Another example of how statistics from the police and statistics from victim surveys are different is because not all victims report crime to the police for many reasons and therefore create what’s called “the dark figure” (The number of crimes that go un-reported, we have no idea how big or small this number is). One last example of how they differ is that the victims are left to classify the crimes that they have been fallen victim to, which means that the classification may be wrong changing the statistics, whereas the recorded crimes get classified by the police. The advantages for using victim surveys to studying patterns of crime are: able to triangulate the accuracy of official statistics; may be more valid, as official procedures don’t have to be followed and victims have their own say; victims more likely to respond due to no fear of reprisal; can estimate the overall levels of crime, as unreported crimes are included; they have a high rate of comparability. These reasons allow us to see all of the advantages for helping to decide how useful victim surveys are in understanding patterns of crime. The disadvantages for using victim surveys to studying patterns of crime are: Not all
He dismisses this argument by listing other activities that could be harmful to an individual such as smoking tobacco, riding motorcycles, and having unprotected sex. This comparison makes the idea of prohibiting these activities because they are harmful to the individual participating in them seem rather ridiculous. Basically, illegal drugs CAN be harmful to a user; at the same time, smoking tobacco IS harmful to a user, yet smoking cigarettes is perfectly legal. I think Huemer’s argument effectively defeats the prohibitionists’ standpoint that drugs should be outlawed because they are harmful to the user. Second, the author addresses the prohibitionist argument that illegal drugs cause harm to people around the user as well.
The intoxication model suggests that individuals will not use rational thought while intoxicated which leads to the addiction model which states that crimes are committed so the addict can support the habit (WSSAC,2009) The systemic model states that crime occurs when the participant of the drug trade sales the drug. For instance, the use of drugs influences criminal behavior while the distribution of illegal products is a crime. Last is legal model. In this model the individual choices to either abide by the laws that have been enacted to address drug use, possession, and distribution or the person can choice the path that breaks these laws. The war on drugs has become top priority for justice members.
Student Professor English 305 6 November 2009 I Say No To Hate Crime Laws Hate crimes are an irrational, ignorant and cowardly expression of desperation. A person who commits a hate crime is desperate to feel better, superior and in control. That being said, there should not be special laws and mandatory sentences for people who commit these heinous acts of violence because they do not accomplish the goals of eradicating or deterring bigotry. If we, as a society, put special laws and punishments into our legal system, we are unequivocally saying that the motive of these acts is more important than the intent or outcome of these crimes. I do not believe this is true nor do I feel that this is the position of the majority of people in
Crime Statistics “Crime statistics is an attempt to provide statistical measures of the crime in societies.” Unfortunately, because some crime is secretive, some unknown because they are never reported, therefore the results become very inaccurate. There are several ways on how these statistics are received, such as, hospital of insurance records, household surveys, and reports for several law enforcement agencies. Many countries gather their statistical crime information and it becomes of interest to international organizations such as, Interpol and the United Nations. Places like the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Home Office in England & Whales, are the agencies that publish these crime statistics and compile the statistics based on the different crimes that have been reported. Statistics are usually collected on based on three categories: Offenses, the breach of law; Offenders, those who commit the offenses; and the victims, the ones who are offended against.
That usually means reverting to street crimes. These crimes include burglary, vandalism, and selling drugs. Those individuals feel that street crime is the only way they will obtain material success. Merton's theory may stand true when comparing social status with street crime; however, his theory becomes weak when the crimes include white-collar and business crimes. Therefore, Merton's theory has become an “anomie theory”.
The argument that a person has the right to sell their body, for whatever means, and that prostitution should be legalized is not, in fact, very justifiable. The good of the people should come before the good of an individual, just as a drug dealer gets his own drugs legally and they are rightfully his, he cannot sell them to some halfwit kid on the street, the law is there to protect people and, in theory, deter them from doing the deplorable act in the first place. Prostitution is illegal to protect and deter others from risks such as, sexually transmitted diseases, being owned and possibly beaten by a pimp or “procuror of prostitutes”, the many drugs commonly found in that line of buisiness, unwanted pregnancys, and subsequently unwanted child support obligations. Those are the types of things that should not be looked at as “occupational hazard”, children should never be born into a world where they are unwanted and are forced to suffer for the decisions of their parents. Another strong argument is that legalized prostitution allows for more tax revenue, a “safer” environment for the
Are official statistics a reliable source of information about crime in Britain? Official criminal statistics are defined as “Statistical data compiled by the police and the courts and routinely published by governments as indices of the extent of crime” (Munchie, 2001, p194). “The working class, the young males, and members of some ethnic minorities are all more likely to commit crimes than the middle class, the elderly, females and whites – according to official statistics”. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004, p338). In assessing the question “Are official statistics a reliable source of information about crime in Britain?” several factors will be considered: including how the statistics are collected, the divide between males and females in crime statistics, the over representation of ethnic minorities and any problems in looking at the true extent of crime using statistics as an indicator for this.
It's also wrong. While young people must be held accountable for serious crimes, the juvenile justice system exists for precisely that purpose. Funneling more youth into the adult system does no good and much harm. Juveniles are not adults, and saying so doesn't make it so. Besides, we don't really mean it: When we try them in criminal court, we do not deem them adults for other purposes, such as voting and drinking.
When I did get caught up in the legal system, the first question my attorney asked was, “Are you an addict?” He further explained that if I was on drugs when I committed my crime, the District Attorney would be willing to make a deal for less jail time. The reasoning was that by being an addict I was not responsible for my actions, due to the fact that I was under the influence of a narcotic. The basic relationship between drug use and crime is simple. It is a crime to possess, manufacture, or distribute any drugs with a high potential for abuse such as marijuana, heroin, and methamphetamine. It is also illegal to drive while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.