societies intro #1

“Crime Myths” – collective definitions society applies to certain problems and their solutions; social products of telling & re-telling crime-related fictions and sensational stories. Over time, people believe these myths as truths about crime & justice.  Artificial Categorizations Law-Abiding Citizens Criminals Crime Fighters Victims This, in turn,  dealing with individual actors rather than structural issues of Crime & Criminality. Media is the most powerful ‘myth-making’ group through sensationalism and focus on atypical crimes, distorting public perception. Public Officials shape crime ideology by framing the debate (e.g. “war on drugs”), while Criminal Justice (CJ) Workers have an interest in  increasing concern about crime. Together [Media, Government, CJ] have pumped up ‘crime mythology’ through programming like “Cops,” “America’s Most Wanted,” “Unsolved Mysteries,” or “True Stories…” ELEMENTS for CRIME MYTHS:

  1. Problem portrayed as ‘epidemic’

  2. Distant, deviant population identified/targeted

  3. Victims as ‘innocent’ or ‘helpless’

  4. Brave, virtuous heroes to combat crime, and

  5. \    Threat to values, norms, and traditional lifestyles    UNIFORM CRIME REPORT (UCR) – reported monthly by    every police department’s chief. UCR considered best data and    information but has its limits. Crime categories and definitions in    UCR designed to maximize severity/number of crimes reported by    local police. Conversely, reporting agencies manipulate data in    both directions.    NATIONAL CRIME VICTIMIZATION SURVEY (NCVS) –    provides reliable, scientific source of US crime information. Most    crimes against persons are committed by someone know to    victims – relative, friend, acquaintance.    “In 1965, US Senator (sociologist) Daniel Patrick Moynihan    worried that a growing proportion of black children were being    born to single mothers. When such large numbers of children    were abandoned by their fathers and brought up by single    mothers, he said, the result was sure to be wild violence and    social chaos. He was excoriated as a racist and the subject was    abandoned. The national rate of “illegitimacy” (out-of-wedlock    births) among blacks that year was 26%. In 1970, it was 50%.Today, it is 72% of non-Hispanic blacks.” – Kappeler    Many sociological, economic and political issues in this    statement. Discuss.    REIMAN & LEIGHTON    Introduction: CJ through the Looking Glass, or Winning by Losing    d – Recidivism – habitual relapse into crime    *Image Vs. Reality is    d – “Pyrrhic Defeat Theory” – a military victory purchased at    such a cost that it is essentially a defeat; in CJ it approximates    the failures of the CJ system with its benefits to those in    power.    *NOT CONSPIRACY THEORY !!!!    Also CRITICAL is the CRIME – ECONOMICS Link.    *POVERTY as a SOURCE of CRIME    …This DOESN’T make those people ‘Blameless!’

  6. Society fails to protect people from the crimes they fear    by, among other things, refusing to alleviate the poverty    that breeds them.

  7. The CJ system fails to protect people from the most    serious dangers by failing to treat dangerous acts of those    who are well-off as crimes, and by failing to enforce the    law vigorously vs the well-to-do when they commit acts    that are defined as crimes.

  8. By virtue of these and other failures, the CJ System    succeeds in creating the image that crime is almost    exclusively the work of the poor, an image that serves the    interests of the powerful.