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Forensic Approach To Crime Analysis

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While strictly enforcing existing laws would result in immediate action to reduce crime, at best this approach could only produce short-term results since it does not address the underlying social issues concerning the reasons why certain communities experience high levels of crime. In a peer-review journal article, Acikkol, Mercan, and Ziyalar (2011) take the position that there are two basic approaches to addressing crime, either forensically or socially. In the forensic approach, evidence is gathered, eye-witnesses are interviewed, and a case is made to prosecute the offender. This approach is punitive in nature since it seeks to punish the offender. Law breakers pose a threat to society that must be appropriately addressed, yet the forensic …show more content…

A social approach to crime, as opposed to a forensic approach, seeks to prevent crimes from occurring in the first place. Given that poverty or a lack of resources is a motivating factor in petty crimes, which cannot simply be explained away as acts of greed, are at the root of numerous urban crimes then it would make sense to lift impoverished populations out of poverty. In order to lift people out of poverty, they need access to jobs. In order to qualify, for a job a person needs skills. Skills and training are obtained through opportunities for a quality education. Therefore, cutting back on spending on social programs so that the city's budget can be spent primarily on law enforcement to attempt to stop crime through forensics is misguided penny wise, pound foolish management. According to U.S. Census Data and the Vera Institute of Justice, cited by CNN Money (2016) 40 US States spend more money on incarcerating prisoners than on education. If allocating a larger portion of governmental budgets on law enforcement instead of education or social programs truly worked, then the United States would already have low crimes

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