Chapter 3 Synthesis

How do we measure crime and how do we define it? Crime can be broken down
into two main categories: civil and criminal. Civil crime can be summed up pretty simply
as; wrongs committed against private or public rights. Criminal offenses on the other
hand are more subdivided then this; you have felonies, misdemeanors, and then even
further broken down the ideas of Mala In Se and Mala Prohibita. Felonies are the most
serious of crimes and can be classified as: capital offense, first, second, and third degree
felonies; these all have mandatory sentencing associated with them, with the most severe
being the death penalty and the least a maximum of five years imprisonment. Personally
I dont agree with the death penalty; I think that it is an easy way out for wrongs done, in
my opinion this sentence should be changed to life without chance of parole. The reason
why I hold this stance is because, that person should have to suffer the confinement of a
small cell and have the to reflect on the choices that got them put there. Misdemeanors
are less serious crime that can lead to fine or jail time of up to one year; they are
categorized as class A, B, and C. The ideas of mala in se and mala prohibita are more of
a societal view on crimes that are wrong even if there are no laws in place against them,
or crimes that are currently punishable offenses even if in the past or future they might
not be, respectively.
A type of report is sent to the FBI every year called; a uniform crime report, this
report relays data such as: number of people arrested, number of crimes reported, and
number of law enforcement officers. This data is used to generate a rate per 100,000
people, and a percentage of change from other years. These reports are important
because they provide statistics that can be analyzed and interpreted to help lower crime
rates and solve the problems before they even occur. If trends are noticed they can be
used as means to implement into prevention methods.
Crime trends in the United States are nothing short of a roller coaster ride; since
the 60s and 70s crime has been on the rise, in the 80s crime switched gears a bit and
turned to drug crimes, in the early 90s to the late 00s crime rates have been on a steep
decline, and crime rates today are still declining just not as much as in the near past. In
the 60s and 70s there were nearly 13 million more young men then in previous decades;
compound this with the fact that we had a bunk economy those same years, and it is only
obvious that this is why we started the upward climb on the crime coaster. The 80s
welcomed in the popularity of crack and meth and as a result there were more drug
related crimes and why the crime rates kept climbing. Then in the mid 90s we finally
peaked and started a fast and steep decline, this can be contributed to the zero-tolerance
policy adopted by the police; as well as the booming economy, welcome to the golden
era. In the recent past our economy has struggled and this is, in my opinion, why we are
currently seeing a less steep decline then in the past decades. Still the leading factors of
crime today are race and poverty, unfortunately race plays a big role in crime; statistically
speaking a young white male is less likely to commit a crime then a young black male.
This is mostly due to poverty, young black males are found to live in areas of greater
poverty then their white counter parts. I would love to see this change, and not in the
way of flip-flopping but in a way were crime starts to disappear altogether.