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Criminology Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2023 2023.

Efficacy of Online Social Movements for Sparking Change: The Case of the Missing Murdered and Indigenous Women Movement (#MMIW) , Kacy A. Bleeker

An Examination of Racial Disparities in Arrest Across Florida Counties, 1998-2018: A Test of the Racial Threat and Political Representation Hypotheses , Xavier D. Burch

The Invisible Victims of Commercial Sexual Exploitation: Boys and Their Barriers to Access to Services , Amanda L. Connella

Damned & Damned: Examining Vexatious Litigation and the Vexatious Litigant Statute in Florida Courts , Sarah L. Harper

The Contributions of Mental Health Issues, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Adverse Childhood Experiences to Recidivism Among Rural Jail Incarcerees , Lauren N. Miley

Assessing the Relationship Between True Crime Documentary and Podcast Consumption, Fear of Crime, and Protective Behaviors , Lauren A. Tremblay

Police Officers’ Perceptions of Gunshot Detection Technology , Courtney L. Weber

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

A Macro Social Examination of the Relationship Between Disabilities and Crime Using Neighborhood and County Level Data , Natasha A. Baloch

Racial Differences in Perceptions of Sanction Severity , Sarah L. Franklin

Juvenile Homicide Offenders: A Life-Course Perspective , Norair Khachatryan

Exploring the Effectiveness of a Life-Skills Program in a Florida Prison Through a Social Bond and General Strain Theory Perspective , Danielle M. Thomas

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

Clean Water for All: Examining Safe Drinking Water Act Violations of Water Systems and Community Characteristics , Junghwan Bae

Morality and Offender Decision-Making: Testing the Empirical Relationship and Examining Methodological Implications , Jacquelyn Burckley

The Ring of Gyges 2.0: How Anonymity Providing Behaviors Affect Willingness to Participate in Online Deviance , Cassandra E. Dodge

A Macro Analysis of Illegal Hunting and Fishing Across Texas Counties: Using an Economic Structural Approach , Leo J. Genco Jr.

Self-Protection in Cyberspace: Assessing the Processual Relationship Between Thoughtfully Reflective Decision Making, Protection Motivation Theory, Cyber Hygiene, and Victimization , C. Jordan Howell

Racial Threat Theory: A Test of the Economic Threat Hypothesis , Carl L. Reeds

Online Perceptions of Panamanian Prisons and Incarcerated persons: An analysis of YouTube user comments , Mahaleth J. Sotelo

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Toxic Colonialism and Green Victimization of Native Americans: An Examination of the Genocidal Impacts of Uranium Mining , Averi R. Fegadel

Cross-National Incarceration Rates as Behavior of Law , Christopher J. Marier

The Effects of Perceived Motivations and Mental Distress on the Likelihood of Reporting and Engaging in Self-Protective Measures Among Victims of Stalking , Daniela Oramas Mora

Mental Health and In-Prison Experiences: Examining Socioeconomic and Sex Differences in the Effect of Mental Illness on Institutional Misconduct and Disciplinary Segregation , Rachel E. Severson

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Dating Application Facilitated Victimization: An Examination of Lifestyle-Routine Activities, Self-Control, and Self-Efficacy , Vanessa Centelles

Social Constructionism and Cultivation Theory in Development of the Juvenile “Super-Predator” , Elizabeth R. Jackson-Cruz

Bystander Intervention, Victimization, and Routine Activities Theory: An Examination of Feminist Routine Activities Theory in Cyber Space , Jennifer A. Leili

Sexual Assault and Robbery Disclosure: An Examination of Black’s Theory of the Behavior of Law , Caitlyn N. Muniz

Mass Shootings and Gun Sales: A Study on the Influence of Red and Blue Power , Maria Jose Rozo Osuna

A Multi-dimensional Macrolevel Study of Drug Enforcement Strategies, Heroin Prices, and Heroin Consumption Rates , Alexander G. Toth

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

The Impact of a Religious/Spiritual Turning Point on Desistance: A Lifecourse Assessment of Racial/Ethnic Differences , Rhissa Briones Robinson

Political Decisions on Police Expenditures: Examining the Potential Relationship Between Political Structure, Police Expenditures and the Volume of Crime Across US States , Xavier D. Burch

Identifying the Personal and Perceived Organizational Characteristics Associated with Job Satisfaction Among Juvenile Probation Staff , Julie M. Krupa

The Role of Organizational Justice in Predicting Attitudes Toward Body-Worn Cameras in Police Officers , Nathaniel L. Lawshe

Yet Another Ferguson Effect: An Exploratory Content Analysis of News Stories on Police Brutality and Deadly Force Before and After the Killing of Michael Brown , Carl Root

The Role of Race/Ethnicity and Risk Assessment on Juvenile Case Outcomes , Tayler N. Shreve

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

Intimate Partner Violence and the Capacity and Desire for Self-Control , Krista Taralynne Brewer

School Shootings in the United States from 1997 to 2012: A Content Analysis of Media Coverage , Victoria N. Iannuzzi

Chronic Runaway Youth: A Gender-Based Analysis , Michelle N. Jeanis

A Test of Wikström’s Situational Action Theory Using Self-Report Data on Intimate Partner Violence , Lauren Nicole Miley

An Exploratory Study of Macro-Social Correlates of Online Property Crime , Hyojong Song

Female Incarceration and Prison Social Order: An Examination of Gender Differences in Prison Misconduct and In-Prison Punishments , Elisa L. Toman

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Their Role as Mitigators for Youthful and Non-Youthful Offenders in Capital Sentencing Cases , Jessica R. Trapassi

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

Disinhibition, Violence Exposure, and Delinquency: A Test of How Self-Control Affects the Impact of Exposure to Violence , Wyatt Brown

The Guilty But Mentally Ill Verdict: Assessing the Impact of Informing Jurors of Verdict Consequences , Erin Elizabeth Cotrone

The Relationship between Psychopathic Personality Traits and Lying , Jason A. Dobrow

Delving into the Heart of Victimization Risk: Examining the Interactive Relationship between Demographic Factors and Context , Amy Sheena Eggers

A Power Conflict Approach to Animal Cruelty: Examining How Economic Power Influences the Creation of Animal Cruelty Laws , Leonard J. Genco

The Role of Gender in Self-Control and Intimate Partner Violence , Laura Marie Gulledge

The Restrictive Deterrent Effect of Warning Banners in a Compromised Computer System , Christian Jordan-Michael Howell

Tactics of Sexual Control and Negative Health Outcomes , Anna Elizabeth Kleppe

The Applicability of Criminology to Terrorism Studies: An Exploratory Study of ISIS Supporters in the United States , Amanda Marie Sharp Parker

The Path to Violent Behavior: The Harmful Aftermath of Childhood Trauma , Nicholas Michael Perez

The Effects of Racial Bias on Perceptions of Intimate Partner Violence Scenarios , Batya Yisraela Rubenstein

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Reel or Reality? The Portrayal of Prostitution in Major Motion Pictures , Raleigh Blasdell

Psychopathy and Perception of Vulnerability , Barbara Joyce Dinkins

Effect of Empathy on Death Penalty Support in Relation to the Racial Divide and Gender Gap , Brian Godcharles

Exploring the Interactive Effects of Social Learning Theory and Psychopathy on Serious Juvenile Delinquency , Brandy Barenna Henderson

Tampa Electric Company's Big Bend Utility Plant in Hillsborough County, Florida: A Case Study , Lynne M. Hodalski-Champagne

Thirty Year Follow-Up of Juvenile Homicide Offenders , Norair Khachatryan

Organized Crime in Insurance Fraud: An Empirical Analysis of Staged Automobile Accident Rings , Chris Longino

The Role of Social Support in the Disclosure and Recovery Process of Rape Victims , Jessica Nicole Mitchell

Evaluating the Social Control of Banking Crimes: An Examination of Anti-Money Laundering Deficiencies and Industry Success , Erin M. Mulligan

Elite Deviance, Organized Crime, and Homicide: A Cross-National Quantitative Analysis , Carol L.s. Trent

An Evaluation of the Utah First District Mental Health Court: Gauging the Efficacy of Diverting Offenders Suffering With Serious Mental Illness , Stephen Guy VanGeem

Rape, Race, and Capital Punishment in North Carolina: A Qualitative Approach to Examining an Enduring Cultural Legacy , Douglas Wholl

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

The Tattoo: A Mark of Subversion, Deviance, or Mainstream Self-Expression? , Jocelyn Camacho

Juvenile and Adult Involvement in Double Parricide and Familicide in the U.S.: An Empirical Analysis of 20 Years of Data , Averi Rebekah Fegadel

Predicting Successful Drug Court Graduation: Exploring Demographic and Psychosocial Factors among Medication-Assisted Drug Court Treatment Clients , Autumn Michelle Frei

Experimentally Evaluating Statistical Patterns of Offending Typology For Burglary: A Replication Study , Lance Edwin Gilmore

Developmental Trajectories of Physical Aggression and Nonaggressive Rule-Breaking among At-risk Males and Females during Late Childhood and Early Adolescence , Eugena Givens

Predicting Fear of Crime using a Multilevel and Multi-Model Approach: A Study in Hillsborough County , Jonathan Maskaly

Public Knowledge and Sentiments about Elite Deviance , Cedric Michel

The Influence of Community Context on Social Control: A Multi-Level Examination of the Relationship between Race/Ethnicity, Drug Offending, and Juvenile Court Outcomes , Jennifer Peck

Theses/Dissertations from 2013 2013

Assessing the Relationship Between Hotspots of Lead and Hotspots of Crime , Kimberly L. Barrett

A Life-Course Approach to Sexual Offending: Examining the Continuity of Juvenile Sexual Offending into Adulthood and Subsequent Patterns of Recidivism , Maude Beaudry-Cyr

Examining the link between self-control and misconduct in a multi-agency sample of police supervisors: A test of two theories , Christopher Matthew Donner

The Impact of Hyperfemininity on Explicit and Implicit Blame Assignment and Police Reporting of Alcohol Facilitated Rape in a Sample of College Women , Sarah Ehlke

Rurality and Intimate Partner Homicide: Exploring the Relationship between Place, Social Structure, and Femicide in North Carolina , Amelia Kirkland

Self-Control, Attitudinal Beliefs, and White-Collar Crime Intentions , Melissa Anne Lugo

Zero Tolerance for Marginal Populations: Examining Neoliberal Social Controls in American Schools , Brian Gregory Sellers

State-Corporate Crime in the Democratic Republic of Congo , Veronica Jane Winters

Theses/Dissertations from 2012 2012

The Walls Are Closing In: Comparing Property Crime Victimization Risk In Gated And Non-Gated Communities , Nicholas Branic

What Propels Sexual Homicide Offenders? Testing an Integrated Theory of Social Learning and Routine Activities Theories , Heng Choon Chan

A Deadly Way of Doing Business: A Case Study of Corporate Crime in the Coal Mining Industry , Charles Nickolas Stickeler

Deconstructing the "Power and Control Motive": Developing and Assessing the Measurability of Internal Power , Shelly Marie Wagers

Theses/Dissertations from 2011 2011

Assessing racial differences in offending trajectories: A life-course view of the race-crime relationship , Michael S. Caudy

Mental Health Courts Effectiveness in Reducing Recidivism and Improving Clinical Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis , Brittany Cross

General Strain Theory and Juvenile Delinquency: A Cross-Cultural Study , Wen-Hsu Lin

General Strain Theory, Race, and Delinquency , Jennifer Peck

Developmental Trajectories of Self-Control: Assessing the Stability Hypothesis , James Vance Ray

Explaining the "Female Victim Effect" in Capital Sentencing Decisions: A Case for Sex-Specific Models of Capital Sentencing Research , Tara N. Richards

A Multilevel Model of Police Corruption: Anomie, Decoupling, and Moral Disengagement , Ruth Zschoche

Theses/Dissertations from 2010 2010

The Emotional Guardianship of Foreign-Born and Native-Born Hispanic Youth and Its Effect on Violent Victimization , Amy Sheena Eggers

The Influence of Narcissism and Self-Control on Reactive Aggression , Melissa L. Harrison

Is There an "Innocent Female Victim" Effect in Capital Punishment Sentencing? , Amelia Lane Kirkland

An Analysis of the Influence of Sampling Methods on Estimation of Drug Use Prevalence and Patterns Among Arrestees in the United States: Implications for Research and Policy , Janine Kremling

A Pathway to Child Sex Trafficking in Prostitution: The Impact of Strain and Risk-Inflating Responses , Joan A. Reid

Victimization Among Individuals With Low Self-Control: Effects on Fear Versus Perceived Risk of Crime , Casey Williams

Theses/Dissertations from 2009 2009

Domestic Violence Within Law Enforcement Families: The Link Between Traditional Police Subculture and Domestic Violence Among Police , Lindsey Blumenstein

Rape Attitudes and Beliefs: A Replication Study , Rhissa Emily Briones

Reel Images: Representations of Adult Male Prisons by the Film Industry , Melissa E. Fenwick

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Home > USC Columbia > Arts and Sciences > Criminology and Criminal Justice > Criminology and Criminal Justice Theses and Dissertations

Criminology and Criminal Justice Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2023 2023.

