Respond to the following prompts, responds should be approximately 200 words EACH and should be thoughtful, substantial, polite and more extensive than a simple "well done" phrase or "I agree." Consider points of agreement, disagreement, assumptions, and value judgments. You do not need to cite if you don't have to.
For this discussion board, think broadly about crime in the United States and potential explanations for trends and patterns. You should respond to the items below, using the class materials (presentations and readings) and drawing upon what you know about the periods in question. You may need to do some additional research to help develop and support your points.
- Provide your immediate reaction or “snap judgment.” When you think about violent crime, which theory do you think provides the best explanation for violence? Why?
- Now, look at the following graph, which shows violent crime rates in the U.S. over time.
You can see that violent crime increased dramatically from the 1960s through the early 1990s. Based on what you now know about criminological theories, and what you know about history (you may need to do some additional research to refresh yourself!), which theory or theories do you think might help explain the massive rise in violent crime? Explain why you think this theory (or these theories) are useful for analyzing this trend. - There’s another major trend you may notice from the above chart. In our lifetimes, violent crime has consistently decreased. In fact, overall, crime has decreased for nearly thirty years, and violent crime rates are as low as they have been since the 1970s. Which theory or theories do you think best explain this decrease in violence? Explain why you think this theory (or these theories) are useful for analyzing this recent trend.
- Ultimately, which of the theories we discussed do you believe is the best overall explanation for violent crime in the 21st century? Assuming this theory is correct, what are the implications for punishment? In other words, what types of punishments would be most effective in reducing crime, if the theory you’ve chosen is accurate?
- As you worked through the materials for this week, what did you find most enlightening or interesting? What questions developed as you completed the readings and watched the presentations?
Prompt 1
1. My immediate reaction of "snap judgment" when it comes to violent crime is: social disorganization and social control. When it comes to social disorganization: every criminal has a different background story, some can come from a abusive childhood, absence of parents, abandoned, living in the streets, traumatic event that occurred in their prepubescent years before coming to adulthood that they have gone through and that their only means of an "escape or release" of that pent up anger, frustration, blaming themselves is to commit violent crimes because they have accustomed to live with that rage and frustration at life. Or it can be the typical average citizen who has not committed a violent crime but they do it while representing an institution. For example, when I think of social disorganization is the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, the officers who took an oath to protect and serve, committed brutal murders under what we tend to think as no reason or maliciously. Social control plays a role because of course, theres a spectrum: first-time offenders they can learn from their consequences by being given a harsh reality check (juvenile centers if they are minors or jail time, community service, probation/parole with their strict rules and limits) by learning they are more likely to be able to control themselves from ever committing another violent crime again. On the flip side, there are the kind of criminal who just does not control themselves to commit violent crimes, they are more impulsive, and so they have a lack of that self-control and we see that a lot (ex: MS-13 gangs).
2. After looking at the graph, they are multiple reasons as to why crime rates were getting higher because within our nation, they were a lot of movements. Beginning in the 1960s, we had our Civil Rights Movement with protests against the rights for women and men of different races, and leaders of such movements were being killed (ex: M.L.K. Jr.) and now recently the emergence of Black Lives Matter movement, and another movement that has been going on through social media is Save our Children movement for those innocent children being sexually abused and the trafficking of children. Also, in the range of 1960s-1970s it was a high rise of drugs and alcohol being on the black markets, which led to many abusing them and then would commit violent crimes. This is why we are having so much innocent people wrongfully dying and of course it brings me to our youth generations being exposed to the streets. Which connects with social disorganization, social control, and anomie all combined because, we are seeing our youth learning of what the streets are offering; recruiting into gangs, being in possession of firearms and other hand-held weapons, aggressively hurting others leaving them with horrible injuries, gang rapes, assaults, etc. With this, it shows our government is not handling this the way it should be because it just does not have the proper structure. With all this anger and frustration of course, we will see a high rise in violent crimes, our society is angry and what we have to consider is even younger generations being brought in all of this. I have firsthand experience with this, because I have seen it when it came to my brother and I had to see it at 5 years old and I remember every thing and being put in ugly situations when it came to deviant behavior. Social change is constantly happening within America and we don't know if it is going to bring more violent crimes.
