Crime and Victimization
In the scenario examples, Dr. Carla O’Donnell discusses theories of victimization. Sgt. Barry Evans identifies criminals and their past convictions, and relates the applicable federal, state, and / or local agencies that would take jurisdiction over the crimes committed. Sgt. Evans also illustrates how adopting select measures within the community can help to make certain locations safer, toward potential offenders, and lessen the likelihood of people becoming crime victims.
Use the Internet to research three (3) real-life incidents from the past five (5) years that fall under the following topics:
• Theories of victimization and corresponding examples
• Criminal activity
• Crime that occurred within your community
Write a three (3) page paper in which you:
1. Summarize the Social Structure Theory of victimization that Dr. Carla O’Donnell discussed within the related scenario. Support the chosen theory with one (1) real-world example.
2. Discuss one (1) real-life scenario involving criminal activity, identifying the federal, state, and / or local agency(ies) with jurisdiction. Explain why the agency(ies) that took the case was the appropriate one for the particular circumstances.
3. Describe a recent incidence of crime that occurred in South Carolina. Suggest how implementing Problem Oriented Policing (POP) that Sgt. Evans discussed and another change of your recommendation would have changed the circumstances of the crime that you selected.
4. Use three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
• Describe and define the structure of the American criminal justice system in terms of its major components and the functions they serve.
• Distinguish the relationship of criminal justice to social justice and the wider notion of equity and fairness.
• Summarize the mission of law enforcement in democratic societies and describe the structure of American policing today.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in criminal justice.
Social Structure Theory
Another view is that the basis of crime can be found in the relationship a person has to social structures and institutions. According to social structure theory, the United States is a stratified society, where there are a few thousand “super rich” making more than $5 million per year, and 40 million Americans who live beneath
the poverty line, calculated at about $22,000 per year for a family of four. Those living in poverty face dead-end jobs, unemployment, and social failure. Because of their meager economic resources, lower-class citizens are often forced to live in poor areas marked by substandard housing, inadequate health care, renters rather
than homeowners, poor educational opportunities, underemployment, and despair. These indicators of neighborhood disorder are highly predictive of crime rates. The problems of lower-class culture are particularly acute for racial and ethnic minorities, who have an income level significantly below that of whites and an unemployment rate almost twice as high. In the inner cities, more than half of all black men do not finish high school. In addition, they face the burden of racism and racial stereotyping. Research shows that whites are averse to living in or visiting black neighborhoods because they consider them crime-ridden, even if these neighborhoods actually have relatively low crime rates. The crushing burden of urban poverty results in the development of a culture of poverty marked by apathy, cynicism, helplessness, and distrust. The culture
is passed from one generation to another such that its members become part of a permanent underclass, “the truly disadvantaged.” In these areas people live in constant fear and suffer social and physical incivilities—rowdy youths, trash and litter, graffiti, abandoned storefronts, burned-out buildings, littered lots, strangers,
drunks, vagabonds, loiterers, prostitutes, noise, congestion, angry words, dirt, and stench. Forced to endure substandard housing and schools in deteriorated innercity, socially disorganized neighborhoods, and cut off from conventional society, the urban poor face a constant assault on their self-image and sense of worth.
Criminal acts and drug dealing provide a means of survival in an otherwise bleak existence. Those living in impoverished neighborhoods are continuously exposed to the opportunity to buy drugs and engage in antisocial acts. A socially disorganized area is one in which institutions of social control, such as the family, commercial establishments, and schools, have broken down and can no longer carry out their expected or stated functions. Living in deteriorated, crimeridden neighborhoods exerts a powerful influence that is strong enough to neutralize any positive effects of a supportive family and close social ties.
Problem Oriented Policing (POP) is the modern proactive take on community-oriented policing. Police activities are focused on specific long-standing community problems and devising a plan of enforcement and intervention with the assistance of community-based support
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