The Risk of Protection: Examining the Contextual Effects of Child Protective Services on Child Maltreatment Fatalities in the U.S. , Cosette Morgan McCullough

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

Too Feminine for Execution?: Gender Stereotypes and the Media’s Portrayal of Women Sentenced to Death , Kelsey M. Collins

Juveniles, Transferred Juveniles, and the Impact of a Criminal Record on Employment Prospects in Adulthood: An Experimental Study , Joanna Daou

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

Why So Long? Examining the Nexus Between Case Complexity and Delay in Florida’s Death Penalty System , Corey Daniel Burton

The Criminalization of HIV and HIV Stigma , Deanna Cann

Views of Substance Use During Pregnancy: Social Responses to the Issue , Taylor Ruddy

The Spatial Variability of Crime: A Review of Methodological Choice, Proposed Models, and Methods for Illustrating the Phenomenon , Matthew D. Spencer

Community Corrections Officer Decision-Making: An Intersectional Analysis , Amber Leigh Williams Wilson

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

The Utility of Using Virtue Locales to Explain Criminogenic Environments , Hunter Max Boehme

Fostering Resilience in Correctional Officers , Jon Thomas Arthur Gist

The Impact of Race/Ethnicity on Sentencing: A Matching Approach , Travis Jones

Unraveling the Temporal Aspects of Victimization: The Reciprocal, Additive, and Cumulative Effects of Direct/Vicarious Victimization on Crime , Yeoju Park

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Media Influence on College Students' Perceptions of the Police , Matilda Foster

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Ohio's Certificate of Relief , Peter Leasure

Trends in the Prevalence of Arrest for Intimate Partner Violence Using the National Crime Victimization Survey , Tara E. Martin

Reading Between the Lines: An Intersectional Media Analysis of Female Sex Offenders in Florida Newspapers , Toniqua C. Mikell

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

The Short-Term Self-Control Stability of College Students , Nicholas James Blasco

Developmental Patterns of Religiosity in Relation to Criminal Trajectories among Serious Offenders across Adolescence and Young Adulthood , Siying Guo

Local Incarceration As Social Control: A National Analysis Of Social, Economic, And Political Determinants Of Jail Use In The United States , Heather M. Ouellette

Association Between Perception Of Police Prejudice Against Minorities And Juvenile Delinquency , Kwang Hyun Ra

A Quasi-Experimental Analysis Of School-Based Situational Crime Prevention Measures , Gary Zhang

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

Sex Offender Policies that Spin the Revolving Door: An Exploration of the Relationships Between Residence Restrictions, Homelessness, and Recidivism , Deanna Cann

Untangling the Interconnected Relationships between Alcohol Use, Employment, and Offending , Margaret M. Chrusciel

Inmate Time Utilization And Well-Being , Mateja Vuk

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

The Socio-Legal Construction Of Adolescent Criminality: Examining Race, Community, And Contextual Factors Through The Lens Of Focal Concerns , Patrick Glen Lowery

The Impact Of Deinstitutionalization On Murders Of Law Enforcement Officers , Xueyi Xing

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Relationships Between Law Enforcement Officer-Involved Vehicle Collisions And Other Police Behaviors , John Andrew Hansen

In the Eye of the Beholder: Exploring the Dialogic Approach to Police Legitimacy , Justin Nix

Criminology on Crimes Against Humanity: A North Korean Case Study , Megan Alyssa Novak

General Strain Theory and Bullying Victimization: Do Parental Support and Control Alleviate the Negative Effects of Bullying , Jonathon Thompson

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

Adultification in Juvenile Corrections: A Comparison of Juvenile and Adult Officers , Riane Miller Bolin

Perception of Police in Public Housing Communities , Taylor Brickley

Neighborhood Disorganization and Police Decision-Making in the New York City Police Department , Allison Carter

The Impact of Race on Strickland Claims in Federal Courts in the South , Wyatt Gibson

Lead Exposure and Crime , Tara Elaine Martin

GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER: HAZING, HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY, AND VICTIMIZATION , TONIQUA CHAREE MIKELL

Theses/Dissertations from 2013 2013

Policing Alcohol and Related Crimes On Campus , Andrea Nicole Allen

Gender and Programming: A Comparison of Program Availability and Participation in U.S. Prisons for Men and Women , Courtney A. Crittenden

Assessing the Impact of the Court Response to Domestic Violence in Two Neighboring Counties , Gillian Mira Pinchevsky

Theses/Dissertations from 2012 2012

Criminal Sentencing In the Court Communities of South Carolina: An Examination of offender, Judge, and County Characteristics , Rhys Hester

Examining the Effects of Religiosity and Religious Environments On Inmate Misconduct , Benjamin Dane Meade

Theses/Dissertations from 2011 2011

Criminologists' Opinions On Correctional Rehabilitation , Heather M. Ouellette

Theses/Dissertations from 2010 2010

A Qualitative Analysis of the Etiology, Manifestation, and Institutional Responses to Self-Injurious Behaviors in Prison , Steven Doty

Theses/Dissertations from 2002 2002

The Effects of Administrative Factors on Police Officer Job Performance , Irick Anthony Geary Jr.

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Home > College of Social and Behavioral Sciences > Criminal Justice > Criminal Justice Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Criminal Justice Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Theses/projects/dissertations from 2023 2023.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN THE AMERICAS: COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL SOURCE COMPILATION VERSUS UNODC DATA , Ivette Avila Jimenez

SUPPORTING REENTRY AT THE EGOCENTRIC LEVEL: INVESTIGATING THE ROLE SOCIAL NETWORKS PLAY POST INCARCERATION , Jennifer Perretti

Theses/Projects/Dissertations from 2022 2022

Crisis Intervention Team Training and Use of Force on Persons with Mental Illnesses , Xavier Aguirre

THE EFFECT OF POLICE SUB-CULTURE ON INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE WITHIN LAW ENFORCEMENT FAMILIES , Geovvany Mendez

FORMAL AND INFORMAL LABELING OF ADOLESCENTS: THE CONSEQUENCES OF CUMULATIVE DISADVANTAGE ON DEVIANCE DURING EMERGING ADULTHOOD , Chijioke Onyekonwu

Theses/Projects/Dissertations from 2020 2020

UNDERSTANDING WHY INDIVIDUALS USE CLUB DRUGS AT RAVES AND ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC EVENTS: A PEER CLUSTER THEORY APPROACH , Brandi N. Burns

PERSONALITY DIFFERENCES IN PREDICTING ASSAULT AND BINGE DRINKING: VARIATION ACROSS EXPLANATORY FACTORS AND GENDER , Allison De Franco

IDENTIFYING MARKERS OF TRANSIT STATES EMBEDDED IN INTERNATIONAL DRUG TRAFFICKING NETWORKS , Citlalik Ibarra Figueroa

AN INTERRUPTED TIME SERIES ANALYSIS EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF HELLER ON VIOLENT GUN CRIME TRENDS IN WASHINGTON D.C. AND DETROIT, MICHIGAN , Naveen Raj Madahar

Theses/Projects/Dissertations from 2018 2018

FEMALE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER'S EXPERIENCES OF WORKPLACE HARASSMENT , Vanessa Brodeur

CAN WE LEARN FROM HACKERS TO PROTECT VICTIMS? , Nicholas Marshall Chavez

Theses/Projects/Dissertations from 2017 2017

HOW FAR WILL YOU GO WHEN THERE IS AN EMBARGO?A STOCHASTIC ACTOR-ORIENTED MODEL OF THE EFFECTS OF ARMS EMBARGOS ON ILLICIT WEAPONS TRADE , Jennifer A. Hagala

Social Media and the Voice of the Department , Brittany N. Rios

Theses/Projects/Dissertations from 2016 2016

CROSSING BORDERS: MEXICAN DRUG TRAFFICKING ORGANIZATIONS INFLUENCE ON INTERSTATE GANG STRUCTURE , Stacey Michelle Goldberg

The Effects of Gender on Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol Sentencing Disaprities in Pennsylvania , Dianna Hurst

Theses/Projects/Dissertations from 2015 2015

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AGE OF ONSET OF DRUG USE, DRUG DEPENDENCE, MENTAL DISORDERS, AND OFFENSE TYPE AND SEVERITY , Kimberly Diane Gallo

BULLYCIDE: AN EXPLORATION OF THE PREVALENCE OF POTENTIAL INDICATORS COMPARING LGBTIQ AND HETEROSEXUAL ADULTS , Isai Valdez

Theses/Projects/Dissertations from 2014 2014

A Typology of Homegrown Terrorists , Cynthia Estella Quintero

Los Angeles County's Criminal Street Gangs: Does Violence Roll Downhill? , Jasmin B. Randle

WOMEN AS VICTIMS OR SURVIVORS , Shelby N. Swanson

Theses/Dissertations from 2013 2013

International cocaine and heroin trafficking: A network approach , Stephen Richard Anderson

Drone effects: Structural change in Al Qa̕ ida communications , Stacy Michelle Bush

A path analysis on the acquisition of mental health treatment and the effect of that treatment on subsequent offending , Gabriel Jude Saucedo

Theses/Dissertations from 2012 2012

Empirical test of the general strain theory on workplace shootings , Joshwan Marcus Cobbs

Identity theft: A problem of complex systems or moral panic? , Matthew Timothy Tracy

Theses/Dissertations from 2011 2011

Controlling gang crime: The Santa Nita gang injunction , Bryan William Devor

An examination of the organizational factors that contribute to police officer perceived organizational support , Dustin Cody Gaines

Immigrant Hispanic women and the victimization they encounter in the United States , Alejandra Aranda Redondo

Hate crimes based on gender identity and sexual orientation , Katie Nicole Williams

Theses/Dissertations from 2010 2010

An examination of observed disparities between felony murder and manslaughter rates across California , Michael Christopher Fuhr

Cartoon violence: A comparison of past and present , Elizabeth Cameron Macias

Job stress among public service employees , Carlena Antonette Orosco

Theses/Dissertations from 2009 2009

Detection of deception in criminal defendents: Treatment or trial? , Loran Noelle Bounds

Disciplinary patterns and complaint system of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department , Scott Eric Hutter

The effectiveness of using homicide and auto theft rates as indicators of violent and property crime in the United States , Joseph Allan Schwartz

Theses/Dissertations from 2008 2008

The nine reasons why inmates offend: Rational choice and determinism , Anthony Robert Carbo

Juvenile movement between activity nodes , Jill Mary Christie

Examining the effects of abuse on girls in gangs , Champagne Monique Ford

Gang membership, drug sales, violence, and guns , Jose Fabian Gonzalez Dominquez

Measuring crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) in shopping centers , Anchalee Roongsittchichai

The effects of Megan's Law on the reintegration of child sex offenders , Trisha Marie Tenorio

Theses/Dissertations from 2007 2007

The invisible woman: The lesbian - scared straight , Kathleen Louise Dart

Artists and crooks: A correlational examination of creativity and criminal thinking , Luis Daniel Gascón

Crime and the Sorcerer's Stone: Using Harry Potter to teach theories of crime , Julie Elizabeth Humphrey

The effectiveness of anger management counseling on recidivism rates of gang-related adolescents in the Project BRIDGE Program , Candace Kay Johnson

Healthcare fraud and non-fraud healthcare crimes: A comparison , Michael Ponce

Implications of sex offender residency restrictions , Erin Patricia Wolbeck

Theses/Dissertations from 2006 2006

Assessing the impact of the mentally ill offender crime reduction aftercare program in San Bernardino, California , Araseli De La Rosa

