that interfere with the operations of society and the ability of people to function efficiently” (Siegel). So what is the difference in violating the “law” and committing crimes against “public order?” Public order crimes are often viewed as laws that don’t have an apparent victim. Such crimes may include prostitution, drunkenness and disorderly behavior, gambling, and drug use and abuse. Drug use and abuse is one of the most damaging public order crimes... ... middle of paper ... ..., Larry J. (2006). Criminology: Theories, Patterns, & Typologies, 9th edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing. ISBN 0-495-00572-X. Print. 25 Feb 2014. Belliar, Paul E., and Thomas L. McNulty. 2009. “Gang Membership, Drug Selling, and Violence in Neighborhood Context.” JQ: Justice Quarterly 26 (4): 644-69. Web. 15 March 2014. Carson, Ann E. and Daniela Golinelli, Prisoners in 2012: “Trends in Admissions and Releases, 1991-2012” (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice of Justice Statistics, Dec 2013. Web. 2 Feb 2014. National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIDA Publication on Drug Abuse. Web-based Statistics Query and Reporting System (WSQARS): www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/nation-wide-trends. Web. 10 April 2014. Davenport-Hines, Richard. 2002. Public Order Crimes. 5th edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002. P. 14 Web. 13 April 2014.
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Gang involvement has been quite higher than past years. The 2008 National Youth Gang Survey estimates that about 32.4 percent of all cities, suburban areas, towns, and rural counties had a gang problem (Egley et al., 2010). This represented a 15 percent increase from the year 2002. The total number of gangs has also increased by 28 percent and total gang members have increased by 6 percent (Egley et al., 2010). This shows how relevant gang related activity is in today’s society. More locations are beginning to experience gang activity for the first time. Gang crime has also been on the rise in the past...
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According to the ‘Crime and Disorder Act’ (1998) Anti-social behaviour orders are civil orders made against a person or persons who have engaged in Anti-social behaviour, which includes drunken or threatening behaviour, graffiti and vandalism or playing loud music at night. However, this classification is contested by prior (2009: 9) who claims, there is no ‘settled definition of what constitutes anti-social behaviour’.
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