CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR IN SOCIETY

Unit Overview

Crime is a part of our society. Not all crimes are equal; they vary in type, degree, and seriousness. Crimes can be committed by people of all ages and backgrounds. In order to understand crime, it is important to understand the people behind them, the types of crimes, and the trends. In this unit you will gain an understanding of how crime affects our society.

What are Criminal Acts?

Criminals cause a disruption to society and cause serious threats to its order. Criminals cause such a problem that we need to separate them from the rest of society and place them in jail. Their behavior is not only deviant but dangerous. The justice system is in place so that we can find and apprehend alleged criminals. Through this system, we judge whether the suspects are guilty or innocent, and we punish or possibly correct their behavior.

What is Crime?

A crime is any act that is prohibited by law and punishable by the government. Laws divide crimes into categories depending on the seriousness of the crime. Other factors that divide crime include the potential punishment that can be administered, the age of the offender, and the court that holds the jurisdiction over the case. For example, murder is treated different than robbery; teenage offenders are often not punished as severely as older offenders; and some crimes violate state laws, while others violate federal laws.

Who Commits a Crime?

A 2000 study by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) examined who commits criminal acts. According to the study, men are three times more likely to be arrested than women. Also, more than two-thirds of all people who are arrested are white. However, African-Americans, who only make up 12% of the population, account for nearly 30% of all arrests. There are many factors that lead people to crime, and there is no specific link between race and crime. There is astounding information regarding age though. Almost 50% of all arrests are those people under the age of 25. Even more shocking, people under the age of 35 are responsible for almost 75% of all arrests.

Crime Statistics and Trends

The Uniform Crime Report consists of statistical data that is compiled by the FBI. The information gathered is compiled from local police departments into national statistics. More than 1.6 million violent crimes are reported each year in the United States, including more than 19,000 homicides.

During the late 1990s, crime rates declined significantly in the U.S. There are several reasons for this, including a booming economy and a decrease in unemployment rates, local and national crime prevention programs, and an increase in the prison population, which keeps offenders off the street. However, crime statistics are deceiving since not all complaints that citizens make become part of an official police report. Also, people are less likely to report a crime if a family member or friend commits it. Sometimes a police officer is less likely to file an official report if the person complaining is rude and disrespectful towards him. Lastly, police officers are more likely to file formal reports on serious crimes when the violated parties are from a higher social class.

Crimes occur every few seconds in the United States. A crime involving property damage occurs every three seconds, one larceny theft every five seconds, a burglary every 15 seconds, one violent crime every 22 seconds, a motor vehicle theft every 27 seconds, one aggravated assault every 34 seconds, a robbery every minute, one forcible rape every six minutes, and a murder every 34 minutes.

International Crime

Crime statistics in the United States are different than crime statistics in other countries. Specific data is hard to gather since different countries gather information using a variety of methods. But there are some facts that are identifiable. Violent crime rates, such as murder, rape, and robbery, are much higher in the United States than in Western Europe. Australia, Italy, England, and New Zealand all have higher rates of motor vehicle theft than those in the United States. Crime in Russia has drastically increased since the overthrow of the Communist party in 1991. Lastly, Japan’s crime rate is consistently low. Tokyo has the lowest rates of murder, rape, robbery, and theft of any major city in the world.

Types of Crimes

The FBI classifies crimes into seven index crimes. They include murder, rape, robbery, and assault, which are violent crimes against people. The last three include burglary, larceny theft, and motor vehicle theft, which are property crimes.

Violent Crime

Crimes that are regarded as the most dangerous and present the greatest threat to society are violent crimes, including murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. On a positive side, these crimes make up a small percent of all crimes. African-American males are much more likely to be victims of violent crimes than the rest of the population. These men are five times more likely than African-American women to be victims, over seven times more prone to be victims than white men and 22 times more prone to be victims than white women.

The majority of murders are committed using guns. Guns are responsible for 65% of all murders, with handguns being the most used. The rate of handgun use is higher in the U.S. than in any other industrialized country in the world. Knives account for 13% of murders.

