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Myths In The Criminal Justice System Have Plagued The Public

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Myths in the Criminal Justice system have plagued the public for years, and can be detrimental, even on a State level. In New York State, the myth that the state is more dangerous than it has ever been can lead to other myths being believed which can turn into poor policy such as the “get tough” approach. By comparing New York State data to data from Canada, the effectiveness of this myth can be debunked and disproven.
In order to discuss the myths surrounding violent crime in New York State, understanding the current data and trends is essential. To establish the general consensus of what people think about violent crime in New York State, I conducted a small poll of people in my area. In essence, the aim was to see whether or not …show more content…

Due to the conflicting approaches between NYS and Canada on handling crime, I felt Canada was a good choice for this comparison. Canada in 1975 showed an even lower crime rate than NYS (see figure 1) but also peaked around the same years that NYS did (See figure 2 and 3 for visual comparison), with Canada’s highest violent crime rate in the range of dates falling in 1993 at 1082. Canada’s last data year was 2013, with a crime rate of 766. At first glance, the drop doesn’t seem as strong as the one NYS made, however, this is a significant decrease from years before, with the drop between 2012-2013 at 75. In NYS, the drop between 2013-2014 was only 12 (See figure 1). Additionally, the violent crime rate for NYS seems to be leveling out (see figure 2), whereas the violent crime rate for Canada appears to be starting to drop significantly (see figure 3). Overall, however, violent crime rates have dropped significantly for both areas since the 1990s, the peak rate of crime for both areas in this range of dates.
With this in mind, Canada and NYS are diversely different in their approach to crime. Knowing that both areas have experienced a drop in crime rate, it can be concluded that both areas are safe. Nevertheless, the areas didn’t reach these drops the same way. New York State is known for its “get tough” approach to crime, while Canada is known for

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