Insulating effects of early childhood education , William Anthony Kull

Parolee and police officer perceptions of prison gang etiology, power, and control , William Henry Richert

Theses/Dissertations from 2005 2005

Treatment of mentally ill juvenile offenders in the criminal justice system , Robin Michelle Atlas

The geo-spatial analysis and environmental factors of narcotics hot spots , Stefanie Wrae Balchak

The effects of family size on the development of delinquency , Tasha DeLeeuw Gilbert

A portable traveler's weblog , Feng-Chun Lung

Trafficking in women: International sex services , Joseph Morgan Wilcox

Theses/Dissertations from 2004 2004

Spirituality: The effects on female inmates and recidivism , Joanne Marie Erbe

The impact of social disorganization and public school characteristics in explaining suspensions and expulsions , Amanda De Vries Liabeuf

The relationship between place management and physical environment in apartment crime , Eric Steven McCord

Domestic violence and the Air Force family: Research into situational dynamics and evaluation of the Air Force Family Advocacy Program , Thomas Peter Sherman

Female property crime offenders: Explanations from economic marginalization perspective , Susan Chih-Wen Su

Theses/Dissertations from 2003 2003

Why do they resist? Exploring dynamics of police-citizen violence during arrest encounters , Kimberly Joy Belvedere

Boot camps: An alternative sanction for better or worse , Angela Dawn Macdonald

Theses/Dissertations from 2002 2002

Chemical dependency treatment: An examination of following continuing care recommendations , Briar Lee Faulkner

The criminal behavior and motivations behind McVeigh's decision to bomb the Murrah Federal Building , Mark Lawson Fetter

Theses/Dissertations from 2001 2001

A description and assessment of a Youth Accountability Board , Tamara Dawn Sorensen

Privatization of Southern California local detention facilities , Anita Whitehead

High technology cargo theft: A new multibillion dollar criminal industry , John Robert Yakstas

Theses/Dissertations from 2000 2000

Commuters and city crime rates , Colin Leslie Adkins

Banning Correctional Facility: Residential substance abuse treatment program process survey , Melinda DeAnn Hulvey

An evaluation of the drugs crime nexus, legalization of drugs, drug enforcement, and drug treatment rehabilitation , James Richard Keesling

Evaluation of the operation New Hope Alternative School and lifestyle improvement program for at-risk juveniles , Matthew Ashley Robby

The promise of restorative justice: An outcomes evaluation of an Orange County Victim Offender Reconciliation Program, with focus on the victim's perspective , Charlaine Annette Cecilia White

Theses/Dissertations from 1999 1999

Is capital punishment a deterrent to crime? , Greg Warren Colyer

Theses/Dissertations from 1998 1998

Cross cultural relations in law enforcement , Mario Martin Cortez

Domestic violence: An evaluation of policy effects on arrests for the Riverside County Sheriff's Department from 1987 to 1997 , James Patrick McElvain

The verdict in retrospect: An anlysis of the sociological and jurisprudential paradigms of jury decision-making , Christopher S. Riley

A comparative study of recidivism rates between graduates of Twin Pines Ranch and juveniles in Riverside County who completed probation , Djuan Maria Smith

Birth and the magistrate: The influence of pregnancy on judicial decisions , Kristi Dawne Waits

Theses/Dissertations from 1997 1997

Child abuse and juvenile delinquency: A review of the literature , Charlotte Center Anthony

Resistance and perceptions of punitiveness as a function of voluntary and involuntary participation in domestic violence treatment programs , Aimee Kristine Cassidy

Drug court: Using diversion to supervise and treat an escalating drug offender population , Laura Davis

Sanctioning DUI offenders: The effect of extralegal factors on sentence severity , Beverly K. Rios

Theses/Dissertations from 1996 1996

Survey on the seriousness of crime: A comparison of three police departments , Terry J. Comnick

Quality of services at community correction facilities , Funmi Stella Tofowomo

Theses/Dissertations from 1995 1995

Attitudes toward hiring and working with homosexuals in Southern California law enforcement agencies , James Frederick Doyle

The Marine Corps subculture , David Herman Marshall

The continuing evolution of policing: community oriented policing in the civilian sector and its applicability in the military environment , Ralph George Schindler

Death sentence experience: The impact on family members of condemned inmates , Catherine Anne Vallejo

Self-perceptions of women who kill , Maria Guadalupe Venegas

Theses/Dissertations from 1994 1994

Trust in courtroom participants: A question of bias in prospective jurors , Robin Leslie Adrian

A study of employee theft in hospitals , Elena Castillo-Pekarcik

The comparison of victim-offender mediation programs between China and America , Yang Fang

Mentoring with youthful offenders: An implementation evaluation , R. Steve Lowe

Comparisons of inmate offense severity ratings and attitudes toward rehabilitation , Henry William Provencher

Theses/Dissertations from 1993 1993

Law enforcement officers killed and assaulted, 1960-1987: A descriptive analysis , Thomas Edward Singer

Theses/Dissertations from 1992 1992

An analysis of plea bargaining , Gabriela Aceves

Empirical analysis and evaluation of the California Department of Youth Authority's post parole substance abuse treatment program: El Centro, California , Don Allen Josi

Theses/Dissertations from 1991 1991

The re-emergence of public support for rehabilitative treatment in prisons , Victoria Lynn Penley

Theses/Dissertations from 1990 1990

Claims making in the case study of missing children: A case study , James Leonard Griggs

The ignored victim: An examination of male rape in a general population , Thomas Williams

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Research Article

COVID-19 and crime: Analysis of crime dynamics amidst social distancing protocols

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America

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Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Resources, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America, National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America

  • Shelby M. Scott, 
  • Louis J. Gross

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  • Published: April 1, 2021
  • https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249414
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Fig 1

In response to the pandemic in early 2020, cities implemented states of emergency and stay at home orders to reduce virus spread. Changes in social dynamics due to local restrictions impacted human behavior and led to a shift in crime dynamics. We analyze shifts in crime types by comparing crimes before the implementation of stay at home orders and the time period shortly after these orders were put in place across three cities. We find consistent changes across Chicago, Baltimore, and Baton Rouge with significant declines in total crimes during the time period immediately following stay at home orders. The starkest differences occurred in Chicago, but in all three cities the crime types contributing to these declines were related to property crime and statutory crime rather than interpersonal crimes.

Citation: Scott SM, Gross LJ (2021) COVID-19 and crime: Analysis of crime dynamics amidst social distancing protocols. PLoS ONE 16(4): e0249414. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249414

Editor: Chad M. Topaz, Williams College, UNITED STATES

Received: October 11, 2020; Accepted: March 17, 2021; Published: April 1, 2021

Copyright: © 2021 Scott, Gross. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting information files. Specific code and information files are available at https://github.com/shelbymscott/COVIDandCrime .

Funding: LJG is supported by the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS), which is funded through NSF Award #DBI-1300426, with additional support from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville ( http://www.nimbios.org/ ). SMS is funded through the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship ( https://ndseg.sysplus.com/ ).

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

Crime is a major public concern in the United States. Gun violence leads to the deaths of 36,000 individuals and the non-fatal injuries of 85,000 others [ 1 ]. Other crime types can produce property damage, trauma for victims, and fractures in community trust [ 2 ]. Across the five major crime categories (personal, property, inchoate, statutory and financial), some rely on regular interpersonal interactions and social dynamics [ 3 ].

In early 2020, COVID-19 emerged in the United States and case numbers quickly grew across the country. In response to the pandemic, many cities implemented a variety of mitigation policies to minimize spread. A major strategy for preventing viral spread focuses on reducing contacts between individuals using stay at home orders, which closed non-essential businesses, mandated wearing masks, and encouraged citizens to minimize all non-essential visits [ 4 ]. Adherence to these policies was initially strong, but faded over time, as evidenced by self-reporting and cell phone movement data (see S1-S3 Figs in S1 File ) [ 5 ]. Implementing these types of policies resulted in drastic changes in the behaviors of citizens. Because crime is associated with human behavior, many have questioned how reductions in human contact have changed the dynamics of crimes across the country [ 6 – 15 ].

In a pandemic which strains health care resources, collateral mortality may increase, due to the inability of the health care system to respond as effectively to crime-derived injuries [ 16 ]. Evaluating the impact of the pandemic on crime in a rigorous manner can assess the potential for significant changes in crime-derived mortality.

We test whether there are significant differences in the crime dynamics in Chicago, IL when comparing the time periods pre- and post-establishment of the stay at home orders, and then compare these results to Baton Rouge, LA and Baltimore, MD. We choose to analyze the first two weeks following the stay ay home order implementation because adherence to the mandates was strongest immediately following implementation (see S1-S3 Figs in S1 File ) [ 5 ]. Our main focus is Chicago, due to its high rates of both COVID-19 and crime. Comparison of the crime dynamics in the three cities determines whether similar patterns exist ( Fig 1 ). We hypothesize that changes in crime dynamics in all three cities following the implementation of stay at home orders are not uniform across all crime types and that there are differences between crimes associated with property, those which are statutory, and those involving interpersonal interactions. We define property crimes (denoted with P for this study) as those which involve interference with the property of another [ 3 ]. We define statutory crimes (denoted with S for this study) as those which are proscribed by statute [ 3 ]. We define interpersonal crimes (denoted with I for this study) as those that result in physical or mental harm to another person [ 3 ]. We find that total crimes declined significantly in the two weeks following implementation of stay-at-home orders across all three cities. In Chicago total crimes declined 31.5%. The property crimes with significant declines were burglary (22.9%), criminal trespass (50.1%), robbery (25.8%), and theft (41.0%). The statutory crimes with significant declines were interference with public officers (93.1%), narcotics (86.1%), and other offenses (41.2%). The interpersonal crimes with significant declines were assault (19.4%), and criminal sexual assault (56.0%). Baltimore also experienced significant declines in total crimes (25.9%). The crime types showing significant declines were auto theft (29.9%), burglary (29.2%), and larceny (35.0%), which are all property crimes. Baton Rouge also experienced significant declines in total crimes (22.4%). The crime types that showed significant declines were narcotics (52.3%) and other crimes (41.5%), which are both statutory crimes.

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Each point is the total number of crimes observed on that day. The vertical line represents the day when the stay at home order was implemented for each city. The dark line represents a moving average of the data with k = 5 to observe shifts in dynamics over a five day temporal window [ 23 ]. More information regarding these methods is available in the S1 File .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249414.g001

Materials and methods

Chicago, Baltimore, and Baton Rouge each have publicly available crime datasets through citywide data portals [ 17 – 19 ]. Due to lack of consensus on collecting, defining, and reporting crime, care should be taken when comparing one dataset to another. Descriptions of each crime type included are available in the (see S2 Table in S1 File ). These three cities were chosen because they had openly available crime data and they differ in demographics (see S1 Table in S1 File ) [ 20 ]. Chicago has a 4.5 times larger population than Baltimore and 12 times larger than Baton Rouge [ 20 ]. All three cities have fairly high poverty rates and regularly receive media attention for their crime dynamics. Crime in all three cities remained fairly consistent from 2017-2019 (see S4-S6 Figs in S1 File ). They also exist in three different regions of the country, making them interesting comparisons for this study [ 20 ].

All data and code files used in this analysis are available through GitHub at https://github.com/shelbymscott/COVIDandCrime .

Chicago data.

The Chicago City Data Portal provides crime reports from 2001-present [ 19 ]. Data are extracted from the CLEAR (Citizen Law Enforcement Analysis and Reporting) system. The information from this dataset used for this analysis includes the date, primary type, and description, but a number of other items are available. We isolated the crimes which occurred from January 1, 2020 through April 4, 2020, which gave data from before the onset of the pandemic (01/01/2020—03/08/2020), during the state of emergency (03/09/2020—03/20/2020), and after the stay at home order was put in place (03/21/2020—04/04/2020) for temporal comparisons. There are 32 different crime types available, but for this analysis we choose 19 of the crime types with high occurrence and denote them as property (P), statutory (S), or interpersonal (I). They include:

  • Total Crimes
  • Gun Crimes (pulled from crime descriptions that included firearm use)
  • Burglary (P)
  • Criminal Damage (P)
  • Criminal Trespass (P)
  • Robbery (P)
  • Weapons Violation (P)
  • Interference with Public Officer (S)
  • Narcotics (S)
  • Other Offense (S)
  • Public Peace Violation (S)
  • Assault (I)
  • Battery (I)
  • Criminal Sexual Assault (I)
  • Homicide (I)
  • Sex Offense (I)

These crime types were chosen because they composed a high proportion of total crimes or were present in the Baltimore or Baton Rouge datasets for potential comparison. Definitions of these crime types are available in the (see S2 Table in S1 File ). Those crime types excluded due to low numbers were: concealed carry license violations, deceptive practices, gambling, human trafficking, intimidation, kidnapping, liquor law violations, obscenity, offenses involving children, other narcotics violations, prostitution, public indecency, and stalking. We determined whether the crime types should be included based on if they comprised greater than or equal to 0.2% of total crimes. This number was found by determining the lowest percentage from the Baltimore and Baton Rouge datasets and only including those crime types which exceeded this amount.

