Rising Crime Rates Research Articles

Balancing Juvenile Crime and Justice as a Response to Growing Youth Crimes

A child is a person who is going to carry on what you have started.... He will assume control of your cities, States, and nations. He is going to move in and take over your churches, schools, universities, and corporations ... the fate of humanity is in his hands. - Abraham Lincoln Over past twenty years, the society have undergone a tremendous change in terms of ideologies and moral perspective. What was considered as immoral or unethical a decade ago is now considered as completely normal. People in order to achieve the goal of a better life are moving forward with faster than ever to open the doors to a better and developed society and in the process, they haven’t paid much attention to self-introspection. This has impacted the lives of children more than we can think of. Children are also exposed to the competitive environment where there is a continuous pressure to do better than others however this deprive them of the basic common sense, sympathy and moral values which were to be taught to them since a younger age. Children are growing ahead of their age and have knowledge of the things which even adults lack however this knowledge comes at an expense. Children today are involved in crimes that can’t be justified by highlighting their dark past. Nirbhaya Case (Delhi Gang Rape case) was an eye opener which shed light on the kind of crimes a 17-year-old can commit. All the legislation whether it be in India or any other country, the main aim has always been to make laws to protect the child till date however now it’s time to make laws to protect the society from the heinous crimes committed by children under the pretence of immaturity. There has always been a difference opinion when it comes to question of what and how much punishment is suitable for the minors. The conflicts always arise as to at what age and crime a child should be tried as an adult in the court and what is the basis to decide it. This article is an attempt to understand the present Indian Legislations with reference to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2015 drafted for the children who act in conflict with law and whether under given circumstances these legislations are enough for creating a balance between the crime and justice in juvenile cases. Many countries including USA and UK have amended their laws considering the rising crime rate of the crime committed by minors. This article is an attempt to compare the laws of different nations along with the international laws laid down for the same. The main objective behind the research is to understand that where the legislations are still lacking with respect to the recent cases in and try to look for a middle way out for the same along with measures that can be adopted to decrease these crimes.

Religious perceptions of crime and implications for punitiveness

This study tests the role of crime perceptions in mediating the relationship between religiosity and punitive attitudes about criminal justice. Specifically, we estimate the effects of (a) religious affiliation and (b) fundamentalism on punitiveness and assess mediation by dispositional attribution of crime, perceived rising crime rates, perceived immigrant crime, and fear of violent victimization. Data are from the 2014 wave of the Chapman Survey on American Fears, a nationally representative sample of adults in the United States (N = 1,573). We estimated religious effects on punitiveness using ordinary least squares regression and assessed mediation by crime perceptions with the Karlson-Holm-Breen (KHB) method. Punitiveness was positively associated with Mainline Protestant affiliation (vs. non-religious), Catholic affiliation (vs. non-religious), and fundamentalism (fundamentalism also largely accounted for heightened punitiveness among Evangelical Protestants). Perceptions of crime accounted for about 60% of the effects of religious affiliation on punitiveness and nearly 100% of the effect of fundamentalism. Perceptions of crime as caused by evil or moral failure, belief in rising crime rates, and perceptions of immigrant crime were important to explaining religious effects on punitiveness, while fear of violence was relatively unimportant. These findings illuminate the perceptual mechanisms underlying religious effects on criminal justice attitudes.

Risk factors associated with knife-crime in United Kingdom among young people aged 10\u201324\u2009years: a systematic review

BackgroundSince 2013, the number of violent crimes and offences by sharp instruments have increased continually, following a previous decrease, with majority of cases occurring among young people and in London. There is limited understanding surrounding the drivers influencing this change in trends, with mostly American-based research identifying risk factors.MethodsThe aim of this review is to identify and synthesise evidence from a range of literature to identify risk factors associated with weapon-related crime, for young people (aged 10–24 years) within the UK.A search strategy was generated to conduct a systematic search of published and grey literature within four databases (EMBASE, Medline, PsycINFO, and OpenGrey), identifying papers within a UK-context. s and full texts were screened by two independent reviewers to assess eligibility for inclusion, namely study focus in line with the objectives of the review. Weight of Evidence approach was utilised to assess paper quality, resulting in inclusion of 16 papers. Thematic analysis was conducted for studies to identity and categorise risk factors according to the WHO ecological model.ResultsNo association was found between gender or ethnicity and youth violence, contrasting current understanding shown within media. Multiple research papers identified adverse childhood experiences and poor mental health as positively associated with youth and gang violence. It was suggested that community and societal risk factors, such as discrimination and economic inequality, were frequently linked to youth violence.A small number of studies were included within the review as this is a growing field of research, which may have led to a constrained number of risk factors identified. Due to heterogeneity of studies, a meta-analysis could not be conducted. As many studies displayed positive results, publication bias may be present.ConclusionsSeveral risk factors were identified, with evidence currently heterogeneous with minimal high-quality studies. However, findings highlight key areas for future research, including the link between poor mental health and knife-crime, and the trajectory into gangs. Risk factors should help identify high-risk individuals, targeting them within mitigation strategies to prevent involvement within crime. This should contribute to efforts aimed at reducing the rising crime rates within UK.Systematic review registration numberCRD42019138545.Registered at PROSPSERO: 16/08/2019.

