Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Why fear of crime is more important than crime itself
Weaknesses of fear of crime
Weaknesses of fear of crime
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
One of the factors involved in crime policy making progress is the public opinion of crime which is evaluated by surveys and opinion polls conducted by government, interest groups. Collecting information through these studies create new visions about the influence of policies. Opinion polls and surveys also serve as standards and references for future plans. In most cases, public opinion decides the priority of the public and have the government take necessary actions about these priorities.
Recent studies of public opinion on crime and punishment include important and surprising information. The most critical discoveries are the following:
The society is mainly misinformed on crime and criminal justice policy.
Public opinion is more
…show more content…
Criminological researches which were made for a couple of decades have formulated an assortment of definitions for fear of crime. However, academics agree that fear of crime associates feelings, thoughts, and beliefs.
Arguments about this topic have expanded within and outside of the borders of criminology about definition of crime of fear, the rationality or irrationality of it, which groups are most fearful of crime and the reasons, and how to measure it.
Fear of crime is a very widespread issue today. Large numbers of people in society states fear about crime, and about being a victim. The level of fear that a person carries depends on many elements, as well as, gender, age, past experiences with crime , neighborhood one lives and one's background. All of these elements have an effect on fear ranking.
Gender is the strongest determining factor of fear. Women have greater fear of crime than men and their fear of crime come into being mainly vulnerability of them.
When it comes to age, we may assume that the elderly are afraid mostly and for mugging and break and enters this assumption is true. But, on the other hand, crimes like rape, sexual assault , it is known that younger people tend to be more
Akers, R, & Sellers, C. (2009). Criminological theories: introduction, evaluation, and application. New York: Oxford University Press, USA.
According to RAINN, (2009) approximately 10 per cent of all victims of sexual assault and abuse are adult and juvenile males. In terms of the nature of assault, real figures include a compendium of reported incidents ranging from unwanted sexual touching to forced penetration. To qualify this statement, it must be understood that the percentage does not reflect a vast number of crimes that go unreported due to issues that will be discussed in the present paper.
The social construction of myths of crime and criminal justice seems to follow a series of recurrent patterns. These patterns allow for an unprecedented amount of social attention to be focused upon a few isolated criminal events or issues. This attention is promoted by intense, but often brief, mass media coverage of a select problem. Intense social concern of an issue is achieved by a variety of means from the mass media, government, law enforcement officials, interpersonal communications, and the interests of reform groups whom all play major roles in focusing the publics attention on select so...
For decades, researchers have tried to determine why crime rates are stronger and why different crimes occur more often in different locations. Certain crimes are more prevalent in urban areas for several reasons (Steven D. Levitt, 1998, 61). Population, ethnicity, and inequality all contribute to the more popular urban. Determining why certain crimes occur more often than others is important in Criminal Justice so researchers can find a trend and the police can find a solution (Rodrigo R. Soares, 2004, 851). The Uniform Crime Reports are a method in which the government collects data, and monitors criminal activity in the United States (Rodrigo R. Soares, 2004, 851). They have both positive and negative attributes that have influenced
The article for discussion this week regarding “Policing and the Fear of Crime” touched on the significant factors that reference the fear of crime. The article first addresses how people feel about crime in their community. Then it progresses the analysis fear from a collection of data and concepts retrieved from research, surveys, and polls. There was an evaluation done in the seventies and eighties, which showed an overwhelming percentage of people who were fearful of becoming victims of violent crimes. There was data retrieved from polls that suggested people were even limiting their activities because they felt uneasy about walking down the street. The sense of fear traveled across different ages, sexes, and professions. The least frightened group individuals were young men, and the most scared were senior women (Moore & Trojanowicz, 1988). There were also variables such as race, class, and residence that altered the public’s perception about fear of violence. The researchers investigated participants who felt as thou if they were ever to acquire wealth and status, their fears of being victims of crime would reduce dramatically. Next, the article addressed what causes someone to become fearful. It was the possibility of actually becoming a victim of a crime which was a considerable influence on person’s fear of crime. There are also the factors of hearsay information about victimization traveling through word of mouth and social networks that cause people to become fearful. While I was assigned to the Gang Unit, people would always ask the questions about the rumors that get passed around about gangs targeting specific individuals for initiations around certain days and times. During my time on the unit,
Howard, John. "Fear of Crime." John Howard Society of Alberta. Ed. Stephanie L. Lowe. N.p., 1999. Web. 9 Nov. 2015. .
