Crime: A Popular Genre in Literature and Films

Crime is often described as socially constructed, which influences our understanding of who commits a crime. Firstly, labelling theorists argue that crime is a social construction based on the powerful’s reaction to certain behaviour, those who are deviant are people that have been labelled as such. Marxists claim the bourgeoise construct crime in order to criminalise the proletariat, get away with their own deviance and maintain their own dominance. Neo-marxists look at how moral panics create a social construction of crime and can criminalise certain groups. Finally, feminists, argue crime is constructed in a patriarchal way and that the criminal justice system is harsher to female offenders. Whereas others criticise these theories for

In cities like Baltimore, Maryland, and Chicago, the worst cities for urban youth, teen crime is not extraordinary. The poverty-ridden towns further provide reason and excuse for crime. Now this can be caused by many things, but the key ones are for money to provide basic needs and a way to obtain material goods that could not be obtained lawfully. In “The Other Wes Moore” by Wes Moore, two impoverished teens growing up in Baltimore experience very different lives, one will find himself on top of the world, and the other far below in a state prison.

“The third stage of narrative development was characterized by the appearance of rogues… relying on cleverness more than force, and motivated more by profits than by passion” (Williams 14). Rogues defied whatever came in between their pursuit, whether it be law or authority (Williams 14). In the third stage of criminal literature, the protagonists were all rogues despite of their unlawfully ways, they “aroused reader sympathy” (Williams 16). Williams described these rogues as “outsiders, existing apart from the social structure either by choice or by fate” (William 16). He also described these rogues as “individualistic, opportunistic, self-reliant” as well as “defiant of authority and entirely free” (Williams 16). William argues that the evolution of these narratives took place in three stages: the first being the “early execution sermons and final confessions”, the second being “the incomplete narratives of life and, finally the full length rogue narrative” (Williams 17). Williams’ article describes how criminal literature changed from “promoting obedience, [to] encouraged defiance” (Williams

Different states in America have varying demographics when it comes to race, income, joblessness, and more, and states also vary when it comes to crime rates. The relationships between economic factors and crime rates are not direct, for example, Alaska has had the 3rd highest median house income but also has had some of the highest violent crime rates in the country. Being able to predict crime rates in a geographical area such as a state is important for public policy and law enforcement regarding making informed decisions. These decisions can help create efficient anti-crime policies. The United States of America was used as the geographical unit of study excluding Alaska, New Jersey, and Hawaii due to missing data. This paper examines which factors related to economics and demographics are linked to the crime rate. Inequality has been theorized to increase crime rates due to ecological factor of crime (Merton, 1938; Shaw & McKay, 1942; Becker, 1968). Certain factors including race are more prevalently associated with inequalities which is why they are included in the analysis.

“Genres are not systems, they are a process of systematisation.”(Neale 1980). Genres are both a method of nomenclature, dividing literature according to its style, subject and context. Genre constantly re-imagines, challenges, and expands its boundaries to reflect zeitgeist of the society at the time and to become a barometer of the social and cultural concerns of the audience. Likewise, crime fiction as a genre has evolved from traditional conventions. Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window and Cornell Woolrich's It had to be Murder, whilst obeying and selectively utilising a few original conventions, manifest the ideology and social concerns of the postwar 1950s society in aspects of the modus operandi of the investigation, gender roles and the shift

Crime can be defined as any action or omission which constitutes an offence and is punishable by law. The representations of crime in fiction has developed and changed dramatically over centuries according to shifts in values and perceptions. Each of the three texts Snow Falling on Cedars, Oceans 11 and Shift , explore different aspects of crime, centred around the duality of good and evil through the redefinition of justice. Societies are always changing. This means that texts will always embody different values according to their context and can influence the meaning and message of the texts.

In today’s culture we seem to find ourselves wanting to watch more and more crime movies and television shows. In an article on The Daily Dot by S.E. Smith, he asks the question “Why are we glamorizing police brutality on television?” Smith goes on to say that: “Culturally, we’re fascinated by law enforcement. Long before Telecrime and the later Telecrimes, people were ravenously consuming penny dreadfuls, procedural serials, and detective novels. The police and law enforcement genre dominates pop culture to this day, from the mystery section of the bookstore to every night on television; at any given time, some network is airing a law enforcement show.”