Review: Unusually Cruel: Prisons, Punishment, and the Real American Exceptionalism, by Marc Morjé Howard

Review: Unusually Cruel: Prisons, Punishment, and the Real American Exceptionalism, by Marc Morjé Howard

“Not So Much Orwellian as Kafkaesque”: The War on Crime, Information Sharing Systems, and the Limits of Criminal Justice Modernization and Surveillance in Los Angeles County

In response to the increasing frequency of urban rebellions and rising crime rates, President Lyndon Johnson announced a War on Crime in 1965, inaugurating the modernization of criminal justice systems nationwide. Buoyed by federal monetary support from the newly formed Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA), Los Angeles County attempted to develop a massive information sharing system to efficiently track suspects and expedite criminal record file-sharing within the county’s criminal justice bureaucracy. However, both projects failed. The failure of the Regional Justice Information System (RJIS) and the Optimum Records Automation for Courts and Law Enforcement (ORACLE) reveals the contingency surrounding the development of massive surveillance systems during the War on Crime and shows that the modern criminal justice surveillance state was not inevitable. Ultimately, it exposes the limits of criminal justice modernization and surveillance during the largest federal investment in local crime control in U.S. history.

Authoritarianism, Social Dominance, and Contesting Human Rights in Latin America

This article examines support for the restriction of human rights in Latin America, arguing that rising crime rates and personal experience with crime are only part of the story. Despite an emphasis on the protection of human rights in the aftermath of military regimes and civil war in Latin America, some citizens contest the defense of these rights across the region. Arguing that protecting human rights only keeps criminals out of jail, these citizens support policies and crime control measures that violate the rights of criminal suspects and other marginalized groups. Using public opinion data, this article demonstrates a relationship between individuals’ worldviews and their attitudes toward the human rights abuses committed against criminal suspects.

Changing levels of local crime and mental health: a natural experiment using self-reported and service use data in Scotland

BackgroundThis study contributes robust evidence on the association between mental health and local crime rates by showing how changing exposure to small area-level crime relates to self-reported and administrative data...

The police and the public: policing practices and public trust in Latin America

ABSTRACT Over the past two decades, most Latin American countries have struggled to create or reform their police forces while simultaneously confronting sharp increases in violent crime. Reformers have gravitated towards community-oriented policing practices, which aim to rely on preventive tactics and build closer ties between police officers and the public. The implementation of such policing practices can be daunting, particularly for countries with authoritarian histories of policing and/or military repression. When confronting rising crime rates, some new democracies are tempted to revert to authoritarian policing practices and circumvent constitutional safeguards on human rights and civil liberties. Still, some countries have resisted such temptations, and seriously invested in community-oriented policing practices. However, do these community-oriented policing practices lead citizens to trust the police more? Or does public trust depend more heavily on results – particularly in countries undergoing crises in public security? To answer these questions, we analyze public trust in the police in 17 Latin American countries through a series of regression analyses of the Latin American Public Opinion Project’s (LAPOP) 2016–2017 survey data. We find that community-oriented policing practices tend to garner more public trust, but that perceptions of police effectiveness are equally important.

Migrants and Crime in Sweden in the Twenty-First Century

In 2005, the Swedish Crime Prevention Agency published a report about the link between immigration and crime. Since then, no comprehensive study has been conducted even though Sweden has experienced a large influx of migrants in combination with a rising crime rate. This study conducted by Göran Adamson and Tino Sanandaji is the first purely descriptive scientific investigation on the matter in fifteen years. The investigation (from 2002 to 2017) covers seven distinct categories of crime, and distinguishes between seven regions of origin. Based on 33 per cent of the population (2017), 58 per cent of those suspect for total crime on reasonable grounds are migrants. Regarding murder, manslaughter and attempted murder, the figures are 73 per cent, while the proportion of robbery is 70 per cent. Non-registered migrants are linked to about 13 per cent of total crime. Given the fact that this group is small, crime propensity among non-registered migrants is significant.