Baltimore data.

Baltimore, Maryland has Victim Based Crime data available for public download [ 18 ]. The data are preliminary and therefore may be subject to change [ 18 ]. The data provided includes a number of different options from which to choose. The relevant information we use includes the date of the crime and the crime type. We isolate those crime types which occurred from the beginning of the year (1/1/20) to when the stay at home order was put in place (3/29/20) and the two weeks following the implementation (3/30/20—4/13/20). The 11 crime types available for analysis are denoted as property (P) or interpersonal (I) as this dataset did not account for statutory crimes since it only provides crimes where an individual was victimized. Definitions of these crime types are available in the (see S2 Table in S1 File ). The dataset includes:

  • Gun Crimes (determined by finding those crimes which involved a firearm as a weapon)
  • Auto Theft (P)
  • Larceny (P)
  • Shooting (I)

Baton Rouge data.

Crimes reported in Baton Rouge are handled by the Baton Rouge Police Department and are publicly available [ 17 ]. The data are pulled from police reports using automatic statistical reporting, which can lead to some errors [ 17 ]. We obtained the dates and crime types from the dataset and parse for the time period from the beginning of the year to when the stay at home order was put in place (1/1/20—3/21/20) and the two weeks following the stay at home order (3/22/20—4/5/20). The 15 crime types analyzed are denoted as property (P), statutory (S), and interpersonal (I). Definitions of these crime types are available in the (see S2 Table in S1 File ). The dataset includes:

  • Juvenile (S)
  • Nuisance (S)
  • Firearm (I)
  • Sexual Assault (I).

t -test analysis

thesis about crime

There were t -tests performed on the datasets in order to determine whether what has been observed in 2020 is significantly different behavior from other years. These included:

  • Year to year tests to determine whether the 2020 observed behavior in Chicago differs from what we would have expected from previous years ( Table 1 , S4-S6 Figs in S1 File ).
  • Within year analysis to determine whether the behavior before pandemic response (1/1/20—3/20/20) and after the stay at home orders were put in place in Chicago (3/21/20—4/3/20) differ from one another ( Table 2 , S7-S10 Figs in S1 File ).
  • Time period comparisons over Baltimore and Baton Rouge to determine whether the patterns seen in response to COVID in Chicago are consistent across numerous cities ( Table 2 , S11 and S12 Figs in S1 File ).
  • Comparison tests with past years to determine whether the observed behavior is due to seasonality or differing temporal dynamics during the pandemic (S3-S19 Tables in S1 File , S4-S6 Figs in S1 File ).

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The degrees of freedom for these analyses are 179 and α = .05 is adjusted after Bonferroni correction (with n = 18) to α = 0.0027. The values for mean μ , standard deviation σ , and percent change are also provided. Bolded crime types show significant differences between years and crime categories are denoted by (P) for property, (S) for statutory, and (I) for interpersonal crimes.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249414.t001

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The observed time period for the stay at home order spans from 03/21/2020—04/04/2020 in Chicago. The degrees of freedom for these analyses are 89 and α = .05 is adjusted after Bonferroni correction (with n = 18) to α = 0.0027. The two weeks after Baltimore’s stay at home period span from 03/30/20—04/13/20. The degrees of freedom for these analyses are 101 and α = .05 is adjusted after Bonferroni correction (with n = 11) to α = 0.0045. The two weeks after Baton Rouge’s stay at home order span from 03/22/20—04/05/20. The degrees of freedom for these analyses are 93 and α = .05 is adjusted after Bonferroni correction (with n = 15) to α = 0.0033. The values for mean μ , standard deviation σ , and percent change are also provided. Bolded crime types show significant differences between years and crime categories are denoted by (P) for property, (S) for statutory, and (I) for interpersonal crimes.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249414.t002

Comparing January through early April Chicago crime data (early 2020) to the same time period in each of the three previous years determines which crime types in 2020 are significantly different [ 19 ]. The results ( Table 1 , S3-S5 Tables and S9-S17 Tables in S1 File ) show that between the early months of 2019 and 2020, there were decreases in total crimes, burglaries, narcotics, other offenses, and thefts. Between 2018 and 2020, total crimes, burglaries, criminal damages, criminal trespasses, narcotics, other offenses, robberies, and thefts all decreased, while weapons violations increased. Between 2017 and 2020, total crimes, burglaries, criminal damages, criminal trespasses, other offenses, public peace violations, robberies, and thefts all decreased, while weapons violations increased. These comparisons include the time period from January 1 to April 4.

To determine whether there were significant differences in crime between time periods, we performed a series of t -tests [ 21 , 22 ]. While Chicago had three distinct time periods: pre-COVID, a state of emergency, and a stay at home order, the results from the state of emergency were not as stark as comparisons between the time period before the stay at home order was implemented and the two weeks after implementation (see supplementary text, S3-S17 Tables in S1 File , and S4 Fig in S1 File ). Total crimes, assaults, burglaries, criminal sexual assaults, criminal trespasses, interference with public officers, narcotics, other offenses, robberies, and thefts each had significant decreases from the time period before the stay at home order was put in place to the two weeks following implementation ( Table 2 , Fig 2a ).

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We also split the crime types into the three crime categories: interpersonal, statutory, and property. The crime types that show significant differences are denoted with an asterisk.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249414.g002

In order to determine whether similar patterns have been observed in other cities with different demographics (S1 Table in S1 File ), we test victim-based crime data from Baltimore, before the stay at home order was put in place and two weeks after implementation ( Table 2 ) [ 18 ]. We find that total crimes, auto thefts, burglaries, and larceny all showed significant declines between the two time periods ( Fig 2b ).

As a further comparison to a smaller population city with different demographics (S1 Table in S1 File ), crime data from Baton Rouge were analyzed ( Table 2 ) [ 17 ]. We find that total crimes, narcotics, and other crimes all decreased significantly after the stay at home order was put in place ( Fig 2c ).

Discussion and conclusions

The analysis of crime data from three cities indicates significant impacts on certain crime types arising from changes in social dynamics due to regulations implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of pair-wise t -tests, appropriately corrected, show that the crime dynamics experienced in 2020 significantly differ from previous years and that the implementation of strict stay at home orders in all three cities initially impacted crime.

Chicago’s total crimes during the first three months of the year (including the time period following the stay at home order) declined in 2020 compared to 2017, 2018, and 2019 (see S3-S17 Tables in S1 File ). Before the time period during which COVID protocols were put in place, there were no significant changes in total crimes compared to 2018 and 2019. There were some changes in particular crime types that may have been due to social factors, policing protocols, or other mechanisms occurring in past years. There were significant changes in total crimes between 2017 and 2020, with all significant crime types but weapons violations showing declines (S11 Table in S1 File ). Once the stay at home order was put in place, there were more stark significant differences between past years and 2020 (see S12-S14 Tables in S1 File ). Total crimes during this time period declined compared to the past three years. There are a number of different crime types contributing to this decline, and few of the contributing crime types are interpersonal (see S7-S10 and S14 Figs in S1 File ). The exceptions are significant declines in assaults and batteries between 2017 and 2019 compared to 2020 (S12 and S14 Tables in S1 File ). These results show that the crime dynamics of 2020 are significantly different from those in past years and that the changes would not have been expected based on time-based observations prior to the pandemic outbreak.

We also compared the crime numbers in Chicago between different time periods. Comparing crime types before the stay at home order was put in place to the two weeks after implementation indicates that most of the crime types tested showed significant declines. They include total crimes, assaults, burglaries, criminal sexual assaults, criminal trespasses, interference with public officers, narcotics, other offenses, robberies, and thefts ( Table 2 , Fig 2 , S14 Fig in S1 File ). This shows that the immediate time period after stay at home orders were announced does correlate with decreased total crimes, but that the crimes contributing to this decline are related more to property crimes and statutory crimes than to interpersonal crimes (S7-S10 Figs in S1 File ).

To determine whether this pattern holds in other cities, we also carried out time period comparisons for Baltimore, MD and Baton Rouge, LA ( Table 2 ). Both cities showed similar results. In Baltimore, comparing the time period before the stay at home order was implemented and the two weeks after shows that total crimes, auto thefts, burglaries, and larceny showed significant differences ( Fig 2 , S14 Fig in S1 File ). For Baton Rouge, total crimes, narcotics, and other crimes showed significant differences when comparing the two weeks after the stay at home order was put in place and the time period before the order was implemented ( Fig 2 , S14 Fig in S1 File ).

In all of our tests across different years and different time periods, we find that the implementation of social distancing and quarantine protocols led to significant decreases in crime in the first two weeks. There were declines during the state-of-emergency time period (March 9—March 21), but they were not statistically significant (S7 Table in S1 File ). Total crimes declined in Chicago after the stay at home order was put in place, but the crime types contributing to this decline are mostly property-based and statutory rather than interpersonal ( Fig 2 , S7-S10 and S14 Figs in S1 File ). Similar patterns hold for both Baltimore, Maryland and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Both cities showed declines in crimes after the introduction of stay at home orders. As in Chicago, the crime types contributing to this decline are more often property-based or statutory rather than individuals (S11 and S12 Figs in S1 File ). These patterns may have only been present in the initial time period following implementation and may not persist over longer time periods.

The observed patterns could be the result of several different mechanisms. First, there may be differences in policing and reporting under stay at home orders. For interpersonal crimes, victims who are quarantined with their abusers may be less likely to speak up. Social distancing may prevent law enforcement officers from responding to and reporting certain crime types. This pattern may also arise from individuals spending less time in public spaces and therefore participating in social interactions. The exact reasons contributing to this change in crime dynamics are difficult to determine, but it is clear that in the immediate time period following implementation of stay at home orders, there was a significant change in crime in Chicago, Baltimore, and Baton Rouge.

This study has a number of limitations. There is differential data availability across the three cities. Chicago has far more crime types publicly accessible for analysis, and there is no consensus on how the data are collected and reported nationally. We have also only analyzed the data for three cities. This pattern therefore may not exist across all regions, especially if adherence to stay at home orders differs between cities. The use of t -tests also limits the information we can obtain from these data. Finally, we have only observed the two weeks following the implementation of stay at home orders. The declines in crime may be limited to this time period and not subsist. With this analysis, we cannot pinpoint exactly when the decline began and when crime returned to previously expected levels. Recent reports show that violent crime has increased as cities are reopening [ 6 ].

These limitations leave open questions for future research. First, there is a need to explore the data presented here more in depth using various statistical tests, expanding the temporal window, or exploring confounding variables in all three cities. Additionally, analysis of patterns of crime data from additional cities is necessary to verify that the observed changes are national in scope. There is also a need to determine some of the mechanisms which have produced these declines and how adherence to stay at home orders impacts the crimes which occur. Overall, stay at home orders produced declines in crime over the initial time period and the crimes contributing to this decline were mainly property-based. The COVID-19 pandemic responses present a forced social experiment impacting many behavioral components and providing opportunities for novel explorations of the connection between behavioral constraints and crime. Given our results, the vigorous public policy debates regarding the impacts of potential interventions on violent crime, particularly gun crime, could benefit from further detailed analysis of imposed regulations arising from the pandemic.

Supporting information

S1 file. complete supplementary text, figures, and tables..

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249414.s001

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the participants of the NIMBioS Investigative Workshop on the Mathematics of Gun Violence and two anonymous reviewers who provided feedback on a previous version of this manuscript.

