Criminal Justice Reflection Assignment

Discussion assignment:

250 words long

Discussion question:

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· This week’s discussion board, for this last post, you are to explain two things you learned this semester and why they were memorable to you.

The class name is VIOLENCE IN AMERICA just write about any two that you think fits. You will find attached most of the chapters you have relate to any two of the 10 chapters posted to write.

Remember: Your posts must be 250 words of substantial content.

Here is one of the classmate responses:

Two of the most important aspects that I have learned from this class is that 1. violence in America has been an ongoing problem and there isn’t necessarily a single solution to stop it, and 2. there’s a lot of opportunity with careers and advancement when working with Customs and Border Protection. In relation to the first aspect, I introduced, is that there are so many crimes that make up the category of violent crime. These include domestic violence, terrorism, genocide, stalking, and its complicated because you can’t solve it, or even explain why people commit these crimes. You can use criminological theory, or statistics, but every circumstance is different. For instance, there may be different deterrence factors for crimes relating to domestic violence, but these deterrence factors may not be applicable to prevent crimes of terrorism, there isn’t a universal answer to stop crime related to violence. These crimes have also been occurring for many years and will continue to happen because they’re so complex. Pertaining to the second aspect I introduced, I learned a lot of information about the Department of Homeland Security, specifically with Customs and Border Protection from the guest speakers that were in class. I always wondered what the typical day to day routine was like for people who worked in this profession, and it was definitely interesting to hear what it was like. I also liked how the guest speaker spoke about the pay scale and advancement within the agency. This even entailed how there are a plethora of benefits and job openings when you have time working for the agency. Overall, I learned so many new things from this class and it has been an enjoyable semester.

Chapter 7:

STRANGER DANGER AND VIOLENCE IN THE STREETS

Stranger Danger

Even though the odds are that perpetrators of interpersonal violence are most likely to be familiar acquaintances, friends, and family, the fact is that we usually don’t fear them the way we fear strangers.
Stranger crime still instills the most fear
Robbery
Workplace violence including bank robbery
Violent hate crime
Street gang violence

Robbery

- Use or threat of force AND the theft of property (with or without injury)
- A burglary, in which an offender(s) breaks into a residence and steals a homeowner’s belongings, is also considered a property crime because there is no force or threat of force to a person.
- A burglary can become a robbery if an offender finds someone in the house and uses or threatens to use force against that person during the commission of the crime.

NCVS Data on robbery

Rates of robbery have declined since the highs witnessed in the early 1990s.
Since 2002, they have remained relatively stable.
The robbery rate per 1,000 individuals aged 12 and over in 2002 was 2.7 compared to a rate of 2.5 in 2014.
This translates into almost 664,200 robbery victimizations every year.

Risk Factors

Like all violent crime, young adults are more likely to experience a robbery compared to their older counterparts.
According to the NCVS, those between the ages of 18 and 24 have the highest rates of robbery.
Minority populations, especially African Americans and American Indians or Alaskan Natives, are also more vulnerable to robbery.
The poor are more vulnerable to robbery victimizations compared to those with higher family incomes
Minorities who live under the poverty level are extremely vulnerable to robbery.
African Americans whose family incomes are less than $15,000 are almost 10 times more likely than others to become robbery victims.
Why?

Risk Factors

Younger males are at a higher risk of experiencing a robbery compared with their younger female counterparts; however, this is not the case for the elderly.

In fact, elderly males and females are equally vulnerable to robbery.

Marital status and geographical location are also related to robbery victimization.

Those living in urban locations are more likely to experience a robbery compared with either their suburban or rural counterparts.

Being single, either through never marrying or being divorced or separated, also increases the risk of robbery.

Stickups

Street robberies involving individuals are sometimes referred to as muggings or stickups.
Those who victimize primarily commercial establishments are very different in their level of sophistication and modus operandi compared with the typical street robber.
Those who primarily target commercial establishments perceive themselves as more elite than the typical street mugger and often even have disdain and contempt for robbers who primarily target individuals.

Motivations for Robbery

#1 cause for street robberies is to obtain cash and valuables
Sensory stimulation and immediate gratification needs that include

Gambling

Drug use

Heavy drinking

Another common motive is excitement and stimulation
Other causes include paying for food, rent, and to pay for attorneys

Robbery in Action

Robbers often choose quickly.
Routine activities theory

1. Motivated offender

2. Suitable target

3. Lack of capable guardianship

Often target other criminals (drug dealers)
Check cashing businesses & ATMs
Women and the elderly
Visible cues such as clothing, jewelry, demeanor, and awareness also are considered

Female Robbery Offenders

- While the majority of all robbers are male, females represented about 13% of the robbery offenders recalled by robbery victims in the NCVS.
- Jody Miller analyzed 14 interviews with active female robbers and found some interesting gender differences in robbery offending.
- Motivations for robbery were essentially the same for male and female robbers.
- Their modus operandi was different.
- The most common form of female robbery was to rob other females in a physically confrontational manner.
- Females in Miller’s sample most often relied on knives when robbing other women.
- Like their male counterparts, female robbers selected female targets primarily because they believed they were less likely to be armed and less likely to resist.

