Criminology Theories

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Recommended: criminology theories in chapter 10

Crime has become a major issue of public concern and of political discussion. We do not fully understand what factors are causing these crime trends, nor do we know what direction in which crime rates are moving. “Understanding what factors are influencing these crime trends are important for enhancing the rationality of public policies and public expenditures related to crime, particularly because many such commitments have to be made well in advance of their actual use” (Blumstein, 2008). These include, for example, recruiting and training police forces, building prisons, and developing other interventions outside the criminal justice system. It’s easy to see what the contributing factors are when the crime stats are elevated, those contributing factors are loss in job opportunities for young people with minimal education, a loss in social services as a result of federal funding cuts, reductions in the size of police forces, diversion of police attention to terrorism issues, slower growth in the prison population, and diminished attention to gun control (Blumstein, 2008). If we take a look at the crime statistics for the state of Arizona over the last five years from 2007 to 2012 you’ll notice that the population has slightly increased by 200,000 more people but the violent crimes have decreased. The statistics on murder show that in 2007 there were 548 murders and in 2012 there were only 358, this is a 35 percent decrease over the last 5 years. Since the population has increased slightly you would think that the violent crimes like murder would go up or at least stay the same.
Arizona especially the City of Phoenix has a lot of crime being committed due to the high population of illegal Immigrants that are coming from Mexi...

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...it is less likely that the graffiti will be put back up on the same place (City of phoenix). City of Phoenix also offers Crime Free Multi-Housing Program which is designed to help residents, owners, and the managers of rental property keep drugs and other illegal activity off their property. By working with the police they are able to have a residential apartment housing that is crime free, property value does not go down, you can trust your neighbors, and the curb appeal help repel criminal activity (City of phoenix).

Works Cited

Akers, R. (2013 ). Criminological theories: Introduction and evaluation. (2nd ed.). Routledge:

Arizona department of education. (2014). School safety program. Retrieved from http://www.azed.gov/prevention-programs/school-safety-program/

Blumstein, A. (2008). Understanding crime trends. The National Academies press: Washington, DC.

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