Ager, A W. Crime and Poverty in 19th-Century England: The Economy of Makeshifts., 2014. Print.

Crime fiction is the genre that focuses on crimes as well as the criminals, and their motives. It has several subgenres, including detective fiction, police procedural, and hard-boiled fiction and they interlink and open to interpretation by the reader. Suspense and mystery are essential elements that are omnipresent to the crime genre. In most crime fictions, it’s based normally on a murder, the investigation, and ends with the outcome, which mostly ends with the criminal’s arrest or death. In this essay, I’ll be discussing the different type of subgenres within the crime genre i.e. classic crime, police procedural and hard boiled crimes. As well as stories from Edwards, Isla, Vergara and Diaz-Etervoic, which supports these subgenres to give

The human race remembers people in history who fought for something they believed in. For example, both Neapolitan Bonaparte and George Washington killed other people in battle, because they had something that they believed worthy to fight for regardless of the established and universal law against killing. In Raskolnikov`s words from Crime and Punishment, they were extraordinary men. These men, according to Raskolnikov, had the right to commit any crime, because they were leading ordinary people into a new and improved society, without any moral repercussions. In Fyrodor Doveskey`s, Crime and Punishment, his character Raskolnikov`s argument of the extraordinary man versus the ordinary man,

Crime is a social construction, and behaviour defined as criminal varies across time and place. Crime is an act that violate moral behaviour, but why is that not all behaviours that violate moral behaviour are labelled as crime? This is because crime is defined differently across different societies and different times. Neutralisation and drift theory helps us to explain why people abuse children by showing us how perpetrators rationalise their guilt for these actions before they physically, sexually, emotionally abuse or neglect children. They do this by blaming their actions on other people, higher forces or believing their acts are harmless. In this essay I will begin by talking about crime as a social construction then touch on child abuse in New Zealand followed by a discussion of how my social contract theory helps us to explain this crime.

a. Imagine asking 100 strangers to describe a criminal. Predict whether those descriptions would be likely to focus on street criminals, or the variety of topics covered in this video.

Jones, we are on the same page when it comes to American culture that promotes crime against women. In fact, there are a lot of elements starting from movies, T.V shows, and down to Hip-hop music videos where women bodies are shown with no dignity. And to worsting it all, the musicians calls  the ladies all kinds of inappropriate names ( Bad and Boujee) throw money on their body while the females torques and dance like people that doesn't have a common sense. Jones, I disagree with you on the grand that you stated  people should live their life any how they want. My question to you is this, have you noticed that more jails are built  here in Baltimore including the juvenile facility that is almost finished in Green Mountain Ave downtown

Hard boiled genre is a mystery that contains graphic details of the crimes committed, which are sometimes violent in their nature. These stories often contain psychopaths and have detectives with deeply flawed personalities. Within this environment, many stories have emerged about private detectives or PI’s. No actual mystery ever existed; they revolve around justice being served to those who deserved this treatment explicitly. In the 1930s, the genre was adopted by writers such as Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler in their works. Their style of fiction embraces stories with similar attitudes concentrating not on detectives but gangsters or victims of crimes, yet they wrote from the point of view of a protagonist who is a lone private

There are many perceptions of what defines crime. The definitions appear to change throughout history and are still changing today (Henry, S. and Lanier, M. M., 2001 ,p.139). For example, in the past marital rape was not considered a crime as it was thought that women were believed to be “sexual property” of the male and, therefore it couldn’t be classed as rape (Brownmiller, 1975, cited by Bergen, R.K., 1996, p.3). However, in the United States in 1978 a man was convicted of rape on his wife (Russell, 1990, cited by Bergen, R.K., 1996, p.4). This shows how it is hard to define crime due to the changes in views over time. Different cultures also have different perceptions of what is, or is not considered to be a crime. For example,