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Assessing Victim Blame: Intersections of Rape Victim Race, Gender, and Ethnicity , Kirsten A. Piatak

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Race and Anomie: A Comparison of Crime Among Rural Whites and Urban Blacks Based on Social Structural Conditions. , Mical Dominique Carter

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Examining Significant Differences of Gunshot Residue Patterns Using Same Make and Model of Firearms in Forensic Distance Determination Tests. , Heather Lewey

Racial Profiling and Policing in North Carolina: Reality or Rhetoric? , Randal J. Sluss

Analysis of Selected Correlates of Spouse Abuse and the Policy Implications for the Criminal Justice System. , Marlys Kay Tester

Cinema, Race, and Justice: A Qualitative Analysis of Selected Themes. , Katherine Clay Thompson

Theses/Dissertations from 2006 2006

An Examination of the Prison Environment: An Analysis of Inmate Concerns across Eight Environmental Dimensions. , Andrew Ryan Bradford

Improving Parent and Teen Conflict Resolution Skills: Evaluating the Effectiveness of the "Family Reunion" Crisis Intervention Program. , Carrie Davis Marchant

Bullying Behavior in Middle School: The Effects of Gender, Grade Level, Family Relationships, and Vicarious Victimization on Self-Esteem and Attitudes of Bullying. , Jennifer Mongold

The Relationship between Tobacco, Alcohol, and Marijuana Use among Teenagers. , John Donald Rose

Theses/Dissertations from 2005 2005

A Qualitative Study: Gendered Perceptions of Bullying among Adolescents at a Boys and Girls Club. , Beverly Small Chandley

Intimate Violence: The Effects of Family, Threatened Egotism, and Reciprocity. , Jessica Lynne Holt

Satisfaction with Police Services among Residents of Washington County, Tennessee: A Survey of Citizens' Attitudes and Opinions. , Russell Jamerson

The Effect of Early Childhood Attachment on Delinquency and Behavior and the Continuance into Adulthood. , Cyndi Sheree Nichols

Juvenile Commitment Rate: The Effects of Gender, Race, Parents, and School. , Mitchell Andrew Thompson

Theses/Dissertations from 2004 2004

Justice for All?: Victim Satisfaction with Restorative Justice Conferences. , Sarah Anne Behtz

Juveniles' Attitudes toward the Police as Affected by Prior Victimization. , Joshua A. Hardin

Marijuana Use by Juveniles: The Effects of Peers, Parents Race, & Drug Abuse Resistance Education. , Daniel J. Moeser

Theses/Dissertations from 2003 2003

Oleoresin Capsicum: an Analysis of the Implementation of Pepper Spray into the Law Enforcement Use of Force Continuum in a Selected Police Department. , Lydia Denise Adkins

The Combined Effects of Criminal Justice Intervention on Domestic Violence: A Re-Analysis of the Minneapolis Intervention Project. , Nadia A. Bebawy

Using the Survey of Inmates of State and Federal Correctional Facilities to Compare Female and Male Inmate Characteristics. , Jacqueline Anita Black

Police Officers' Perception of the Validity of the General Theory of Crime. , William Jaison Giesler

The Effect of Prior Consensual Sex between the Victim and the Offender on the Prosecutor's Decision to File Charges in Sexual Assault Cases. , Kimberly Brooke Hollifield

Satisfaction with Police Services among Residents of Elizabethton, Tennessee. , Kelly Brooke Mullins

Misguided Instructions: Do Jurors Accurately Understand the Law in Death Penalty Trials? , Chasity Anne Stoots-Fonberg

Theses/Dissertations from 2002 2002

Role of Police, Prosecutors and Defense Attorneys in Traffic Accident Investigation and Adjudication in Chattanooga, Tennessee. , Karen L. Beisel

Athletic Participation: A Test of Learning and Neutralization Theories. , Mario Bernard Hankerson

Theses/Dissertations from 2001 2001

An Examination of Juvenile Delinquency and Victimization Using an Integrated Model Approach. , Kimberly Dawn Dodson

Involvement in Sports and Engagement in Delinquency: An Examination of Hirschi's Social Bond Theory. , Randy Hass

Characteristics of Recidivism among Intensive and Regular Probationers. , Jennifer Joseph

The Effects of Higher Education on Police Officers' Attitudes toward Personnel Issues, Public Relations and Crime Fighting. , Steven Matthew O'Quinn

Parents, Peers, and Developmental Trajectories toward Crime. , Kimberly A. Verhegge

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222 Criminal Justice Thesis Topics To Make You Shine

Criminal Justice Thesis Topics

What is criminal justice? Criminal justice deals with delivering justice to people who have committed crimes. The field entails a series of institutions and government agencies that co-work to bring illegal activities to book. Some of the purposes of a criminal justice thesis paper include:

  • Facilitating the rehabilitation of offenders
  • Ensuring that similar crimes do not occur again
  • Providing moral support for victims

Such papers are critical, and this one has to take a professional approach, especially when writing criminal justice paper topics.

How To Write Criminal Justice Thesis Papers

Students in college and university taking criminal justice as a major are supposed to equip themselves with various writing techniques. For instance, there are times when one has to employ the methods used by a lawyer in presenting a case.

Since this is a cross-disciplinary field, you will have to formulate your arguments in a defensible thesis with evidence to support them. The criminal justice thesis statement should be:

Concise, Easy to understand, and Backed up by evidence and research.

You can choose to present the evidence either in qualitative or quantitative data. The former is expressed in texts, observations, and interviews, while the latter is in the form of numbers drawn from statistics.

For a quality criminal justice paper, use these expert writing tips:

  • Use the APA style guide in formatting your paper
  • Present your arguments in a clear language
  • Do not stuff up too many pieces of evidence in one paragraph
  • Avoid using personal opinions when defending a particular argument

With that, let us now look at some of the most brilliant thesis topics for criminal justice:

Criminal Justice Senior Thesis Topics

  • Discuss the history and development of the criminal justice system
  • How the rate of crime varies with different age brackets
  • The impact of aggression in compelling one to commit a crime
  • Why illegal immigrants are primarily associated with crime
  • The role of education level in contributing to crime
  • How does unemployment cause crime in society?
  • Why are teenagers the majority of victims violating the law?
  • The relationship between gender and criminal activity
  • The role of firearms in advancing illegal activities
  • How policies and government laws can lead to crime
  • The role of the media in promoting crime
  • Why is it challenging to manage crime in a society where the rule of law is obscure?
  • The role of political campaigns and elections in contributing to crime
  • Factors that led to the attack at the US Capitol
  • Why drug and substance abuse is a leading cause of crime
  • Programs that can help alleviate crime in any given society

General Criminal Justice Thesis Ideas

  • Contribution of the study of criminology to the society
  • How the study of criminology leads to the formulation of public policies
  • The role of parents in preventing crimes
  • How the education system has helped prevent crime
  • The role of social media in planning and funding criminal behaviour
  • How criminal gangs recruit members
  • The implication of coronavirus on increased criminal behaviour
  • How corrupt leaders can stir up criminal behaviour among citizens
  • Why you should know your neighbours and what they do
  • The role of biometric and facial recognition systems in curbing crime
  • The effectiveness of the police in reducing crime
  • Are penalties related to crimeless punitive?
  • What is the implication of representing a serial killer in a criminal case?
  • How to sensitize society on what constitutes criminal behaviour
  • The impact of racism on criminal behaviour
  • How bullying can be a cause of criminal behaviour in the future

Hot Criminal Justice Research Topics

  • The role of forgeries and fake documents in advancing crime
  • How corrupt police officers are creeping crime
  • Ways of dealing with criminal behaviour at the grassroots level
  • The role of the International Criminal Court in curbing crime
  • Why social media is a significant fuel for crime
  • The role of hate speech in advancing criminal activities
  • How the family background of a person can lead him/her to crime
  • Why students in college are at risk of joining gangs
  • Latest ways in which criminals are smuggling goods into the country
  • The impact of being labelled as a criminal on one’s reputation
  • Is it possible for a criminal to genuinely transform while in prison?
  • Religious ways of preventing crime in communities
  • Why it is necessary to be careful when walking at night
  • The role of the FBI in dismantling criminal groups
  • How school dropouts get into illegal activity
  • The part of peer pressure in leading one to commit a crime

Tip-Top Criminological Research Topics

  • The role of mental health in any criminal behaviour
  • How protests and demonstrations amount to illegal activities
  • The implication of religious beliefs on committing a crime
  • How social class is a critical player in the crime
  • Does weather facilitate criminal behaviour in any way?
  • Does cheating in exams amount to criminal behaviour?
  • Ways of detecting and curtailing criminal activity before it happens
  • How terrorism is facilitating crime in developing nations
  • What amounts to an environmental crime?
  • The implication of prejudice in violence
  • Methods of deception used by human traffickers
  • Forms of identity theft in America
  • Causes and effects of juvenile delinquency
  • How to curb criminal activities related to gambling
  • Is prostitution contributing to crime in societies?
  • Effective ways of prosecuting and punishing rape criminals

Criminology Research Paper Topics On Discrimination

  • How racial profiling leads to crime
  • Are our court systems becoming discriminatory based on race and social class?
  • The impact of systematic bias on criminal justice
  • How targeting minority groups leads to crime
  • The impact of ethnic backgrounds on criminal activities
  • Why the government should implement policies against gender discrimination
  • The role of social movements in preventing discrimination
  • How to deal with people who incite racial discrimination
  • Ways of managing stereotypes as portrayed by the media
  • The role of the clergy in breaking class-based social violence
  • How discriminatory crime affects families
  • The impact of discrimination on the performance of students
  • The effects of corporate crime on the minor businesses
  • How influential people in government contribute to crime
  • Ways of dealing with hate crime and its implication on justice
  • Effective crime preventions programs against marginalized communities

Criminal Law Research Topics

  • The role of corrupt judges in enhancing crime
  • Why tampering with evidence is facilitating the advancement of more criminal activities.
  • How to manage cases of premeditated murder
  • Should court systems use more punitive measures for punishing murderers?
  • How does society view lawyers who defend murderers?
  • Are there loopholes in criminal law that are advancing criminal behaviour?
  • In what ways is the justice system perverted?
  • Discuss the essence of studying criminal law
  • The role of the jury in delivering just sentences to guilty criminals
  • What is the implication of the presidential pardon on criminals?
  • How to protect the privacy of inmates
  • Do convicts on death have rights as any other human being?
  • How technology is advancing the practice of criminal law
  • Compare and contrast the number of men and women pursuing criminal law in the United States
  • What are some of the cultural impediments to the rule of criminal law?
  • The implication of fines and bonds on criminals with money

Criminal Justice Research Questions

  • How does street lighting helps reduce the crime rate?
  • Can security agencies use technology to prevent terrorism?
  • Discuss illegal research techniques in genetics and their dangers
  • What is the impact of smartphones on crime rates?
  • How does the National Guard help in reducing crime?
  • What is the role of psychometric examinations in criminology?
  • Does the court system take too long to administer justice?
  • Is arbitration applicable in the case of a murder charge?
  • What are the fundamental principles of crime prevention?
  • The role of mass media during chaotic elections
  • Is it to keep a registry of sexual offenders?
  • What can institutions do to prevent cases of sexual assault?
  • What is the motive of a ransom in a kidnapping case?
  • When do felony disenfranchisement laws apply?
  • What is the role of forensic science in modern criminology?
  • Discuss the association between substance abuse and crime?

Expert Criminal Law Topics For Research Paper

  • Effects of forging contracts in a work setting
  • Should presidents face criminal proceedings during their tenure?
  • The implication of the president’s immunity to international crimes
  • How can the courts ensure a fair trial for all accused persons?
  • How long should attorneys take to prepare a defence?
  • Implications for substantial injustice for any criminal case
  • Effects of giving self-incriminating evidence
  • How to deal with a crime under the international law
  • Should prosecutors obtain evidence in a manner that violates a person’s rights?
  • The place of torture in obtaining information from a suspect
  • What is the effectiveness of a petition in a murder case?
  • The role of the press in criminal proceedings
  • Discuss the rights and welfare of victims of criminal offences
  • How ballistic experts differentiate between an accidental and intentional shooting
  • The role of the state in upholding law and order
  • How lawyers defend their clients: Is it unethical at times?