Crimes Against Property

Burglary, larceny (theft other than auto), motor vehicle theft, and arson are about ten times more common than violent crimes. Crimes against property are not violent and do not include threats or force against people. Most people who commit property crimes do not want to confront their victims. Also they do not want to hurt anyone physically, and they do not want to hurt themselves. Drug use may account for property crimes. Drug users are not able to finance their habit so they turn to crime to support their use. As a result, people who use drugs may engage in criminal activity. Often, serious crimes are committed by people who are under the influence of drugs.

Organized Crime

Organized crime includes a network of criminal groups, who operate on a large-scale professional level, also known as crime syndicates. They control such illegal businesses as prostitution, drug trafficking, illegal gambling, hijacking of merchandise, loan-sharking, and are also major stockholders in such legitimate businesses as restaurants and hotels. These criminals find ways to invest their illegally earned money in businesses where it is easy to keep fraudulent accounts. Legitimate businesses serve as “fronts” for their criminal activities.

Organized crime often encourages violent activities such as murder, beatings, kidnappings, and arson; however, organized crime works in such a way that it avoids public attention. As a result, organized crime often goes unpunished. It is rarely prosecuted because of public apathy and the close ties that crime figures have to people in power positions in society.

White-Collar Crime

White collar crimes are those crimes that are committed among people in management, office workers, politics, corporate employees, and other professionals. They are crimes committed by people of high social status in the course of their professional lives. Business owners, corporate officers and managers, politicians, have access to large sums of money that belongs to the business. Sometimes, people see money are become tempted to make the money their own. As a result, they manipulate the resources in order to gain the money. Some examples of white collar crime include fraud, embezzlement, tax evasion, price fixing, political corruption, and stock manipulation. Since these actions are often concealed, it is hard to determine the crime rates of white collar crimes. However, in recent years the government has uncovered and revealed many high profiles cases of insider trading on Wall Street, political corruption, and computer crimes.

Victimless Crimes

Victimless crimes are termed victimless because they harm nobody but the person committing the crimes. These crimes include prostitution, gambling, public drunkenness, and drug possession and sale. The crimes are supposed to be victimless, but they may have consequences for society. For instance selling drugs leads to drug users who may commit violent crimes. Prostitution may lead to the spreading of sexually transmitted diseases. To apprehend offenders of these crimes, police officers depend on informants, undercover work, and luck to gather evidence and make arrests. Only a small amount of offenders are actually arrested.

The Criminal Justice System

The U.S. criminal justice system is responsible for protecting society from dangerous crime. There are four steps that the justice system uses to carry out its functions. These functions include:

1. Apprehending suspected offenders

2. Determining if the offenders are guilty or innocent

3. Deciding what the punishment is for the guilty

4. Keeping the guilty separated from the rest of society

There are three major elements of the criminal justice system.

