However we must be aware that these official statistics are not accurate due to the selective law enforcement, where men are targeted more often as they fit the stereotype of a criminal which leads onto the chivalry factor where men have protective attitudes towards women. Therefore the Criminal Justice System treat women more leniently thus their crime is less likely to end up in official statistics; hence some sociologists argue official statistics underestimate the amount of female crime. Typically female crimes such as shoplifting are less likely to be reported. Similarly prostitution, committed by more women is more likely to go unreported. Even when women’s crimes are reported they’re less likely to be prosecuted or be let off lightly.
In the article “The Power of Context”, Malcolm Gladwell theorizes that context, or external pressure, contributes much more to an individual’s behavior than previously thought. The context that Gladwell refers to can be defined by the situation an individual is in. Within a particular situation there are influencing factors, such as people or the environment that he or she is surrounded by. He further argues that his concepts, such as the Broken Windows Theory, are the main reasons for the dramatic fall of crime rates in New York during the 1990s. In this case, the broken window is a signal that the community in New York was neglected, causing others to commit other types of crimes too.
The media portray criminals and victims as older and more middle class than those found typically in the criminal justice system. Felson (1998) calls this the age fallacy. Media coverage exaggerates police success in clearing up cases. This is partly because the police are a major source of crime stories and want to present themselves in a good light and partly because the media over represent violent crime which has higher clear up rates than property crime. The media exaggerate the risk of victimisation especially to women, higher status individuals and whites.
Assess Sociological Explanations for Gender Differences in Crime and Deviance Official crime statistics show that men much more likely to commit crimes than women and there is also a difference in the types of crimes each gender is more likely to commit – women committing shoplifting and men committing more violent crimes. There have been numerous different explanations for gender differences in crime including the chivalry thesis, sex role theory, control theory, and the liberation thesis. However, the official crime statistics are largely questioned by sociologists because it has been argued that they only show the criminal justice system’s view that men are more likely to commit the crimes and therefore they look more for male criminals rather than female ones. The chivalry thesis argue that these official statistics are unrepresentative due to the fact that most of the criminal justice agents – such as police officers, judges or magistrates – are men and they are more likely to treat women in a chivalrous way and therefore be more likely to convict men than women. The main idea of the chivalry thesis is this prospect that men are socialised to act in a way more chivalrous – or gentlemanly – toward women so they end up convicting men more than women.
Right realists believe that crime is not a social construction as other theories such as the labelling theory believe they believe it is a real problem. Official statistics show an increase in violence against the person’s offences of 1% and an increase of 25% in sexual offences against girls. Right realists state crime destroys communities as well as threatens work ethic in today society, this view is shared with neo conservatives. As stated in item A James Q Wilson states that crime is a result of biological differences, some people are more biologically predisposition to commit crime. Eysenck’s personality theory states criminal behaviour is a result of genetics and the nervous system.
English Composition Assignment 5: Persuasive Paper Part 3: Possible Disadvantages, Answers, with Visuals DUI Laws for a Safer State and Country Professor Maria Merrills Christopher Casselman 08/30/2012 DUI Laws for a Safer State and Country The amount of deaths in this state and country caused by DUI repeat offenders increase on a yearly basis. Innocent people are put at risk daily because the laws governing DUI charges do not do enough to deter offenders from repeating the crime. Therefore, there is a great need for change in DUI (Driving Under the Influence) laws in not only North Carolina, but also the country. The laws themselves are not necessarily the issue; it is the penalties for breaking them. The penalties for drunk driving need to be a lot harsher than they are currently.
At a bare minimum, these are the scaled down achievements of sought after success and social mobility to be attained by the under-classed. As for those who pursue illegitimate structure models, the hopes of acquiring success through the means of monetary benefit are at a much higher success rate. Unfortunately, as demonstrated in Favela Rising (Zimbalist, Mochary, 2005), due to the high level of danger associated with gang affiliations, the average life expectancy of a gang member is dropped substantially to that of approximately 14-16 years old. It appears that in a community of epidemic poverty, people are more tempted to adapt in the most detrimental of ways in order to acquire any resemblance of success that society deems as being a favourable attribute. Merton's fourth type of individual adaption is retreatism.
City Demographics and Crime Profile Heide M. Banks, Shayla Blair, Neil Lammons, Daniel Stevens, Maria Torres AJS/542 April 14, 2014 Marcela Morales Abstract The effects of crime are serious for a society. Unfortunately, most cities and towns in the United States experience some form of illicit behavior by their citizens. Information concerning the number of vandalisms, burglaries, assaults, and murders of an area can sway prospective buyers from purchasing homes or businesses from settling in a select community. Some believe that urban areas struggle with higher crime rates than suburban areas. Historically, crowded, low-income neighborhoods were thought of as crime capitals.
This is especially needed in Lancaster City where there are so many random robberies and shootings on the streets. I think awareness of this problem should also be increased. I don’t think many people are aware to how high the actual crime rate is in Lancaster. I knew it was pretty bad when I started my research, but I had no idea how badly we
This means that their crimes, such as poisoning and infanticide, are less easily uncovered (item A) leading to women being underrepresented in criminal statistics. The chivalry thesis claims that women will be treated more leniently for committing certain crimes, generally shoplifting is often associated more with females than males, but the statistics suggest that males commit many more acts of theft than women, and this may be because females are let off with a warning rather than a conviction. This could be because the statistics of crime are so male dominated; a police officer may not think convicting a woman of petty theft is worth it. Similarly, men are more likely to be convicted of theft because the criminal justice system seemingly victimises males over females, while it is probably more likely that males are more likely to commit crime than females, the gap between the crime rates according to gender may not be as large as first assumed. It is also possible that female occurrences of shoplifting, as Pollak argues, never even come to the attention of the authorities, again because more often than