Crime Case Study

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There are multiple crime television shows that are based on a true story or fiction. A well known television show is Law and Order Special Victims Unit, which deals with rape and assault cases. This particular episode deals with a domestic violence case between a retired football star, AJ Martin, and his girlfriend, Paula Bryant. I will be using the National Crime Victimization Survey, which is an interview with the members in a household about reported and unreported crime that occurred within the last six months. “NVCS provides information of characteristics of victims, including age, race, ethnicity, gender, marital status and household income” (Truman and Morgan). Official statistics like the NCVS would be used for comparing its demographics …show more content…

In the United States, domestic violence is not the most frequent type of violent crime, but it occurs frequently. According to the NCVS, in the United States, domestic violence has the third highest violent crime rate, which is about 21% for all violent crime. In this episode of Law and Order S.V.U., the video footage showed that the couple, Martin and Bryant, were arguing and he punched his girlfriend in the face and left her unconscious while dragging her body into the car. When they were both asked about the video footage, Martin said he was drinking too much that night, and she responded that it was her fault that she tripped and fell on her face. This is very common for victims of domestic violence to blame themselves. Law and Order S.V.U. explains that victims of domestic violence fear to report their abuser since the abuser are their only support system or they are emotionally dependant on their abuser or in her case, in a relationship with the abuser. Referring back to the NCVS reports, when comparing domestic violence and the victim-offender relationship, intimate partners is accounted for about 15 percent of all domestic violent crimes. Current or …show more content…

Ray Rice was a NFL player who was seen on a video footage punching his fiancee, Janay Palmer, in the face and dragging her unconscious body out of the elevator. Rice was terminated by the Baltimore Ravens after the video was released to the public. He was arrested and indicted for third degree aggravated assault. Until this day no NFL teams are interested in allowing him on the team because of his domestic violence incident. Just as the Ray Rice, Martin was found guilty and charged with reckless endangerment. This domestic violence case prove the NCVS statistics correct because the demographics are similar: an African American woman, mid 30s, punched in the face by her fiancee. Also, it shows that this type of crime is relevant in the United States. Especially if it was ripped from the headlines and used in a popular crime television

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