CRJ 502 - Exam 1

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Arizona State University *

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502

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Sociology

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Apr 3, 2024

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1. Using the ideals of classical theorists, why does the U.S. still have a high crime rate? Be sure to use the criteria for effective punishments listed by Beccaria in his Essay on Crimes and Punishment. In Chapter 2, we learn that Beccaria was concerned about legal reform and, in time, formulated a theory of crime that is still relevant today (Akers et al., 2021). Beccaria explains how the premise falls on individual’s actions based on their practice of free will (Akers et al., 2021), so they choose what they will do; either obey the law or risk the consequences due to the reward they will obtain if they are not caught. However, these consequences are part of why the U.S. still has a high crime rate. For example, if an individual has a substance addiction and is on probation but faces a short number of days in jail if they fail their urine analysis, they may risk the consequence and test positive, knowing they may only get a few days in jail. For others, the crime may not be worth the punishment. Beccaria believed punishment should be tailored to be severe enough to overcome the gain offered by crime (Akers et al., 2021, p. 15), meaning that sometimes the punishments individuals receive are not enough to deter them from offending again. Beccaria believed that punishments should be swift and certain, and quotes, “the more immediate after the commission of a crime is inflicted, the most just and useful it will be… an immediate punishment is more useful; because the smaller the interval of time between the punishment and the crime, the stronger and more lasting will be the association of the two ideas of crime and punishment (Akers et al., 2021).” In other words, it reflects how individuals who engage in criminal behavior but are approached swiftly to correct that action

give them less time to consider the possibility of re-committing the offense in the future. Beccaria noticed that the certainty of punishment effectively deterred crime, which, in time, led to the deterrence theory. The theory also proposed that crime can be high based on what people believe about the certainty, severity, and swiftness of the punishments they would risk; it only reaches a certain amount for individuals. People lack moral attitudes, peer behavior, and other variables, so deterrence is inadequate for those who need monetary value and engage in white-collar crimes or individuals who may face gambling addictions and turn to misdemeanor crimes to afford their addiction. The textbook shares how using deterrence in the form of the death penalty does not even deter as hoped for due to the continued increase in rates of homicides (Akers et al., 2021, pg. 20). The system can make provisions to deter crime, but deterrence is limited to the pleasures and risks individuals seek. The concept goes further but transitions to why the U.S. still has a high crime rate, which can include factors such as the economy, worldwide scenarios, the recent pandemic, etc. For example, inflation currently affecting several individuals could cause people to engage in increasing crime through burglary. The pleasure of no debt may be worth the risk. Alternatively, worldwide instances include individuals who migrate to the United States for shelter or protection. They may not mean harm, but they are bringing their values and beliefs into our society, so how individuals blend into our society would determine if high crime rates will occur. There can be deterrence for both examples, such as a camera to deter people from robbing facilities. However, ultimately the reward or risk is the decision of the individual to calculate if it will be worth it.

2. Describe the relationship among social disorganization, collective efficacy, and legal cynicism. How do the concepts from each theory influence one another? Be sure to provide at least 2 examples and base your response on the learning materials presented in the course. Shaw and McKay explained how social disorganization undermines or hinders informal social controls within communities and neighborhoods, thus allowing high crime rates to occur (Akers et al., 2021). Sampson proposed that collective efficacy is the underlying social mechanism in social disorganization (Akers et al., 2021), meaning that residents hinder the informal social control within the neighborhoods that create the crime. Based on residents’ cohesion, expectations, networks, and how high their collective efficacy is. Residents with higher efficacy would be more likely to report crime if they observe it versus other residents who may not have those higher levels to build social networks and report what they see. Therefore, the higher collective efficacy, the lower the crime rate, and this influences social disorganization because it creates unsafe neighborhoods known for crime. This affects legal cynicism because residents create disorganization, making the communities known as hot spots for crime. However, the cynicism is how responsive these reports are treated within these communities when wrongdoing occurs. The concepts all influence one another as they are associated and need each other to build upon each other. Without one, the concept would not be relevant as it would not exist, and there would be no crime. An example would be the Chicago Project of rundown communities, with higher crime in poorer neighborhoods. The reason was due to poverty, structural characteristics, family disruption, or social ties (Akers et al., 2021); when these variables were presented, they reflected higher crime counts. A sample was conducted to ask residents about

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their experiences, and some observations noted were minor infractions from children skipping school to fights in the neighborhood that led to homicide rates. Comparing this to more structured neighborhoods ensured that the lower level of efficacy caused more significant social disorganization. Another example is from North Carolina, the sample of various counties that were measured on their collective efficacy. Households were asked via questionnaires about their neighbors and how likely they were to assist in preventing social offenses (Akers et al., 2021). There was a significant correlation between neighborhoods showing higher versus lower levels based on the reports from the varying counties. Looking at general examples, people can presume downtown locations in most cities as busy, entertaining, or rundown, which is prime for crime; however, people can presume that suburban’s locations may be more expensive, but more family orientated and less crime. Individuals in the suburbs would be more likely to report to the police if they saw unusual behaviors versus individuals near downtown locations where they may understand those areas tend to be unsafe and instead remain low-headed and mind their business versus reporting. 3. What policy recommendations might Merton make based on the assumptions of Anomie Theory for controlling and preventing crime. Be sure to provide at least 2 examples and base your response on the learning materials presented in the course. Anomie Theory has focused on explaining why some societies, such as the United States, have higher crime rates than others (Cullen et al., 2022, p. 127). Meanwhile, Merton’s version of this theory is based on how the United States strongly emphasizes monetary success but