Law Enforcement Research Paper Topics

  • Is how police handle suspects justified?
  • Weigh in on the ongoing police brutality claims on a racial basis
  • The role of law enforcers in sensitizing people on peace
  • Why it is necessary to have police stations in every community
  • Causes of corruption and crime among some law enforcers
  • Evaluate the response of law enforcers during the attack at the US Capitol
  • Assess how male and female police officers handle crime
  • What is the effect of police patrols on crime rates?
  • How police involvement with criminal groups fuels up crime
  • Police technologies used to detect and counter crime
  • What improvements should the police have to handle crime effectively?
  • Compare and contrast law enforcement strategies used in the UK and US
  • Comment on the use of biometric data in tracing criminals
  • How effective are informers in assisting the police to curb crime?
  • Evaluate how different law enforcement agencies handle crime
  • How digital footprints have helped law enforcers to arrest criminals

Criminal Justice Research Proposal Topics

  • The role of community policing in preventing crime
  • Does the length of criminal trials affect their outcome?
  • Should courts punish crimes committed on a religious basis?
  • What are some of the challenges to implementing stringent prosecution laws?
  • Does infringement of copyright laws amount to criminal behaviour?
  • Should journalists take photos of suspects on trial and publish them?
  • Assess the different classes of crime systems
  • How to deal with cyber-stalking in the case of couples
  • Discuss the effectiveness of courts dealing with drug-related cases
  • Analyzing the implication of mandatory sentencing
  • What happens in the case of a wrongful conviction in a criminal case?
  • What motivates people to commit crimes?
  • Discuss the psychology behind aggressive criminal behaviour
  • Compare and contrast between murder and homicide
  • Evaluate the different classes of criminal offenders

Criminal Investigation Research Paper Topics

  • Discuss the process of beginning a criminal investigation
  • Interrogation methods that are involved in criminal investigations
  • How does investigative journalism complement criminal investigations?
  • How crime-related movies have created a perception in people’s minds
  • The role of criminal investigations in delivering sentences
  • How technology has made criminal investigations more effective
  • The difference in investigating between civil and criminal cases
  • Discuss the unethical sides of criminal investigations
  • The role of information sharing technologies in criminal investigations
  • Why murder cases take too long to be solved
  • Secretive methods of conducting criminal investigations
  • Discuss the relationship between criminal investigations and the evidence presented in court
  • Why most detectives do not have a specific regalia
  • The implication of conducting criminal investigations in the face of the coronavirus
  • How to handle inquiries for cases beyond a country’s border

Criminal Justice Research Topics For College Students

  • The impact of TV series on crime rates
  • How different countries handle criminal cases
  • Discuss the impact of witness interference in a criminal case
  • How court systems contribute to crime
  • Are the witness protection policies effective enough?
  • The role of CCTVs in promoting justice in criminal cases
  • The impact of criminal courts on advancing good morals in a society
  • Discuss the truth in the statement ‘justice delayed is not justice denied.’
  • Importance of studying criminal justice in the 21 st century
  • Discuss the role of fingerprints in a criminal investigation
  • Should criminal cases be completed in less than a week?
  • What happens when a president commits a national crime during his tenure?
  • How the Director of Public Prosecutions can help in combating corruption
  • The responsibility of court officers in protecting the suspects
  • Do criminal cases caught on camera need any further investigations?
  • How should a state deal with foreigners who are guilty of criminal offences in their country?

Other Criminal Justice Dissertation Topics

  • Areas of the prevalence of wildlife crimes
  • How to deal with cases of shoplifting
  • Evaluate methods used by online predators to lure children
  • Why exposing your location details on social media may be dangerous for you
  • Should parents answer to suicide cases involving their children?
  • Discuss why parents should not leave their children alone at home
  • The role of police hotline numbers in combating crime
  • The impact of living in neighbourhoods known for criminal activity
  • How we can use religion to prevent crime
  • How one can anonymously report a criminal activity
  • Impact of hacking technologies on people’s privacy
  • Latest innovations in tracking criminal behaviour
  • Why investigations concerning a prominent person take too long to complete
  • Who is liable to pay damages in case of a mishap in a criminal case?
  • How to follow the rule of law in any criminal proceeding
  • How to know if you are being trailed at night by criminals

Research Methods In Criminal Justice Topics

  • Use of questionnaires
  • Real-time survey systems in criminal justice
  • Effectiveness of one on one interviews
  • Field research in criminology
  • Observation as a criminology research method
  • How participant observation works
  • Impact of ethnography
  • Use of case study in investigating crime
  • Experiments in criminology
  • Second data analysis methods
  • Deliberate manipulation of social customs
  • Analysis of government data
  • Research of historical documents
  • Studies using the Delphi method
  • Conclusive research methods for criminal justice
  • Descriptive research methods

Your top-rated criminal justice is just a step away from A+ grades with our expert thesis titles. Use our high-tech thesis writing services to improve your paper today!

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Beyond Policing: The Problem of Crime in America

José luis morín.

1 John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, New York City, NY, USA

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Photo by Francois Polito. Sculpture by Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd.

In 2020, the United States experienced the sharpest one-year rise in homicides on record. 1 In 2021, hate crimes also surged to their highest level in twelve years, with the largest increases being anti-Black crimes followed by anti-Asian crimes. 2 Pundits and politicians on the right have been quick to cite bail reform and “defunding” of police as reasons for the national rise in crime. Yet, the best available evidence points to other causes—among them, the massive social and economic dislocation resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic and the nationwide proliferation of guns along with the spread of racial and ethnic hatred and the violence it has roused.

While violent crime today [is] much lower . . . than in 1991, when [it] reached its highest point in recent history, public anxiety about crime is high.

While violent crime today registers at much lower levels than in 1991, when violent crime reached its highest point in recent history, 3 public anxiety about crime is high. Yet, more police and a redoubling of get-tough measures, however alluring, have not proven to be as effective as they appear. An examination of what is not driving the recent spike in crime as well as what probably is driving it—and revisiting the role that policing and the criminal justice system has played in U.S. society in reproducing racial, social, and economic inequalities—may move us closer to arriving at effective public safety solutions.

Starting with What Is Not: Bail Reform and Defunding the Police

The purpose of bail is to “provide reasonable assurance of court appearance or public safety,” 4 but, a 2022 briefing report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights suggests that the current cash bail system is also associated with producing deleterious racial disparities and economic inequities that undermine the presumption of innocence and worsen public safety. 5 The Commission report points out that low-income persons and people of color are disproportionately detained as a result of their inability to make bail, and persons of color are more often assigned higher bail amounts and considered more “dangerous” than whites. 6 To persons jailed simply because they could not afford bail, jail can result in severe trauma: loss of employment, housing, custody of a child; and economic hardship. 7 The think tank, Prison Policy Initiative, issued a report in 2016 documenting that cash bail “perpetuates an endless cycle of poverty and jail time.” 8 Nevertheless, with crime rates on the rise in 2020, bail reform became a political cudgel, and New York State’s law became a focal point of harsh condemnation from the GOP and conservative media outlets nationwide. But analyses of bail reform show no clear link between bail reform and spikes in crime. 9

To reduce unnecessary pretrial detention and ameliorate the harms associated with cash bail, New York State passed a bail reform law in 2019, ending cash bail for certain misdemeanors and most non-violent felony cases. Changes to the original law in 2020 and 2022 gave judges the ability to impose cash bail in more situations. 10 To date, research on the law shows no significant impact on crime rates. One study by the Times Union of Albany found that, of almost 100,000 cases, only a minimal number (2 percent) of individuals faced rearrest for a violent felony. As a result, as many as 80,000 people may have avoided incarceration while posing no documented threat to public safety. 11 And, looking at the national picture, the Brennan Center for Justice, a progressive law and public policy institute, points out that crime surged nationally, even in states that did not enact bail reform. 12

Another report—this one from the Office of New York City Comptroller Brad Lander—covered three calendar years and revealed that “pretrial rearrest rates remained nearly identical pre- and post-bail reform.” 13 The Comptroller’s report also warned that rollbacks to New York State’s bail reforms would “syphon money” from low-income communities. Indeed, families unable to make cash bail often turn to for-profit bail bond companies that require a non-refundable premium of 10 to 15 percent, even if no wrongdoing is found. Some form of collateral—such as a car or house—is also required. As the bail bond industry has become increasingly lucrative, growing numbers of indigent persons and their families face steep financial risks. 14 Critics of bail reform, by contrast, have produced little to no empirical evidence to support their position. Outspoken in its condemnation of bail reform, the New York Police Department has fallen short in backing up its assertions that bail reform was causing increases in gun violence. In 2021, when challenged by Albany legislators, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea, failed to provide any hard data to support his contention that bail reform is driving up crime. In the end, he was forced to retract his statements. 15

The term “defunding the police” has been variously understood. For the purpose of this discussion, I define the term not as a movement to eliminate police budgets, but as a call to lessen encounters with police by shifting funds away from aggressive and militarized forms of policing toward social services—such as mental health, addiction, education, and housing. In its most literal meaning, “defunding the police” is frequently cited as a reason for the surge in crime. As with bail, hard evidence to support this allegation has not materialized. Of twelve Democratic-led cities (including Austin, Louisville, Rochester, and St. Paul) cited by Republicans as examples of where crime purportedly rose due to police defunding, criminal justice scholars find no discernible link between defunding and crime. In fact, not all twelve cities defunded police; most did not substantially reduce police funding, and some actually increased their police budgets. 16

Funding quality educational programs, by comparison, has proven to be successful in diminishing crime. 17 For example, two studies—one in North Carolina and one in Michigan—showed that increased expenditures on primary schools helped to reduce adult crime by improving student academic success, which in turn provides a greater opportunity for socio-economic mobility. 18

Examining What Is: Covid-19, Guns, and the Rise in Hate

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, crime rates were relatively low. As the graph in Figure 1 demonstrates, the rate of violent crime offenses declined from a peak in 1991 of 758.2 per year to 398.5 per year in 2020. 19 The rate of homicide over the same period also dropped significantly, from its highest level in 1991 compared with 2020. 20 But the crime rate shows an uptick with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

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Rate of violent crime offenses by population in the United States: 1985-2020.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Trend of Violent Crime from 1985 to 2020,” Crime Data Explorer, accessed September 19, 2022, https://crime-data-explorer.fr.cloud.gov/pages/explorer/crime/crime-trend .

Note. Rate per 100,000 people, by year.

The pandemic is widely understood as the cause of immense social and economic dislocation, disproportionately disadvantaging children, communities of color, immigrants, LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual, and more) youth, and persons with disabilities. 21 The pandemic also exposed and aggravated deeply entrenched inequities in health care, poverty, education, housing, and racial segregation. Its impact on mental health and psychosocial well-being, substance abuse, and domestic violence has become a focus of attention in relation to the rise in crime. All these factors are related to the rise in crime.

As gun violence became a major driver of crime nationwide, hate crimes also spiked. During the pandemic, reports of hate crimes reached a twelve-year high.

The proliferation of guns and gun violence nationwide appears to have contributed greatly to the spike in homicides. Sharp increases in gun purchases coincided with the start of the pandemic in 2020 and continued well into 2021. 22 The increased supply of guns as well as the types of guns—high-powered semi-automatic weapons, for instance—has been linked to the surge in gun violence. 23 Criminologists Philip J. Cook and Jens Ludwig deem gun violence and the fear of gun violence as devastating to the lives of children and families around the country, most especially in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. In their estimation, public safety begins with addressing the needs of communities most vulnerable to gun violence, and that includes investments in social policies, such as summer jobs for teens, cleaning vacant lots, and spending more on social programs—all of which have been shown to reduce homicide rates. 24

As gun violence became a major driver of crime nationwide, hate crimes also spiked. During the pandemic, reports of hate crimes reached a twelve-year high (see Figure 2 ). 25 While anti-Black incidents topped the list of hate crimes based on race, people of Asian descent experienced a steep rise in anti-Asian violence and crime, with a 169 percent increase in reports of anti-Asian hate crimes in fifteen of America’s largest cities and counties in the first quarter of 2021 when compared with the first quarter of 2020. 26

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Hate crimes in the United States: 1995-2020.

Source: Hate Crime in the United States Incident Analysis, 1995 to 2020,” Crime Data Explorer, accessed October 6, 2022, https://crime-data-explorer.fr.cloud.gov/pages/explorer/crime/hate-crime .

. . . [I]t is no surprise that the earliest form of policing in the United States was the slave patrol, established in 1704.