Political communication in and about crises – Introduction to the Thematic Section

The financial crisis in Europe and the United States, the war in Syria, the refugee crisis, and terrorist attacks – crises seem to permeate everyday life and make headlines. Crisis as a central, persistent element of modern life has been the subject of scholarly discussions in various disciplines. Political communication research approaches crisis from two different angles. First, political crisis communication research deals with communication about political crises, such as political upheavals, protests, and subversions of governments and presidents. One of the most recent examples of a political crisis comes from Venezuela, where political changes and problems, such as corruption and undemocratic governance, have brought about economic problems (hyperinflation), a rising crime rate, hunger, and disease. Second, many other types of crises involve political communication because they also lead to policy reactions or at least discussion on their political aspects. For example, natural disasters typically provoke public discussion on the roles of political organizations and actors before, during, and after these disasters and the consequences for policy.

ECONOMIC INEQUALITY AND POVERTY IN EUROPEAN UNION

Excessive accumulation and raising income inequality re- flected on the high rates of poverty in the European Union countries. Economic literature has wide research on the link between income inequality and economic growth. However, knowledge about correlation between income inequality and poverty is scare. In this paper, we have proved that poverty is not synonymous for income ine- quality, but that is a product of income inequality. Income inequality, measured by the Gini coefficient, reflected the movement of the percentage of the population who are at risk of poverty. The coefficient of simple on correlation showed that income inequality affects the growth risk of poverty in the countries of the European Union. Besides poverty, as a consequence of income inequality, other socio-economic problems also appeared: the suppression of economic growth, the rise in crime rate, the decline in the quality of education and health, the political inequal- ity growth. All these problems should warn governments to take economic policy for reducing economic inequal- ity. The European Union, as an area of 28 member states, needs to carefully select economic policy instruments to reduce income inequality and ensure stable ground for economic growth. The differences between the level of development, the index of democracy, income and liv- ing standards in observed countries have influenced the difficulty in observing the problem and computing math- ematical and statistical connection. Through equalization of incomes, the European Union could solve problems of poverty, social exclusion and democracy (measured by index of democracy).

“Order as well as Decency”: The Development of Order Maintenance Policing in Black Atlanta

In 1971, Ebony magazine named Atlanta the country’s “new Black Mecca,” citing its black political and economic leadership as well as the success of black businesses in the city. At this same time, however, Atlanta, like cities around the country, experienced rising crime rates and economic decline in its urban core. This article examines how Atlanta’s black political leaders, supported by both white and black business owners, responded to the crime crisis by privileging the preservation of order and the protection of capital in their public safety policies. It suggests that this commitment to orderliness, often overlooked in examinations of black political culture, undergirded black political leaders’ advocacy of punitive crime control procedures in the postcivil rights era. Analyzing how black political officials and property owners advocated for intensified foot patrol policing and public decency legislation, this article argues that the city’s black political class were early theorizers and codifiers of order maintenance, or “broken windows,” or still “quality-of-life” policing. Consequently, black business owners and municipal officials sanctioned the expansion of police power in low-income urban neighborhoods in the postcivil rights era.

A century of strategic management and corporate sustainability: how may bank-owned projects avoid bankruptcies

This study analysed sustainable corporate projects as a means of lifting consequences of financial and economic crises on affected societies, with applications pertaining to rural societies that have suffered the most in certain areas. Unemployment, for example, contributed to the rise in crime rate, divorce, drug problems, and other social problems within several societies. The study hypothesised that bank-owned projects pool may continue on its growth despite financial and economic upheavals. The methodology followed was a case study analysis of existing bank-owned projects pool of Banque Misr with over 60 sustainable projects for almost a century. The findings have presented classic bank-owned projects pool with a higher growth rate. In conclusion, the study recommended bank-owned projects pool as an alternative to face default on loan payments, corruption, bankruptcies, unemployment, poor healthcare services, and low standards of education due to the financial and economic global upheavals in recent years.

