Myths And Reality Of Crime 2

Assess the view that the process of globalization has led to changes in both the amount of crime and the types of crime committed.

In the book The Jefferson County Egan Murders a n actual murder took place on December 31st (January 1st ) 1964-1965. Suspect Joe Leone was in fact jailed in connection with the murders. Peter Egan (27), Barbara Egan (24) and Gerald Egan (19) planned on celebrating New Year’s Eve with friends at a local bowling alley, but before they did they went to do something illegal. But in the waning hours of 1964, the three were found dead, all with two bullets fired into their heads.

Their last victim was Kristen French she was 15 years old and walking through St Catherines when she was abducted at knifepoint. This was the couple’s biggest mistake that lead to them getting caught as there were several eye-witnesses that vaguely described Paul, Karla and their car. Like the other two victims her rape and torture was recorded and then she was either strangled or beaten with a rubber mallet depending on whose story you believe. Her naked body was dumped in a street. She died on the 16th April, 1992.

The first stranglings took place on took place on January 15th, 1974. Joseph Otero and his wife, Julie Otero were strangled in there living room. There daughter Josephine and housekeeper were found strangled in a bedroom and there son Joseph Otero was found strangled in the basement . The BTK strangler took the blame for it. He sent pictures and things he stole from the Otero family. Police knew it was him because know pictures were taken at the crime scene and the only person who would of had pictures was the murdered. On April 4th, 1974 Kathryn Bright who was 21 years old was stabbed to death in her home, police later concluded that it was a BTK victim. On March 17th, 1977, Shirley Vian was found strangled, and tied up in the basement of her home. On December 8th, 1977 Nancy Fox ,25, was found tied up and strangled in her home. The killer's voice is captured on tape when he calls the police to report the crime. On April 28th, 1979, Rader waits in the basement of a 63 year old ladies home. She decided to stay the night with a friend and Rader leaves. The next day he wrote her a letter telling her about how he was waiting for her. On September 16th, 1986 the final victim Vickie Wegerle was strangled in her home.

Crime is the product of the social structure; it is embedded in the very fibres of society. In this essay, I aim to explore different theories as to why crime exists within society and how we as a society therefore construct it. Crime is a social construct; it is always in society and is on the increase. It is inevitable. Where does it come from? It comes from legislation, from the making of laws.

1. The theories and perspectives in this unit focus on the environmental and social influence of crime. Do you think that environmental and social conditions influence crime? Why or why not? Between biological, psychological, and social factors, which one do you think plays the biggest role in crime? Why?

Crime as a social construction is the idea that reality is created in our minds. What we perceive something to be ends up to be what it is. Crime, often described as deviance is a labelled behaviour. If one does not view an action as deviant at the time then it is not deviant, this shows us how deviance is a relative concept. In terms of how different people perceive crime, depending on what religious or ethnic backgrounds one may come from, there is heavy variation between individuals. What is illegal or legal in one culture can be very different in another culture. It can

Crime is a social construct because it is an idea that is established by a society to control the behaviors of the people within the society (“Radical Concept of Crime”). What is considered to be criminal varies within different area and cultures and even time. Things that were legal two hundred years ago are illegal now. For example, in the 18th and 19th century when slavery was allowed in America, there were a lot of people who saw nothing wrong with it because they had been socialized to accept and justify it. If you ask most Americans now about slavery, they would say that it was a tragedy or that they just cannot understand how it happened. This is because we are now being socialized to think of slavery as wrong. Even though many citizens

Crime is a socially constructed phenomenon. It is not static but dynamic and is defined into existence. It changes over time and place. For example, early definitions of crime such as classicism defined individuals as rational, free and responsible for their own actions. The emergence of positivism was an attempt to bring scientific methodology to criminology. Positivists believe in objectively quantifying cause and effect. In the early twentieth century a sociological lens was applied. Functionalist sociologists such as Durkheim argued that crime had a positive function for society by reinforcing societal norms and values (Ziyanak and Williams 2014). Anomie and strain theory proposed later by Robert Merton examined how poorer classes experienced frustration through lack of opportunities leading to strain. There are many others including labelling, control and cultural deviance, however; this shows that our understanding of criminology is not static and like crime itself it changes over time and place.

First off, there have been ample amounts of disapproval in relation to the general theory of crime, because many scholars feel that Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) failed to include the

This question focuses on crime and its measurement which is one of the most controversial topics in modern times. There has been a lot of debates by politicians, the media and the general public whether crime is falling or rising. We shall attempt a definition of what is crime, what are crime statistics, what is known and not known about crime in England and Wales, the techniques used in measuring crime, and the evaluation of the strength and weaknesses of the different ways of measuring crime. Our final discussion will be on the reliability of the statistical data and the criminologists view or perspective of the various data sources.

Crime and criminal activity in general are viewed in many different ways. The opinion and outlook of crime differs in the view of the public, the victim, and for law enforcement. Overall, the public opposes

1. Which theory discussed in the lesson do you think best explains why crime happens? Why do you think that this theory is best?

Hollin, C. ( 1989, pp.4-8) explains that “crime cannot be explained solely by psychological theory” and therefore goes on to state three main approaches which attempts to explain what crime is. He also notes that there are of course more explanations than those given therefore again suggesting there is no one definition of ‘What is Crime’. One idea which Hollin states is the “consensus view”. This idea suggests that crime is defined differently in different societies due to what is the social norm. Crime is then defined within this view as an action which the majority disapprove of.

Many people have different theories as to why crime exists. Some believe crime happens because of the individual’s culture, education (or lack there of), or even their race. Others believe crime is associated with whom we surround ourselves with. There are three sociological theories that suggest why crime happens in society; they are social learning theory, social control theory, and social reaction (labeling) theory. These theories suggest it is our relationships and social interactions that influence our behavior.