Police	In the U.S., state and local police are responsible for determining who is arrested for committing a crime. This responsibility is known as police discretion. People may assume that police officers arrest everyone who is accused of a crime, but police need to make a lot of choices. Police officers need to make decisions about whom to arrest, who is just given a warning, and who will not be pursued. Several factors help police officers decide whether or not to arrest an offender, including: 1. The seriousness of the offense. 2. The wishes of the victim. 3. The attitude of the suspect. 4. The presence of bystanders. A crime victim may sometimes tell police that he or she does not want to press charges against the person, especially when the offender is a family member. For example, a woman who is beaten by her husband may want the police to stop the current attack, but is unwilling to press charges. An uncooperative suspect is more likely to be arrested than a cooperative one. Also, if bystanders are present during a crime, the offender is more likely to be arrested. Minority groups are more likely to be arrested than whites, which is a common accusation backed by research. Some accuse police of racial profiling, where police assume that nonwhite Americans are more likely than white Americans to commit crimes. Some people blame the high rate of African American arrests on racial profiling. Also, since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, racial profiling has become an important political topic.
Courts	Once police make arrests, the courts take responsibility for determining guilt and innocence and assigning some form of punishment. Most cases, over 90%, do not go through the formal court process. Court proceedings are time-consuming and expensive, so in order to save time and money, cases are often settled through plea bargaining. Plea bargains are when the accused person enters into a guilty plea to a crime that is less serious than the crime of which he or she is accused. In return for the guilty plea, the offender receives a lighter sentence than would have been recommended for the original offense. Research shows that when offenders enter into a plea bargain, their sentences are lighter than those who plead not guilty but are later found guilty in the court proceedings.
The Correctional System	When an accused person is found guilty, the courts assign a punishment called a correction. The punishment can range from a fine to community service to imprisonment. Corrections serve four major functions in society. 1. Retribution By punishing the offender, the victim and society “get even” for the crime that was committed. 2. Deterrence The intent of corrections includes discouraging offenders from committing crimes again and providing a warning to others to not pursue a life of crime. It is open to debate as to how well deterrence works to prevent crime. In 2000, the New York Times did a study that looked at the death penalty. In 10 of the 12 states that did not allow the death penalty, they found lower homicide rates than in the states that allowed it. It is not certain why there is a discrepancy. 3. Rehabilitation Some criminologists and prison authorities believe that an effective way to deal with criminals is to reform them so that they can return to society as law-abiding citizens. Rehabilitation is not very successful for several reasons. First, criminals see themselves as criminals like those they are associated with. Also, deviant behavior is reinforced by being surrounded by other deviants. For rehabilitation to be successful, major changes are needed in prisons. However, when a criminal is rehabilitated, it is a new beginning and a new way of life for that person. 4. Social Protection When prisoners are locked in jails or given the death penalty, society is protected. This is a major function of corrections. These criminals cannot reoffend when separated from society. Law-abiding citizens are protected from them. A way to determine the effectiveness of corrections is to look at the rate of recidivism, which is the tendency for offenders to return to previous criminal behavior. In the U.S, more than half of all people who are released from jail are later arrested for another offense. Some studies by the U.S. Department of Justice indicate that it can be as high as 62%. Of those who reoffend, 41% will return to prison within three years of release.

The Juvenile Justice System

Juvenile offenders consist of offenders under the age of 18. It is the third largest group of offenders in the United States. It was not until the 1960s that juveniles were given equal rights as adult offenders. Prior to that, juvenile offenders did not have safeguards in place, and the laws were vague.

A clear and defined juvenile justice system was developed because since juveniles are young and are still developing in many ways; they cannot be held as responsible as adults for their crimes. However, juveniles still need the same rights as adults. Therefore, juvenile defendants are given the same legal rights and privileges as adult defendants. However, because of their age, juvenile delinquents are regarded as a special type of offender. Juvenile courts provide many more services for juveniles than adults receive. The goal is to rehabilitate these offenders while they are young enough to be saved. However, some states have developed tougher laws for juvenile offenders. These states allow some young offenders to be tried as adults for serious offenses such as murder.

Case Study

Review the following information regarding criminal behavior in the state of Ohio.

Change in Crime Rate (per 100,000 Population) from 2006 to 2007

OFFENSES	OHIO	NATIONAL/REGIONAL
Violent Crime Totals Ohio: Decrease of 2.0%	Cincinnati: Decrease of 11.4% Cleveland: Decrease of 5.3% Columbus: Increase of 4.8% Dayton: Decrease of 5.1% Toledo: Increase of 7.0% Youngstown: Decrease of 16.8%	National: Decrease of 1.4% East North Central: Decrease of 1.5%. Michigan reported the largest decrease (-4.7%).
Murder Ohio: Decrease of 4.2%	Cincinnati: Decrease of 34.2% Cleveland: Increase of 23.5% Columbus: Decrease of 24.5% Dayton: Decrease of 22.6% Toledo: Decrease of 62.2% Youngstown: Increase of 33.5%	National: Decrease of 1.3% East North Central: Decrease of 3.3%. Michigan reported the largest decrease (-5.0%), while Wisconsin was the only state to report an increase (+10.7%).
Forcible Rape Ohio: Decrease of 2.0%	Cincinnati: No change Cleveland: Decrease of 13.5% Columbus: Increase of 12.1% Dayton: Decrease of 1.1% Toledo: Decrease of 9.1% Youngstown: Increase of 8.1%	National: Decrease of 3.2% East North Central: Decrease of 4.6%. Michigan reported a 12.9% decrease. Wisconsin reported the largest increase (+7.3%).
Robbery Ohio: Decrease of 4.6%	Cincinnati: Decrease of 22.0% Cleveland: Decrease of 3.5% Columbus: Increase of 4.9% Dayton: Decrease of 5.4% Toledo: Decrease of 0.1% Youngstown: Decrease of 21.3%	National: Decrease of 1.2% East North Central: Only Indiana reported an increase (+8.1%), while others reported decreases ranging from -2.5% to -5.4%.
Aggravated Assault Ohio: Increase of 1.1%	Cincinnati: Increase of 11.1% Cleveland: Decrease of 8.2% Columbus: Increase of 3.6% Dayton: Decrease of 4.5% Toledo: Increase of 14.0% Youngstown: Decrease of 19.0%	National: Decrease of 1.3% East North Central: Decrease of 0.3%. Illinois and Michigan reported decreases, while Ohio, Wisconsin, and Indiana reported increases ranging from +1.1% (Ohio) to +6.8% (Indiana).