weakly emphasizes legitimate norms for achieving this goal, like education and hard work (Cullen et al., 2022, p. 127) because individuals will be more likely to achieve their means in any way, even if it means achieving it through crime offending. An example is Caleb Rogers, the recent Las Vegas police officer charged with going on a casino heist (Yamat, 2023). Roger’s brother testified against him, revealing that he desperately needed money after a longtime struggle with gambling. Caleb had acquired the knowledge needed to perform various heists, collected over $70,000 from one casino, and planned more heists for a larger payout. The monetary means of paying off his debt to support his gambling addiction was strong enough and worth the consequences to achieve his goal of monetary success since he felt there was no other way to accrue his wealth appropriately. Another example is individuals residing in small populations versus larger ones. Crime opportunities may appear lower in smaller towns because people are more likely to be familiar with one another. However, people from small towns tend to have fewer resources and lower-paying jobs versus opportunities in bigger cities. These situations can cause people to want to live in a bigger city or have the lavish life they see others having in larger cities, or they may even feel safer committing crimes in their smaller towns as they can be more respected and not a norm for crime to be a thing. In 2013, a Zumba instructor sought tremendous monetary success when she ran a prostitution ring out of her studio (The Associated Press, 2013). Alexis Wright resided in a small town and videotaped unsuspected clients so her business partner, who lived 100 miles from her small town, could use the content. In the news article, it details that for 18 months, Wright achieved her monetary goal of receiving $150,000 tax-free (The Associated Press, 2013), and this demonstrates the concept Merton stated of success through deviant means.

Engaging in criminal behavior to accomplish goals is an option that appears accessible to individuals unwilling to do the work, as suggested by Merton. Therefore, Merton would make some policy recommendations about what constitutes The American Dream he gave attention to. The American Dream includes people who move to America to achieve a better life, so adding policies to the requirements for citizenship or visas when foreigners migrate into America would be a policy recommendation to revise to prevent crime. When people from various backgrounds migrate, they merge their backgrounds or move without understanding the laws in America. Another policy recommendation is making it a requirement for individuals to meet before migrating and, in addition, adding terms for individuals to meet before, such as completing a certain amount of education outside of college to have a more significant opportunity to achieve success or as motivation to achieve it in a positive form. There are various policy recommendations based on the Anomie Theory assumption to prevent crime that would explain a decrease in crime rates. Politically, family, and educationally are initial roles to focus on to make policy recommendations to improve crime rates. Reference The Associated Press. (2013, November 23). Zumba instructor in small-town Maine prostitution bust leaves jail . Alabama. https://www.al.com/wire/2013/11/zumba_instructor_in_small- town.html Yamat, R. (2023, July 13). Las Vegas police officer’s brother testifies against him about “desperate” casino heist . KTNV 13 Action News Las Vegas.

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https://www.ktnv.com/news/las-vegas-police-officers-brother-testifies-against-him-about- desperate-casino-heist 4. Use Agnew’s General Strain Theory to explain the possible reason for the increase in light of current social events. Be sure to provide at least 2 examples. According to Agnew’s theory, “crime and delinquency are an adaptation to stress, so he identified three major types of deviance-producing strain: the failure to achieve an individual goal, the removal of positive or desired stimuli, and the confrontation of the individual with negative stimuli (Cullen et al., 2022, p. 205).” This means that people with desires or expectations to have something will turn to crime; people emotionally charged and resentful or angry will likely resort to destructive behaviors. Through the removal of stimuli, it refers to the stress that an individual may be experiencing. Negative stimuli refer to stressful life events that affect one through the actions of others. The NY Times published an article about crime rates and details how crimes continue to increase. The article mentions how social events have been part of the reason, and an example is COVID-19 because it disrupted services that helped keep people safe, like policing and addiction treatment programs (Lopez, 2022). Removing such services causes people to be unable to seek help if they have any mental illness on top of using any substance, increasing their ability to engage in criminal offending. The pandemic closed schools (Lopez, 2022), which could result in students not being taught in appropriate settings, left home alone, or

even the possibility of children facing increased abuse from home – causing negative stimuli. Another example would be other social events, such as George Floyd (Lopez, 2022), which disrupted relationships between the police and communities, this ties to Agnew’s theory when people are resentful or angry. Citizens became more distrustful of police services and disagreed with what occurred, disrupting social order. Additionally, crime and inflation have caused an increase in property crime as more thefts and robberies are occurring (Lopez, 2022) because people are experiencing inflation in not being able to afford rent increases, gas, the cost of groceries, and mostly everything that people use or need. These situations are stressors that remove positive, valued stimuli. Agnew’s theory fits the above examples as they all provide strain, and all events cause specific characteristics that affect people and lead to social disorder causing crime rates to increase. Social matters are significantly increasing crime in various aspects, with people losing income, facing more abuse, resorting to theft to make ends meet, and the inability to view society as a safe space. There is much to Agnew’s General Strain Theory and how it affects various components in individuals’ lives through many aspects. Reference Lopez, G. (2022, September 23). A shift in crime . The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/23/briefing/crime-rates-murder-robberies-us.html Cullen, F., Agnew, F., & Wilcox, P. (Eds.). (2022) Criminological Theory: Past to Present Essential Readings (7th Edition) . New York: Oxford University Press.

CRJ 502 - Exam 1

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