crime

Crime

  • Definition: A violation of laws of society.

  • Common Perception: Crimes often imagined as personal or violent acts, heavily influenced by media coverage.

  • Street Crime:

    • Defined as crimes committed in public.

    • Typically associated with violence, gangs, and poverty.

Types of Crime

  • White Collar Crime:

    • Offense committed by a professional against a corporation, agency, or institution.

    • Characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust without reliance on force or violence.

    • Financial impact is more significant than that of typical street crimes.

  • Corporate Crime:

    • A specific type of white-collar crime committed by corporate officers (CEOs and executives).

    • Example: The 2007-2008 financial crisis resulted from greed, negligence, and mismanagement in major financial firms and institutions.

How Do We Measure Crime?

  • Norm of Deviance: Each community can expect a stable level of deviance; definitions of deviance vary by society and historical context.

  • Crime Rate:

    • Calculated as the number of crimes reported to law enforcement agencies, measured per 100,000 people.

    • Example Calculation: 45,000 robberies for a population of 38 million:

    • rac{45000}{38000000} = 0.0011842 (incidents per person)

    • 0.0011842 imes 100,000 = 118.42 (incidents per 100k people).

    • Historical Data:

    • 1960 total crime rate was 160.9 per 100K people.

    • 1992 peak was 757 per 100K, current rate around 531.

  • FBI Uniform Crime Reports (UCR):

    • Reflect crimes reported to police; reported a 2% drop in violent crime from 2021 to 2022.

    • Limitations: Only includes reported crimes.

  • National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS):

    • Examines both reported and unreported crimes; essential for comprehensive crime analytics.

Deterrence Theory and the War on Drugs

  • The War on Drugs (1971-Present):

    • U.S. policy initiated by the Nixon administration aimed at reducing illegal drug trade.

    • Key Objectives: Deter drug manufacturing, import, distribution, and selling.

  • Deterrence Theory:

    • Philosophical approach in criminal justice based on rational calculations of crime's costs and benefits.

    • Relevant Legal Measures:

    • Mandatory minimum sentencing and three-strikes laws.

    • Example: 5-year mandatory minimum for simple possession of crack cocaine; severe penalties for repeat offenders.

  • Types of Deterrence:

    • Specific Deterrence: Targets known criminals to prevent recidivism.

    • Example: Parole systems aimed at monitoring offenders.

    • General Deterrence: Relies on community awareness of the potential consequences of crime.

    • Example: Community hears of severe penalties for selling drugs, deterring potential offenders.

Impact of the War on Drugs

  • Impacts of Drug Laws:

    • Aimed at deterring involvement in drug trade; disproportionately affected poor and marginalized communities.

    • Example: 100:1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine (5-year minimum for crack possession).

    • Affects racial demographics:

    • Targeting of black communities and men relates to bias in policing, socioeconomic disparities, and racial oppression legacies.

    • U.S. governmental and institutional role in drug trade:

    • Example: Iran-Contra Affair shows connections to global drug trade.

US Criminal Justice and Mass Incarceration

  • Approaches to Criminal Justice:

    • Punitive: Focused on punishment.

    • Rehabilitative: Emphasizes reform.

  • Economic Aspects:

    • Issues with bail and plea bargains compound disparities based on economic status.

  • Incarceration Statistics:

    • U.S. represents 4.2% of global population but accounts for 20% of the world's prison population.

    • Racial Disparities in Incarceration:

    • Black men nearly six times more likely to be incarcerated compared to whites, and twice as likely compared to Hispanics.

    • Black women 90% more likely than white women and 40% more likely than Hispanic women to face incarceration.

    • Death Row isn’t devoid of racial bias; racial discrimination heavily influences murder case outcomes based on victim or defendant's race.

Private Prisons and Exploitation of Prisoners

  • Concept of Carceral State:

    • The U.S. perceived as a society with numerous institutionalized prisons.

  • Private Prisons:

    • Examples include Corrections Corporation of America, affecting local economies and lobbying for political support.

  • Prison Labor:

    • Prisoners often required to work for minimal compensation.

    • Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that over 76% of incarcerated workers must work, facing punishments for non-compliance, including solitary confinement or loss of visitation rights.

Prison as a Total Institution

  • Control Mechanisms:

    • Prisons control every aspect of inmates' lives including schedules for meals, sleeping, bathing, etc.

    • Highly regimented environment strips personal autonomy.

    • Uniformity enforced within prison, stripping individuality (e.g., uniforms, hairstyles, no personal items).

Foucault and the Modern Prison

  • Historical Context:

    • Reference to Robert Francois Damiens’ punishment; premodern punishment methods focused on physical retribution (eye for an eye).

  • Modern Punishment Perspective:

    • Foucault argues modern justice targets the