Preventing Robbery

Economic deprivation
Anomie
General strain theory
Institutional anomie
Equal access to prosocial and advantageous life circumstances would reduce collective strain felt by poorer citizens and perhaps decrease robbery.
Rational choice theory
Assumes rational thinking of financially distraught and substance-addicted offenders
Threat of sanction doesn’t necessarily outweigh what one can glean through the offense

Preventing Robbery

- Situational crime prevention seeks to understand technical and structural solutions to crime such as designing environments or products in ways that minimize the risk of victimization.
- Measures such as installing cameras in crime-prone areas are among such techniques.
- While cameras have proven effective in some commercial areas, critics contend that their presence simply moves street crime outside the camera range.
- Other situational changes such as improving lighting may also deter some offenders—but again, they may simply move to less well-lit areas to do their dirty deeds.
- In other words, some of these changes may simply displace crime to other less well protected areas.

Bank Robbery

Despite the lack of media coverage and more sophisticated security systems, bank robberies are still relatively common.
In 2015, for example, there were 4,091 robberies in financial institutions in the United States.
Today, California has the highest number of bank robberies compared to other states.
For example, in 2011, California had 697 bank robberies compared to the state of New York, which had only 339 robberies.
Why California???

Bank Robbers

Individual passes a note to the teller letting them know that they are being robbed
Happens very quickly
Unbeknownst to most customers
Takeover robbery involves several armed individuals seizing control of a bank
Greater risk
Larger payoff

Workplace Violence

In 2014, for example, out of the 4,679 workplace fatalities that occurred around the country, most were caused by accidents, but 749 of these deaths were because of violence.
Firearms were the most common weapon for homicides and suicides.
In 2014, of the 359 fatal work injuries suffered by females, 5% of them were homicides compared to less than 1% homicide fatalities for males.

Violent Hate Crimes

Also known as a bias crime; offenders select a victim because of some personal characteristic
Race/ethnicity
Religion
Sexuality
Disability
Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990
Attorney general must collect data about crime that manifests evidence of prejudice
Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (1994) include mental/physical disabilities
Matthew Shepard & James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (2010) includes violence based on gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation

Preventing Hate Crime

Xenophobia
Contempt for foreigners and other strangers, especially in times of economic hardship when resources are scarce
Negative stereotypes
Beliefs about a group that characterizes members in a negative way
Increase during times of economic depression
Tendency to separate ourselves into in-groups and out-groups
First amendment protection of hate speech
Southern Poverty Law Center has published methods successfully used by communities to combat hate groups

Street Gang Violence

The U.S. Justice Department’s sponsored National Gang Center uses the following criteria for classifying groups as gangs:
The group has three or more members, generally aged 12-24.
Members share an identity, typically linked to a name, and often other symbols.
Members view themselves as a gang, and they are recognized by others as a gang.
The group has some permanence and a degree of organization.
The group is involved in an elevated level of criminal activity.

What Are We Doing About Gang Violence?

The Five Strategies in OJJDP’s Comprehensive Gang Model

Source: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2010.

Strategy	Elements
Community Mobilization	Involvement of local citizens, former gang-involved youth, local agencies, and community groups
Opportunities Provision	A variety of educational, training, and employment programs targeting gang-involved youth
Social Intervention	Involvement of youth-services agencies, schools, faith-based organizations, police, and other organizations to reach out to gang-involved youth and their families
Suppression	Formal and informal social control, including close supervision of gang-involved youth by criminal justice and school based agencies as well grassroots groups
Organizational Change and Development	Development of policies and procedures that result in the most effective use of available resources across agencies to address the gang problem

Conclusions

While strangers are more likely to commit these crimes, known offenders still perpetrate a significant proportion of these crimes.
Robbery is often linked to economic hardship.
Situational crime prevention works in some spaces.
Inequality remains a dominant underlying source of violence.
Communities can work to promote unity and tolerance where hate crimes and gang violence are less likely to emerge.

Open-Access Student Resources

· SAGE journal articles

· Multimedia resources

and more at study.sagepub.com/alvarez3e

Alvarez/Bachman, Violence: The Enduring Problem, 3rd Edition

Criminal Justice Reflection Assignment

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