3. As violent crime rates have dropped, the one thing that can pop up in my head is the evolution of technology. I mean, if we were taken back into the year that we were born up until 2020, we see drastic changes. There are new devices being available in the market for ourselves to enjoy and also our youth because they are kids-appropriate content for them to learn and enjoy with parental controls, that distracts their minds instead of being put in situations because of the streets and seeing firsthand what the streets can offer. I had a rough childhood and so now with my son who is almost 4, I don't ever want him to be a part of that or see what I have seen, that is why we are currently being more involved with our children today instead of them having the childhood we had. Technology has changed and still is to this day along with social media, that played a huge role as well.
4. I think the best theory that explains violent crime the most now in the 21st century is social disorganization and anomie because, we still see broken homes/single parent homes that the parental figure is absent a lot because of work and much now with a necessity, abusive childhood, trauma events that has affected our mentality so hard that we cannot attach ourselves with others in any form of relationship and that is why, especially hanging with the wrong kind of crowd and being in the wrong place at the wrong time, our only known release that youth offenders commit and they are sentenced to prison for life or for a lengthy sentence without seeking other alternatives, and anomie has occurred especially in the institutions of our local law enforcement of committing fatal shooting or physically killing them and our justice system that is not making an enough effort to start a change in laws or any movement, and so of course our society is going to be frustrated.
5. After this weeks' materials I found all of the theories very interesting and after reading the articles it really helped me visualize in real examples of what has happened within our society and personal experiences. Some of these theories have made me ask this question: "is this why it led to my son's father to commit the violent crime he did that led him to be in prison since 2016" because I can brainstorm a huge list of potential reasons. I enjoyed this weeks lecture because it is a variety of answers and opinions that derives from these theories that paints the picture of crime itself.
Promt 2:
1. Provide your immediate reaction or “snap judgment.” When you think about violent crime, which theory do you think provides the best explanation for violence? Why?
I think the Social Disorganization theory provides the best explanation for violence. Whether it be residential instability or family disruption, these kinds of environments can lead to violence. For example, living in a home where there is only one parent living there can hinder their ability to supervise children in the household. This can lead to children committing violent inside and outside the house.
2. You can see that violent crime increased dramatically from the 1960s through the early 1990s. Based on what you now know about criminological theories, and what you know about history (you may need to do some additional research to refresh yourself!), which theory or theories do you think might help explain the massive rise in violent crime? Explain why you think this theory (or these theories) are useful for analyzing this trend.
Back in the 1960s and 1970s, a lot of citizens did not trust the government as events like the assassinations of JFK and MLK, and the United States entering the Vietnam War happened. I think the Social Structure/Anomie theory might help explain the massive rise in violent crime. The social structure in America has suppressed and continues to suppress in some ways a lot of people, especially the lower class, from achieving success in this country. Since people are unable to achieve success, they lead to other avenues like violent crime.
3. There’s another major trend you may notice from the above chart. In our lifetimes, violent crime has consistently decreased. In fact, overall, crime has decreased for nearly thirty years, and violent crime rates are as low as they have been since the 1970s. Which theory or theories do you think best explain this decrease in violence? Explain why you think this theory (or these theories) are useful for analyzing this recent trend.
I believe the classical theory can best explain this decrease in violence. I think this theory is useful for analyzing this recent trend because people have weighed the costs and benefits of committing a crime. For example, we as a society have seen people put in prison for decades for a non-violent crime like possession of marijuana. This shows the people that the criminal justice system is messed up. This usually scares people away from committing a crime, especially a violent one, because the justice system can and will lock you up for a long time.
4. Ultimately, which of the theories we discussed do you believe is the best overall explanation for violent crime in the 21st century? Assuming this theory is correct, what are the implications for punishment? In other words, what types of punishments would be most effective in reducing crime, if the theory you’ve chosen is accurate?
I believe the Social Disorganization theory is the best overall explanation for violent crime in the 21st century. Whether it be because of economic status, family disruption, or residential instability, all of these can play a big part in someone committing a crime, especially a violent one. In order to reduce crime, we need to improve lower class communities by implementing new programs and policies that help the citizens in those situations.
5. As you worked through the materials for this week, what did you find most enlightening or interesting? What questions developed as you completed the readings and watched the presentations?
I found it pretty interesting to learn about all the different theories.