Betty Friedan, Jane Jacobs, Richard Sennett and the 1960s’ Challenge to the Suburban Era Mystique of Security and Order

The paper examines and compares some of the 1960s’ most representative expressions of social critique: Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, Jane Jacobs’s The Death and Life of Great American Cities and Richard Sennett’s The Uses of Disorder, in an attempt to demonstrate how each of those intellectuals, social critics and visionaries, in their own distinct way, called for a radical departure from the established notions of the social and spatial order amidst the growing public fears of insecurity stimulated by the rising crime rate, the spread of racism and xenophobia, and the continuing “white flight” to the suburbs.

Apartheid and post-apartheid analysis of public confidence in the police

PurposeGiven the tumultuous history of policing in South Africa, the historic relationship between the police and the public, and the continuous rising crime rates, it is perplexing that little quantitative research has been conducted on legitimacy and the SAPS. The current study assesses public confidence in police in South Africa by analyzing data from a more than three-decade-old public opinion survey. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to examine changes in public confidence since 1981; and second, to determine factors that cause variations in confidence during a given period.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve the objectives, the authors analyzed longitudinal data collected from 1981 to 2014 as part of the world Value Survey program. ANOVA and multivariate regression analyses were conducted.FindingsFindings indicate that confidence in SAPS was highest during the period immediately after apartheid and then dwindled from 1999 onwards. Moreover, race, happiness and education have historically influenced public confidence in the police.Originality/valueThese findings provide information that could be useful for transforming the SAPS, especially in developing viable strategies to strengthen the police’s relationship with citizens. Additionally, the manuscript provides an original contribution to the study of public attitudes toward the police and police legitimacy, especially in a non-western society.

The Politics, Promise, and Peril of Criminal Justice Reform in the Context of Mass Incarceration

Mass incarceration is an unprecedented development, one with myriad adverse consequences. Although the expansion of US penal institutions is largely a function of changes in practice and policy rather than rising crime rates, reversing this trend will nonetheless be challenging. The need for comprehensive sentencing reform is clear, but political limits on legislative remedies and the failure of the courts to notably reduce the scale, or improve conditions, of confinement render these approaches highly uncertain. In the short term, unconventional methods that do not require legislative authorization, such as electing, pressuring, and incentivizing prosecutors to reduce penal severity, may be a promising way of addressing mass incarceration. The return and revitalization of parole or other systems of post-sentence review are also crucial and may be legitimated in terms of the need to incentivize rehabilitation and prevent the unnecessary and costly incarceration of the elderly. The recent mobilization of grass-roots movements for penal change that include those directly affected by both violence and mass incarceration is also auspicious, as their work may help to humanize the justice-involved and undermine the erroneous assumption that crime survivors are well-served by mass incarceration.

