Douglas On Homicide And Suicide

If homicide and suicide are analyzed through a Douglas point of view, it can be said that both of these violent actions are meaningful communicative acts. In the case of suicide Douglas makes the claim the suicide says something fundamental about a person, it says what kind of person they were. Douglas (1967) suggests that there are different meanings attached to suicides, for instance dying of suicide can provide the individual with the possibility of transforming the substantial self of the actor (284-5). This suggests a transformation, in other words, suicide can be a way to escape their realities and seek a different world. In general, Douglas claims that there are different meanings and motives behind every suicide, and the factors that can motivate an individual to do so, come from social and cultural context

In regard to trying to prevent homicides law enforcement officers have engaged in the broken window theory, or “community policing” where their main focus is to tackle small low-level crimes, in hopes of reducing more serious ones (Roeder, Eisen, Bowling, 65). As stated by Jeffrey Fagan, Franklin E. Zimring, and June Kim, “…broken windows” theories of aggressive enforcement, gun interventions, general increases in police enforcement resources, strategic targeting of police efforts through computer mapping, and precinct-level management accountability for crime trends” (1332). Therefore, the decline in homicide can also be caused by the changes in the drug markets, police response to gun carrying by young males, the economic expansion, and higher gun restrictions, as well as and increase in incarceration (Blumstein, Rivara, Rosenfeld, 505). Therefore, the decline in homicide was a combination of factors that came together, to help the law enforcement authorities prevent and diminish the homicide