Blackmon 1 Leah Blackmon Sociology 201 Deborah Robinson 15 September 2010 Crime and Social Order There are many reasons why an individual may or may not become involved in crime. In his essay, Robert K. Merton writes on the causes of crime. Merton focuses on a pint that society's cultural goals may not be easily attained by everyone. Those who do not have the means to reach these goals, such as family support and a good education, may come up with their own means to reach society's material goals. That usually means reverting to street crimes.
Prosecutors can sometimes get away with misconduct as it is extremely difficult to prove that misconduct had actually taken place. Often times the prosecutor is viewed as being on the side of justice and as a result it is difficult for the defendant (who is accused of a crime) to turn the tide against the prosecution. Although during the trial both the defense as well as the judge may report a prosecutor for misconduct, this rarely happens as these reports are often dismissed. This is because as long as the prosecutions misconduct does not affect the outcome of the case, then it is tolerated, meaning that a prosecutor can harass a witness or the defendant so long as the harassment did not have anything to do with the outcome of the trial. The fact that the prosecutor works in the interests of the state can be seen as the underlying factor here.
(Hallam et al. 2005: 56) Some crimes however are not reported because the victim may be intimidated by the person responsible for the crime, or they may not have faith in the police to pursue the crime if they do report it. Other victims of crime may not report it as they feel that the crime is too minor, or that the police will think it is too minor to pursue. A large amount of sexual crime goes unreported because the victim is either too shocked, afraid or embarrassed. Police can use their discretion as to whether or not an incident is worth reporting, they have to decide if the incident is serious
They have the ability to affect how much crime is recorded, based on how they record their activities. Some crimes are not accounted for because depending on the consequence and who is doing the offending, particularly minors, they may be under counted for because the officer is either overloaded with cases and
The criminal activity tied to these gangs bring negative effects to places that may not have seen gang activity previously, such as more crime and poverty, drug abuse, illegal immigrants, etc. Data needed to analyze street gangs and growth of these organizations is statistics of the gang members. Info such as number of members, crimes committed (types of crime and number of crimes), sets and affiliated gangs, rivals gangs. Demographics would also be helpful; race, age, residency etc. This data is difficult to obtain because illegal activity can be very hard to track, especially with the secrecy in which gangs operate.
Sometimes people feel the defendant has too many rights and has more benefits, which could help them get away with criminal activity. All these points are valid, but they are forgetting about the rights of people and what they stand for. I would think people would want defendants to be punished fairly and not have an opening, where they could possible get their case dropped because of something illegal done on the prosecution or law enforcement
Further, because most hate-crime legislation puts added effort into prosecuting crimes against certain individuals or groups, what about the same crimes committed against someone who doesn't fit into one of those groups? Will the crime be prosecuted to the same extent? If not, you're making things worse for the majority, who are likely to feel underprotected. If the problem is that too many people (of any group) are being mugged, or assaulted, or their belongings vandalized, you should put more effort into prosecuting muggings, assaults, or vandalism. Not to protect any one group, but to protect all
What are crime hot spots? How do we recognize them? A hot spot is an area where crime is prevalent and likely to occur. However, not all of the time, does crime exist in a given area that is anticipated to be a hotspot. So any definition of hot spots has to be qualified.
The youths that are being tried in the adult courts should be offered to better themselves as for they are not fully developed at the ages under eighteen. Punishing a teen by taking away their rights for life is not helping the betterment of society. Another person in prison means more local taxes for another set of clothing, more food, and occasionally, more space to be built. A psychologist could benefit from these children who caused trouble, especially if the trouble was un intentional. Juveniles have greater possibility than adults to make a change in their lives with the right help with counseling and rehabilitation.
Social inequality based on cultural practices is much more prevalent however. Without making a judgment as to which culture is better, because honestly, it is unacceptable to make value judgments about another culture, it is still possible to see that some cultures are more steeped in crime than others. Whether or not some of these cultures, such as gang culture, were led to crime by societal marginalization or were marginalized by the crime they committed is beyond the scope of this essay. However, it is