L’ascension par Ludovic Bernard

viewers come to know Pauline Duhez (Émilie Dequenne), well-liked, respected, single mother of two youngsters, daughter of a former miner. An infirmière à domicile— hard-working, efficient, compassionate—she nonetheless sometimes finds it difficult to make ends meet each month. Her interactions with family, friends, and patients introduce the community’s problematic social and cultural issues—unemployment, scarcity of adequate social services, rising crime rate, traditions modified by contact with an influx of immigrants—topics frequently emphasized by politicians of the farright populist persuasion. Three influential male characters surround Pauline, each representing a distinct emotional influence as well as a particular political viewpoint. Berthier (André Dussollier), the amiable family doctor, helped when her mother was dying from cancer and was instrumental in urging her into nursing. However, he is also a Machiavellian political operator (people call him an“old Fascist”) currently working with a new party, the Rassemblement national populaire, headed by a woman who bears a marked resemblance—physically and politically—to Marine Le Pen. Stéphane Stankowiak (Guillaume Gouix), a lost high-school love, reappears and the flame between them reignites; but, unbeknown to Pauline, his anti-immigration attitude (ironic given his surname) stems from his membership in a Neo-Nazi group. Pauline cares for her father, who suffers physical ills and still mourns his wife’s passing. As an old-time left-wing union activist, he cannot understand his daughter’s apolitical attitude; and becomes completely dismayed when, falling under the siren call of the RNP’s “pour la France,” Pauline agrees to run for mayor in the upcoming municipal elections. With this decision the fabric of her life suddenly begins to tear apart. While Belvaux devotes a fair amount of screen time to exposing the “con-artistry” of the fictitious political party (the Front national is never mentioned) that manipulates Pauline’s puppet candidacy, the major strength of this well-acted film lies in his ability to convincingly foreground an engaging personal story against the highly charged political scene. This narrative tactic allows viewers to focus on and empathize with Pauline as a fellow human being who is just trying to cope as best she can within her family and community and be a loving, responsible daughter, mother, and nurse. Such empathy offers audiences the opportunity for a civil discussion about right-wing politicians and the populist rhetoric they wield to capture voters such as Pauline. University of Idaho, emerita Joan M. West Bernard, Ludovic, réal. L’ascension. Int. Ahmed Sylla, Alice Belaïdi, Kévin Razy, Nicolas Wanczycki. France 2, 2017. L’invraisemblance de ce récit en fait un film sans prétention et plutôt bien réussi. “Pour toi, je pourrais gravir l’Everest!” déclare Sami (Ahmed Sylla) à Nadia (Alice Belaïdi). Prêt à tout pour la persuader, il finit par surmonter l’insurmontable. Voici 240 FRENCH REVIEW 91.4 Reviews 241 la base de cette comédie grand public, qui tout comme Intouchables (Nakache et Toledano, 2011), plaira certainement à une grande majorité d’étudiants de tout âge. L’ascension est une reconstitution fictionnelle de l’histoire vraie de Nadir Dendoune (Un tocard sur le toit du monde, 2010), qui se trouve être un des co-scénaristes du film. Samy Diakhaté n’a aucune expérience de la montagne, mais relève le défi de sa promesse afin de prouver son amour à Nadia. De la Courneuve (Seine-Saint-Denis) à l’Everest, son long voyage, suivi par les médias et sponsorisé par une radio locale de la Courneuve, est parsemé d’obstacles qui ne font que renforcer notre soutien pour ce jeune homme sans aucune expérience en matière d’escalade. Hormis la maigreur du scénario et quelques petits dérapages narratifs (la dimension émotive est plutôt faible et la scène finale du film tombe à plat), les petites vannes tant qu’à la réussite improbable de Samy ont une portée quelque peu universelle et finissent par nous faire craquer pour cette performance verticale qui s’élève à 8848 mètres. Hors de son milieu ‘naturel’, Samy étonne et séduit ceux qu’il rencontre tout au long de son escalade en se...

Mental Health and the Juvenile Justice System: Where Has History Taken Us?

Mental Health and the Juvenile Justice System: Where Has History Taken Us?

Differential perceptions of fear of crime among college students: The race factor

ABSTRACTDespite the rising crime rates on U.S. university campuses, few empirical studies—either quantitative or qualitative—have examined the rate of fearfulness among college students. The present analysis supplements previous efforts by exploring racial effects on college students' feelings of fearfulness and determines the influence of individual characteristics on white and nonwhite students' fear of crime. Using cross-sectional data from a large public university in the United States, results show that nonwhite students have greater levels of fear of crime on campus than their white counterparts. Moreover, gender and perceived police effectiveness also influenced students' levels of fear of crime. The effects were true for both white and nonwhite students.

India’s policies on leveraging financial inclusion in the country

Exclusion of basic financial services acts as an obstacle in achieving economic development because financially excluded people are forced to take credit at exorbitant rates from informal sources which results in debt, unemployment and rise in crime rates (Sharma & Kaur 2012; Mathew & Kurian 2015). Moreover, lack of access to the financial services or the inability to use them leads to social exclusion (European social watch report 2010). Hence financial inclusion becomes a priority of every government. In India several policy initiatives have been taken by the Government of India (GOI) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to make banking services accessible to the masses; right from nationalization of banks to priority sector lending to launching of lead bank scheme to establishing Regional Rural Banks to initiating Self – Help group bank Linkage Programme. In spite of all the sincere efforts by Government of India (GOI) and by Reserve Bank of India (RBI), they are yet to overcome several hurdles as 10.91% of the entire population in the country state distance as a barrier, 10.92% of them state cost as a barrier, 9.71% report documentation as a barrier and 3.47% report trust as a barrier for opening a bank account (World Bank 2016). In this paper through expository research we have made an attempt to study the various initiatives taken by the authoritative bodies in India to achieve financial inclusion and its impact on the households. A thorough study has been done on the various policies undertaken and the participation of the various stakeholders of the Indian economy to help in the successful execution of these policies. Data has been gathered through official reports published by these authoritative bodies and an analysis of the parameters that indicate the spread of financial inclusion has been undertaken.