Even before the pandemic, former President Donald Trump’s xenophobic, racially inflammatory rhetoric and policies were understood as green-lighting racial and ethnic violence. But unfortunately, this is not unique in our history. Hate groups of different types—white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and anti-government paramilitary organizations—historically have played a major role in the spread of hatred and violence.

Policing: The Historical Context

The history of policing in the United States may help us determine the best policies and practices to advance public safety without subjecting communities to abusive police practices.

The institution of slavery—and its continuance—was integral to the founding of the nation. So, it is no surprise that the earliest form of policing in the United States was the slave patrol, established in 1704. 27 The patrols were designed to maintain the system of slave labor and to capture runaway slaves. Patrollers, often armed, used violence to terrorize slaves and deter rebellions. In 1787, the apprehension of slaves was codified in the U.S. Constitution in Article IV, Section 2, commonly referred to as the “Fugitive Slave Clause.” The intent of the clause, which passed unanimously, was “to require fugitive slaves and servants to be delivered up like criminals.” 28 The clause was nullified by passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865. Slave patrols were also disbanded after the Civil War, only to be replaced by other forms of policing Black lives. These included the Ku Klux Klan and the institution of Jim Crow, which was maintained in Southern states by police who often used intimidation and terror to maintain a brutally oppressive system. 29

By the 1990s, the acquisition of military equipment by police forces across the country became ubiquitous . . .

Over time, police and other law enforcement agencies helped preserve and reproduce race and class inequality, as in the 1918 massacre of fifteen Mexican men in Porvenir, Texas and the 1921 Tulsa, Oklahoma massacre that resulted in destruction of a prosperous Black neighborhood. 30 Business and economic elites—such as Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick—also relied on police or private law enforcement agencies to employ deadly force against workers and union organizers. The massacre of strikers at the Homestead Steelworks in 1882 is one example; the 1897 massacre of coal miners in Lattimer, Pennsylvania is another. 31

The militarization of policing arose in the 1960s, amid cries for a “war on crime” and a “war on drugs.” In Los Angeles, Daryl F. Gates, then head of the Los Angeles Police Department, spearheaded an effort to outfit local police departments with military-grade armaments and equipment to handle emergencies, such as hostage situations and sniper shootings. By the 1990s, the acquisition of military equipment by police forces across the country became ubiquitous through a federal program that encouraged the militarization of law enforcement. 32 But, as a report from the American Civil Liberties Union documents, militarization, too, frequently came at the expense of individual civil liberties, particularly in Black and Latinx communities. 33

Police practices—including chokeholds, stop and frisks, and “broken windows” tactics—have come into question as the victims of police brutality have come into sharp focus. From George Floyd and Breonna Taylor to Eric Garner and Freddy Gray, their names are now familiar and—for some—synonymous with policing in the United States. Yet, despite the bright light shone on these cases, fatal police shootings continue to rise. According to the Washington Post , “2021 was the deadliest year for police shootings” since the newspaper began tracking such incidents in 2015. 34

Centering Communities to Advance Public Safety

Following incidents of excessive police force, municipalities commonly opt for police retraining. However, as some analysts observe, retraining is too often inadequate or ineffective in resolving or mitigating a recurrence of police misconduct. 35 Similarly, while there is merit to hiring police officers who resemble members of the communities they serve, a diverse police force does not necessarily decrease incidents of brutality against persons of color. Regrettably, research shows that a Black officer may be more inclined to use force in encounters with Black community members than white officers. 36 These officers often face the dilemma of how to fit into a police culture that commonly takes an “us against them” approach when patrolling communities. Aggressive behavior can be one way to prove that they belong. 37

Ensuring public safety requires attention to non-violent as well as violent situations. In the context of rising crime, expectations that police officers can resolve a wide array of concerns are high. Police are often called to aid unhoused people, assist individuals experiencing emotional difficulties, or settle domestic disputes. The police are not trained to handle such matters. Social workers or other trained professionals are much better equipped to deal with problems of this nature.

National data on homicide “clearance rates”—the rate at which homicide cases are resolved—also raise questions about the effectiveness of policing. In 2020, the clearance rate was just under 50 percent, representing a historic low and “a long, steady drop since the early 1980s, when police cleared about 70 percent of all homicides.” 38 The pandemic and the spike in violent crimes may help to explain the fall in clearance rates, but the data still beg the question of whether policing itself is sufficiently effective in meeting the public safety needs of contemporary society.

In determining the best approaches moving forward, the intractability of problems related to policing cannot be ignored. Policing remains a leading cause of death for young men in the United States. 39 People of color are most vulnerable, with Black men facing a one in one thousand risk of being killed by police. As we have seen, violent encounters with the police have profound effects on whole communities and neighborhoods, affecting the health and the life chances of individuals in those communities.

Community concerns about crime are real, especially in the most vulnerable communities of color. But the alternative of aggressive policing and mass incarceration has resulted in tremendous harm and cannot be the ultimate solution.

The high rate of recidivism—the rate at which persons released from prison are rearrested—does not point to a system that works well. The most recent Bureau of Justice Statistics covering a ten-year period (2008-2018) shows that “about 66 percent of prisoners released across 24 states in 2008 were rearrested within three years, and 82 percent were arrested within ten years.” 40 Recidivism rates this high should call into question the adequacy of the criminal justice system. It should also raise the issue of whether a system, focused on retribution rather than rehabilitation and public health, is actually serving the cause of public safety. These questions have found resonance with advocates of prison abolition. These abolitionists include scholars Angela Davis, Gina Dent, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, and Alex Vitale. In their view, the current structure of policing and incarceration is profoundly connected to systems of oppression. What is required, they believe, is a system that operates within a social-justice framework—one that substantively engages communities in maintaining their own safety. Such a system, they believe, would reaffirm the values of self-determination and community empowerment. 41 Rather than simply replicating punitive approaches that disproportionally and discriminatorily harm communities of color, abolitionists look to broader social solutions to the problem of crime—remedial measures such as restitution, reconciliation, rehabilitation, and restorative justice.

While a complete transformation of policing and the criminal justice system may not be on the immediate horizon, a variety of initiatives in recent years have sought to address the basic human needs of communities while minimizing negative interactions with police. In a 2021 experiment in Brooklyn, for example, the Brownsville Safety Alliance—a community-based organization—arranged for precinct police to disengage from their usual assignments in a two-block area for five days. In their place, trained violence interrupters and crisis management groups were charged with securing public safety. Although limited in duration, this pilot program has been praised by New York City officials as well as members of the community as “a model for the future.” 42 A range of other crime-reduction strategies that do not involve the deployment of police have also produced promising results. These include improvements in street lighting, clean-up of empty lots, provision of quality mental health and drug treatment services, and expansion of Medicaid services. 43

Community concerns about crime are real, especially in the most vulnerable communities of color. But the alternative of aggressive policing and mass incarceration has resulted in tremendous harm and cannot be the ultimate solution. The best, most promising option is to center communities and underlying social and economic inequality as the means to advance public safety.

Author Biography

José Luis Morín is a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York.

1 Jeff Asher, “Murder Rose by almost 30% in 2020: It’s Rising at a Slower Rate in 2021,” New York Times , September 22, 2021, updated November 15, 2021, available at https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/22/upshot/murder-rise-2020.html .

2 Federal Bureau of Investigation, “FBI Releases 2020 Hate Crime Statistics,” August 30, 2021, available at https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/press-releases/fbi-releases-2020-hate-crime-statistics ; See also, Christina Carrega and Priya Krishnakumar, “Hate Crime Reports in US Surge to the Highest Level in 12 Years, FBI Says,” CNN , October 26, 2021, available at https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/30/us/fbi-report-hate-crimes-rose-2020/index.html .

3 Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Trend of Violent Crime from 1985 to 2020,” Crime Data Explorer, available at https://crime-data-explorer.fr.cloud.gov/pages/explorer/crime/crime-trend .

4 Timothy Schnacke, “Fundamentals of Bail: A Resource Guide for Pretrial Practitioners and a Framework for American Pretrial Reform,” National Institute of Corrections, September 2, 2014, available at https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.nicic.gov/Library/028360.pdf .

5 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, “Civil Rights Implications of Cash Bail,” Briefing Report, Washington, DC, available at https://www.usccr.gov/reports/2021/civil-rights-implications-cash-bail .

6 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 10.

7 Adureh Onyekwere, “How Cash Bail Works,” Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, December 10, 2019, updated February 24, 2021, available at https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/how-cash-bail-works#:~:text=Cash%20bail%20is%20used%20as,is%20forfeited%20to%20the%20government ; See also, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 6-8.

8 Bernadette Rabuy and Daniel Kopf, “Detaining the Poor: How Money Bail Perpetuates an Endless Cycle of Poverty and Jail Time,” Prison Policy Initiative , May 10, 2016, available at https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/DetainingThePoor.pdf .

9 Ames Grawert and Noah Kim, “The Facts on Bail Reform and Crime Rates in New York State,” Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, March 22, 2022, available at https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/facts-bail-reform-and-crime-rates-new-york-state .

10 Taryn A. Merkl, “New York’s Latest Bail Law Changes Explained,” Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, April 16, 2020, available at https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/new-yorks-latest-bail-law-changes-explained ; See also, Jon Campbell, “NY Lawmakers Pass $220B Budget that Changes Bail Reform, Approves Buffalo Bills Stadium Funding,” Gothamist, April 9, 2022, available at https://gothamist.com/news/ny-lawmakers-pass-220b-budget-that-changes-bail-reform-approves-buffalo-bills-stadium-funding?utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=nypr-email&utm_campaign=Gothamist%20Daily%20Newsletter&utm_term=https%3A%2F%2Fgothamist.com%2Fnews%2Fny-lawmakers-pass-220b-budget-that-changes-bail-reform-approves-buffalo-bills-stadium-funding&utm_id=88591&sfmc_id=2849872&utm_content=202249 .

11 Grawert and Kim, “Bail Reform and Crime.”

12 Grawert and Kim, “Bail Reform and Crime.”

13 Office of New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, “NYC Bail Trends Since 2019,” available at https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/nyc-bail-trends-since-2019/ .

14 Gillian B. White, “Who Really Makes Money Off of Bail Bonds?” The Atlantic , May 12, 2017, available at https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/05/bail-bonds/526542/ ; See also, Onyekwere, “How Cash Bail Works”; Rabuy and Kopf, “Detaining the Poor.”

15 “During Questioning in Albany, NYPD Commissioner Shea Backtracks on Bail Reform Law as Big Reason for Gun Violence,” CBS New York , October 14, 2021, available at https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/bail-reform-nypd-commissioner-dermot-shea-assembly-hearing/ .

16 Daniel Funke, “Fact Check: No Evidence Defunding Police to Blame for Homicide Increases, Experts Say,” USA TODAY , January 28, 2022, available at https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2022/01/28/fact-check-police-funding-not-linked-homicide-spikes-experts-say/9054639002/ .

17 See, for example, Brian Bell, Rui Costa, and Stephen Machin, “Why Does Education Reduce Crime?” Journal of Political Economy 130, no. 3 (2022): 732-65.

18 David J. Deming, “Better Schools, Less Crime?” Quarterly Journal of Economics 126 (2011): 2063-115; See also, E. Jason Baron, Joshua M. Hyman, and Brittany N. Vasquez, “Public School Funding, School Quality, and Adult Crime,” National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 29855, available at http://www.nber.org/papers/w29855 .

19 FBI, “Trend of Violent Crime from 1985 to 2020.”

20 FBI, “Trend of Homicide from 1985-2020,” Crime Data Explorer, available at https://crime-data-explorer.fr.cloud.gov/pages/explorer/crime/crime-trend .

21 Charles Oberg, H.R. Hodges, Sarah Gander, Rita Nathawad, and Diana Cutts. “The Impact of COVID-19 on Children’s Lives in the United States: Amplified Inequities and a Just Path to Recovery,” Current Problems in Pediatric and Adolescent Health Care 52, no. 7 (2022): 1-17.

22 Sabrina Tavernise, “An Arms Race in America: Gun Buying Spiked during the Pandemic. It’s Still Up,” New York Times , May 29, 2021, updated May 30, 2021, available at https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/29/us/gun-purchases-ownership-pandemic.html .

23 Tavernise, “An Arms Race in America.”

24 Philip J. Cook and Jens Ludwig, “Gun Violence Is THE Crime Problem,” Vital City . March 2, 2022, available at https://www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/gun-violence-is-the-crime-problem .