Chockalingam and Murugesan (2009), conducted research to test the subsequent hypotheses: (1) fear of crime victimization is reliant on the country in one resides; (2) socio-demographic characteristics affect fear of crime victimization; (3) economic status affects fear of crime victimization; and (4) prior experience of victimization affects fear of crime victimization. Chockalingam and Murugesan additionally used a questionnaire. They collected from a total sample of 1,440 students: 725 of the pupils were from Chennai, India and 715 of the pupils were from Mito city in Japan. The collection instrument they used included overall 75 items with eight different parts with a majority of the questions being likert point responses (Chockalingam & Murug...
Cause number two, public demands for increased punitive sanctioning, is where the policy makers usually states that they are representation of the “people,” but if we actually think about it they cannot know the wants of the public as a whole, heightened (Mears & Joshua C, 2015). This is a great cause of mass incarceration due to the fact the policy makers took what they were hearing and ran with it, but as stated before they could not have known what the mass majority of the public wanted. This cause can actually vary depending on who the question is asked to and how the question is asked. In cause number three, conservatism, race, moral panics, and the politicization of crimes, possibly the most commonly recognized potential cause for punitive turn in the American criminal justice system is the politicization of crime, (Mears & Joshua C, 2015). However, the changes in crimes does not lead to heightened punitiveness, but instead the rise of the get-tough polices
Despite all of the other options available to criminals, many people believe that punishment is the only answer. However, statistics sho...
Therefore, according to, (Fear, 2014) explains that “Fear of crime can be differentiated into the public feeling, thoughts, and behaviors. The personal risks of criminal victimization, distinctions can also be made between the tendency to see the situation as fear, the actual experience while those situation, and broader expressions about the cultural and social significance of crime and symbol of crime in peoples neighborhood and in their daily, symbolic lives.” The fear of crime however, do make individuals react a certain way. Individual are more aware of their surroundings. Individuals look for the media to report on crime so they can try to protect themselves and their personal
Gulli, C. (2009, 10 19). Fear Factor. Maclean's, 122(40), p. 100. Retrieved April 30, 2014
There are a number of theories of crime. The most prevalent theories are; general social disorganization theory, rational choice, strain theory, biological theory, social control theory and social learning theory. The aforementioned concepts all seek to the answer the question of “why” of crime. Each offer their own unique hypothesis on what drives an individual to commit crime. This writing will provide a cursory overview of the above listed theories.
Crime has diverse effects on society in various ways, shapes or form. These criminal effects are impacted either on an individual basis or a continual basis in our everyday lives. These effects or outcomes, if you will, are prevalent on our streets we live on, the neighborhoods we are in, and even the states that we live in. The end result of crimes in our society has many different physical, financial, and emotional impacts. Among those influenced are the public, the victim, and the Police/Law Enforcement.
(3WEB). Criminology helps to determine what makes criminals to commit crimes. There are many criminology theories that helps criminologist to explain crime and how it occurs. For example, classical theory suggest that people have a free will and or choice whether or not to commit a crime. The positivist theory says that people do not have a free will to whether or not to commit crime. The strain theory suggest that people who have frustration because of the lack of not accomplishing their goals lead them to commit crimes. Why is crime committed? What is crime? There are a lot more theories that criminologist study to answer questions like
It is necessary for criminologists to examine and hypothesize around ecological factors when considering crime and criminality. These factors shape human behavior and have a large effect on their criminality. It could help criminologists identify people who are at-risk of committing a crime, or even being a crime victim. This would allow them to help predict and reduce future