³ Akron’s data were not included in Crime in the United States 2006; therefore, the crime rate changes could not be calculated.

Prisoners in 2007

In December 2008, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released the bulletin, Prisoners in 2007. This annual report highlights characteristics of the nation’s prison population. The following summarizes some key findings of the report, with the emphasis on Ohio, wherever possible.

Prison Population

The U.S. prison population grew 1.8 percent in 2007. This increase was slower than the average annual growth of 2.0 percent from 2000 through 2006. The total number of prisoners under the jurisdiction of federal or state adult correctional authorities was 1,598,316 at the end of 2007. Nearly 93 percent were males and 7.2 percent were females.

Ohio experienced a 3.2 percent increase in the prison population, from 49,166 at the end of 2006, to 50,731 at the end of 2007. Ohio ranked 6^th of all states in total prison population.

The rate of incarceration in prison at the end of 2007 was 506 sentenced inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents, a rate equivalent to about 1 in every 198 U.S. residents serving a term of over one year.

At the end of 2007, Ohio had a rate of incarceration of 442 inmates per 100,000 residents.

At the end of 2007, the Federal prison system was operating at 36 percent over capacity. In addition, 19 states, including Ohio, were operating at or above their highest capacity.

At the end of 2007, Ohio prisons were operating at 25 percent over capacity.

Prisoner Demographics

By the end of 2007, women accounted for 6.9 percent of all prisoners. The incarceration rate for females in 2007 was 69 per 100,000 population. For males, the incarceration rate was 955 per 100,000 population.

Nationwide, the number of female prisoners increased 1.7 percent during 2007. The number of male prisoners increased 1.8 percent.

In Ohio, the number of female prisoners increased 3.3 percent from 2006 to 2007, while the number of males increased 3.2 percent during this time.

Nationwide, from 2000-2006, the annual rate of growth of female inmates averaged 3.2, whereas the average rate of increase for male inmates was 1.9 percent.

Ohio has averaged a 4.7 percent increase in female inmates from 2000 to 2006, compared to a slight increase of 0.9 percent of male inmates during the same time period.

The imprisonment of black inmates (male and female) was higher than that of white or Hispanic/Latino inmates; however, the data indicate and overall declining rate of imprisonment for black inmates.

In 2007, black males had an imprisonment rate of 3,318 per 100,000 U.S. residents, compared to a rate of 481 for white males and 1,259 for Hispanic or Latino males.

Black females had an imprisonment rate of 150 per 100,000 U.S. residents, compared to a rate of 50 per 100,000 for white females and 79 per 100,000 for Hispanic/Latino females.

Offenses Committed by Prisoners

The latest data available (yearend 2005) indicate that 53 percent of inmates in state prisons were held for violent offenses: murder/manslaughter, robbery, assault, rape and other sexual assault, and other violent offenses.

· In addition, 19.2 percent were held for various property offenses.

· 19.5 percent were held for drug offenses.

· 7.6 percent were held for public order offenses which include but are not limited to: weapons, drunk driving, court offenses, commercialized vice, morals/decency charges, and liquor law violations.