Over the past twenty years, the prison system has grown and crime has increased dramatically. Since last year, violent crime rates have increased fifteen percent and property crime rates have increased twelve percent. Police are now present at almost every public corner, every school, every workplace, and every community across the nation yet the crime rates are still increasing. The "militarization of the police" in America is doing little to help decrease crime rates and is becoming a large part of American life today (Madar). As a social problem, crime represents a deviation from social norms and is a result of lack of education, unemployment rates, and issues with the legal system.
The issues with education begin "early in the academic system" (Vindis). By the fourth grade, thirty-one percent of students are behind on the NAEP (National Assessment of Education Progress) standards with the trend running through eighth grade students, as well. Without proper education, people lack the skills necessary to enter the adult world, attend college, and obtain good paying jobs in order to support themselves and their families, resulting in crime. Neighborhoods and cities with high crime rates also tend to have high dropout rates, high poverty levels, and high unemployment levels. For example, East St. Louis, IL is a U.S city with high crime rates. The average educational level of the United States is a five with ten being the most educated. St. Louis' educational level is ranked at three; below national average. It is also among the fifteen percent lowest income communities in America with 34.6% of children in poverty and one school district with 85.6% of the student body economically disadvantaged. In East St. Louis, vio...
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Madar, Chase. "The Over-Policing of America." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 09 Dec. 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
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Policing is a very difficult, complex and dynamic field of endeavor that is always evolves as hard lessons teach us what we need to know about what works and what don’t work. There are three different Era’s in America’s policing: The Political Era, The Reform Era, and The Community Problem Solving Era. A lot has changed in the way that policing works over the years in the United States.
Through the first chapter of this book the focus was primarily on the notion of controlling crime. The best way to describe crime policy used in this chapter is comparing it to a game of ‘heads I win, tails you lose’. This chapter also addresses the causes for decline in America’s
Walker, S., & Katz, C. (2012). Police in America: An Introduction (8th Edition ed.). New York:
There has been a significant surge in murder and violent crimes in San Antonio this year. “According to a recent study, the violent crime rate is projected to grow by 52.5 percent by December, the highest spike among 21 of the nation’s largest cities” (Eaton). So what is the reason for this massive increase in San Antonio crime? The San Antonio police chief, William McManus stated that “there is no one reason why violent crime and murder are rising so fast — both locally and nationwide” (Eaton). His answer coincides with my hypothesis and research outcomes as well. My research shows that San Antonio’s crime rate increase can be attributed to a myriad of social, economic, and governmental factors. These include, but are not limited to, population
Gusfield, J. (2011). How Do We Decide What are Social Problems? Retrieved April 6, 2011 from http://www.soc.iastate.edu/sapp/soc235ch02.html
Crime in this country is an everyday thing. Some people believe that crime is unnecessary. That people do it out of ignorance and that it really can be prevented. Honestly, since we live in a country where there is poverty, people living in the streets, or with people barely getting by, there will always be crime. Whether the crime is robbing food, money, or even hurting the people you love, your family. You will soon read about how being a criminal starts or even stops, where it begins, with whom it begins with and why crime seems to be the only way out sometimes for the poor.
Crime is an extremely prominent part of American society. Recorded activity within the US saw 10,329,135 (1,246,248 violent crimes and 9,082,887 property crimes) crimes perpetrated with 62.5% of all violent crimes pertained to aggravated assault and 68.2% of all property crimes were considered larceny-theft in 2010. (FBI.2011) Despite the large number of crimes the United States also has the largest number of incarcerated citizens per capita in the world with nearly a quarter of the world’s prisoners coming from the United States’ 5% of the world population. This is due to much harder punishments in the US than those that are given a shorter longer period of incarceration or merely fined in other countries.(Liptak 2008) Due to the prevalence of crime in the US, economists have used models to explain the behavior and ramifications of government actions and the motivations behind crime and its effect on society that psychologists and sociologists are usually unable to address.
Crime is a part of society encompases the news and the public. A variety of studies of media content have estimated that as much as 25 percent of the daily news is devoted to crime (Surette 1992) and that crime is the largest major category of stories in the print and electronic media (Chermak 1994, 103). (Lawrence 18). With crime at an all time high, police are constantly having to deal with more and more issues. This can lead to stressed out and fed up officers, which can lead to poor decisions by an officer. The use of force by police is a highly controversial topic as it raises questions about a government’s ability to use force against its citizens (Lawrence 19). Today’s society is caught up on the ideals of civility and equality before the law, making police use of force a touchy
There was a decline in crime during the 1990s. Our country enjoyed seven years of declining crime for the period 1991-98, the most recent data available. During this period crime declined by 22% and violent crime by 25%. These are welcome developments, particularly following the surge of crime and violence of the late 1980s. This decline occurred during a time when the national prison population has increased substantially, rising from 789,60 in 1991 to 1,252,830, a 59% rise in just seven years and a 47% increase in the rate of incarceration, taking into account changes in the national population (Mauer 21-24).
66. Americans rank crime among the nations greatest problems. Crime can touch people of all lifestyles, race, and ethnicity. Public polls further illustrate that people in America remain fearful of crime without realizing that serious crime has declined since the record-setting years of the early 1980’s. However, many people still believe that crime rates are rising in United States. The news media and politicians help to keep the public’s attention focused on crime. This attention also keeps people fearful of crime in America. FBI data further supports that there is no national crime wave to fear. Most people will not experience crime directly but instead learn about it indirectly. Researchers believe that conversations with friends may help to magnify the amount of local violence. Fear of crime forces many Americans to “stay of the streets” and away from dangerous areas.
The American Education System has been a core component to the development of generations since it became a public system in the 1870s. Since then more rules, higher expectations for some, and even lower expectations for others have been added to the original structure. In recent years, many debates have surfaced over whether the American education system is failing. Too few they believe the American Education System is on the right track. Most researchers however have shown statistics that it is in fact slowly declining as new acts and regimens are added. It has been on a downward spiral for years and citizens have been watching it happen, the lack of government funding, acts like the No Child Left behind Act, focus in the wrong places, and the curriculum set up is acting as a deterrent for success.
Crime and criminalization are dependent on social inequality Social inequality there are four major forms of inequality, class gender race and age, all of which influence crime. In looking at social classes and relationship to crime, studies have shown that citizens of the lower class are more likely to commit crimes of property and violence than upper-class citizens: who generally commit political and economic crimes. In 2007 the National Crime Victimization Survey showed that families with an income of $15000 or less had a greater chance of being victimized; recalling that lower classes commit a majority of those crimes. We can conclude that crime generally happens within classes.
In our times, the police have become the criminals. Some police are using their power to do bad things, and society has come to fear police. The law enforcement system needs change. The courts have failed the police, and the police have turn to other means of justice. We must stop the corruption in the police force.
Although violent crime fell and poverty was on the rise a few key distinctions must be made here. Firstly, the result of the United States having the highest prison population in the world can be partly attributed to crime rising dramatically in the past 40 years (NeyFakh 1). Now, the Bureau of Justice reports that prison population fell 1% at the end of 2014 with its population at its smallest since 2005. This is the largest decline in more than 35 years (BJS 1). However, John Pfaff argues that even though we are having fewer arrests we are actually putting more people in prison. As mentioned, even though crime has fallen more people are put in prison even though arrests are low. Also, statistically speaking, it is very difficult to compute
The U.S. Department of Labor (2011) reported the national average of unemployment for 2008 was 5.8 percent. The rate dramatically increased in 2009 with an average of 9.3 percent and 9.6 percent for 2010. While unemployment rates have increased, the FBI’s preliminary reports for 2010 show that law enforcement agencies across the U.S. have reported a decrease of 6.2 percent in the number of violent crimes for the first 6 months of 2010 when compared to figures reported for the same time in 2009. The violent crime category includes rape, murder, robbery, and aggravated result. The number of property crimes also decreased 2.8 percent when compared to the same time last year. Property crimes include burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. Arson decreased 14.6 percent when compared to the same time periods of 2009 (FBI, 2011).