25 Carrega and Krishnakumar, “Hate Crime Reports in US Surge”; FBI, “Hate Crime in the United States Incident Analysis, 1995-2020,” Crime Data Explorer,” accessed October 6, 2022, https://crime-data-explorer.fr.cloud.gov/pages/explorer/crime/hate-crime .

26 Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, “Report to the Nation: Anti-Asian Prejudice & Hate Crime 2021,” (2021), available at https://www.csusb.edu/sites/default/files/Report%20to%20the%20Nation%20-%20Anti-Asian%20Hate%202020%20Final%20Draft%20-%20As%20of%20Apr%2028%202021%2010%20AM%20corrected.pdf .

27 Chelsea Hansen, “Slave Patrols: An Early Form of American Policing,” National Law Enforcement Museum , July 10, 2019, available at https://lawenforcementmuseum.org/2019/07/10/slave-patrols-an-early-form-of-american-policing/ ; See also, Jill Lepore, “The Invention of the Police: Why Did American Policing Get so Big, so Fast? The Answer, Mainly, Is Slavery,” The New Yorker , July 13, 2020, available at https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/07/20/the-invention-of-the-police .

28 Library of Congress, “The Fugitive Slave Clause,” Constitution Annotated, available at https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artIV-S2-C3-1/ALDE_00013571/ [“clause”].

29 Hansen, “Slave Patrols.”

30 Zinn Education Project, “Massacres in U.S. History,” available at https://www.zinnedproject.org/collection/massacres-us/ .

31 Gary Potter, “The History of Policing in the United States, Part 3,” EKU Online . Eastern Kentucky University. July 9, 2013, available at https://ekuonline.eku.edu/blog/police-studies/the-history-of-policing-in-the-united-states-part-3/ ; See also, Paul A. Shackel, “How a 1897 Massacre of Pennsylvania Coal Miners Morphed from a Galvanizing Crisis to Forgotten History,” Smithsonian Magazine , March 13, 2019, available at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-1897-massacre-pennsylvania-coal-miners-morphed-galvanizing-crisis-forgotten-history-180971695/ .

32 Radley Balko, Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces , (New York: Public Affairs, 2021).

33 American Civil Liberties Union, “War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization of American Policing” (2014), available at https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/assets/jus14-warcomeshome-report-web-rel1.pdf .

34 The Marshall Project, “How Policing Has—and Hasn’t—Changed since George Floyd,” August 6, 2022, available at https://www.themarshallproject.org/2022/08/06/how-policing-has-and-hasn-t-changed-since-george-floyd .

35 See, for example, Alex S. Vitale, The End of Policing (London: Verso Books, 2017), 4-11.

36 Vitale, The End of Policing , 11-13; See also, “Does Diversifying Police Forces Reduce Brutality against Minorities?” NPR , June 22, 2020, available at https://www.npr.org/2020/06/22/881559659/does-diversifying-police-forces-reduce-brutality-against-minorities .

37 Vitale, The End of Policing ; See also, José Luis Morín, Latino/a Rights and Justice in the United States: Perspectives and Approaches , 2nd edition (Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2009), 106-15; Balko, Rise of the Warrior Cop .

38 Weihua Li and Jamiles Lartey, “As Murders Spiked, Police Solved about Half in 2020,” The Marshall Project , January 12, 2022, available at https://www.themarshallproject.org/2022/01/12/as-murders-spiked-police-solved-about-half-in-2020 .

39 Frank Edwards, Hedwig Lee, and Michael Esposito, “Risk of being Killed by Police Use of Force in the United States by Age, Race–Ethnicity, and Sex,” PNAS 116, no. 34 (2019): 16793-8.

40 Leonardo Antenangeli and Matthew R. Durose, Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 24 States in 2008: A 10-Year Follow-up Period (2008–2018), Bureau of Justice Statistics NCJ Number 256094 September 2021, available at https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/recidivism-prisoners-released-24-states-2008-10-year-follow-period-2008-2018 .

41 See, for example, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Golden Gulag: Prisons Surplus, Crisis, and Oppression in Globalizing California (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007); Vitale, The End of Policing ; Derecka Purnell, Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom (New York: Astra House, 2021); Mariame Kaba, We Do This ’Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice (Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2021); Angela Y. Davis, Gina Dent, Erica R. Meiners, and Beth Richie. Abolition. Feminism. Now (Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2022).

42 Yoav Gonen and Eileen Grench, “Five Days without Cops: Could Brooklyn Policing Experiment Be a ‘Model for the Future’?” The City , January 3, 2021, available at https://www.thecity.nyc/2021/1/3/22211709/nypd-cops-brooklyn-brownsville-experiment-defund-police .

43 Shaila Dewan. “‘Re-fund the Police’? Why It might Not Reduce Crime,” New York Times , November 8, 2021, updated November 11, 2021, available at https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/08/us/police-crime.html .

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding: The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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256 Research Topics on Criminal Justice & Criminology

Are you a law school student studying criminal behavior or forensic science? Or maybe just looking for good criminal justice topics, questions, and hypotheses? Look no further! Custom-writing.org experts offer a load of criminology research topics and titles for every occasion. Criminological theories, types of crime, the role of media in criminology, and more. Our topics will help you prepare for a college-level assignment, debate, or essay writing.

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🔥 Hot Criminology Research Topics

  • The role of media in criminology.
  • Cultural explanation of crime.
  • Benefits of convict criminology.
  • Main issues of postmodern criminology.
  • Is criminal behavior affected by the politics?
  • How does DAWN collect data?
  • The limitations of crime mapping.
  • Personality traits that trigger criminal behavior.
  • Community deterioration and crime rates.
  • Does experimental criminology affect social policy?

🔬 120 Criminology Research Topics & Ideas

Here are 100 criminology research topics ideas organized by themes.

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General Criminology Research Paper Topics

  • Criminology as a social science.
  • Criminology and its public policies.
  • History of criminology.
  • Crime commission: legal and social perspectives .

Criminal Psychology Research Topics

  • What is the nature of criminal behavior ?
  • How does the lack of education affect the incarceration rates?
  • Childhood aggression and the impact of divorce
  • The effect of the upbringing on antisocial adult behavior
  • How do gender and cultural background affect one’s attitude towards drug abuse ?
  • Forensic psychology and its impact on the legal system
  • What is the role of criminal psychologists?
  • Different types of forensic psychological evaluations
  • What’s the difference between therapeutic and forensic evaluation?
  • Does socioeconomic status impact one’s criminal behavior ?

Criminology Research Topics: Theories

  • What crimes are typical for what ages?
  • How does the type of crime correspond with the level of exerted aggression ?
  • What is the connection between citizenship (or lack thereof) and law violation?
  • How does education (or lack thereof) correspond with crime level?
  • Does employment (or lack thereof) correspond with law violation?
  • What is the connection between family status and law violation?
  • Does gender affect on the type of law violation?
  • How does ownership of firearms correspond with law violation?
  • Does immigrant status correlate with law violation?

Crime and Victimization in Criminology.

  • Is there a connection between mental health and law violation?
  • What are the causes of violence in the society?
  • Does the crime rate depend on the neighborhood ?
  • How does race correspond with the type of crime?
  • Do religious beliefs correspond with law violation?
  • How does social class correlate with crime rate?
  • What are the reasons for the homeless’ improsonment?
  • How does weather correspond with law violation?

Criminology Topics on Victimization

  • Biological theories of crime: how do biological factors correspond with law violation?
  • Classical criminology: the contemporary take on crime, economics, deterrence, and the rational choice perspective.
  • Convict criminology: what do ex-convicts have to say on the subject?
  • Criminal justice theories: punishment as a deterrent to crime.
  • Critical criminology : debunking false ideas about crime and criminal justice.
  • Cultural criminology: criminality as the product of culture.
  • Cultural transmission theory: how criminal norms are transmitted in social interaction.
  • Deterrence theory: how people don’t commit crimes out of fear of punishment.
  • Rational choice theory : how crime doing is aligned with personal objectives of the perpetrator.
  • Feminist Criminology: how the dominant crime theories exclude women.
  • Labeling and symbolic interaction theories: how minorities and those deviating from social norms tend to be negatively labeled.
  • Life course criminology : how life events affect the actions that humans perform.
  • Psychological theories of crime: criminal behavior through the lense of an individual’s personality.
  • Routine activities theory : how normal everyday activities affect the tendency to commit a crime.
  • The concept of natural legal crime.
  • Self-control theory : how the lack of individual self-control results in criminal behavior.
  • Social construction of crime: crime doing as social response.
  • Social control theory : how positive socialization corresponds with reduction of criminal violation.
  • Social disorganization theory : how neighborhood ecological characteristics correspond with crime rates.
  • Social learning theory : how (non)criminal behavior can be acquired by observing and imitating others.
  • Strain theories : how social structures within society pressure citizens to commit crime.
  • Theoretical integration: how two theories are better than one.

Criminology Research and Measurement Topics

  • Citation content analysis (CCA): a framework for gaining knowledge from a variety of media.
  • Crime classification systems: classification of crime according to the severity of punishment.
  • Crime mapping as a way to map, visualize, and analyze crime incident patterns.
  • Reports and statistics of crime: the estimated rate of crime over time. Public surveys.
  • Drug abuse warning network (DAWN): predicting trends in drug misuse.
  • Arrestee drug abuse monitoring (ADAM): drug use among arrestees.
  • Edge ethnography: collecting data undercover in typically closed research settings and groups through rapport development or covert undercover strategy.
  • Experimental criminology: experimental and quasi-experimental research in the advancement of criminological theory.
  • Fieldwork in criminology: street ethnographers and their dilemmas in the field concerning process and outcomes.
  • Program evaluation: collecting and analyzing information to assess the efficiency of projects, policies and programs.
  • Quantitative criminology: how exploratory research questions, inductive reasoning , and an orientation to social context help recognize human subjectivity.

Criminology Topics on Types of Crime

  • Campus crime: the most common crimes on college campuses and ways of preventing them.
  • Child abuse : types, prevalence, risk groups, ways of detection and prevention.
  • Cybercrime : cyber fraud, defamation, hacking, bullying, phishing.
  • Domestic violence : gender, ways of detection and prevention, activism.
  • Domestic violence with disabilities .
  • Elder abuse : types, prevalence, risk groups, ways of detection and prevention.
  • Environmental crime. Natural resource theft: illegal trade in wildlife and timber, poaching, illegal fishing.
  • Environmental crime. Illegal trade in ozone-depleting substances, hazardous waste; pollution of air, water, and soil.
  • Environmental crime: local, regional, national, and transnational level.
  • Environmental crime: climate change crime and corruption.
  • Environmental crime: wildlife harming and exploitation.
  • Hate crime : how prejudice motivates violence.

Types of crime.

  • Homicide : what motivates one person to kill another.
  • Human trafficking : methods of deception, risk groups, ways of detection and prevention.
  • Identity theft : methods, risk groups, ways of detection and prevention.
  • Gambling in America .
  • Juvenile delinquency : risk groups, prevention policies, prosecution and punishment.
  • Juvenile Delinquency: Causes and Effects
  • Organizational crime: transnational, national, and local levels. Ways of disrupting the activity of a group.
  • Prostitution : risk groups, different takes on prevention policies, activism.
  • Robbery : risk groups, ways of prevention, prosecution and punishment.
  • Sex offenses: risk groups, types, prevalence, ways of detection and prevention.
  • Terrorism: definition, history, countermeasures .
  • Terrorism : individual and group activity, ways of detection and prevention.
  • Theft and shoplifting : risk groups, ways of detection, prevention policies, prosecution and punishment.
  • Counter-terrorism: constitutional and legislative issues .
  • White-collar crime : types, ways of detection, prevention policies, prosecution and punishment.

Criminology Topics on Racism and Discrimination

  • How systemic bias affects criminal justice?
  • How discriminatory portrayal of minority groups in the media affects criminal justice?
  • Racial profiling : targeting minority groups on the basis of race and ethnicity.
  • Racism and discrimination towards African-Americans .
  • Racial profiling : what are the cons? Are there any pros?
  • How discriminatory is the UK Court System?
  • How discriminatory is the US Court System?

Other Criminology Research Topics

  • Corporate crime : the ruling class criminals.
  • Genetics: illegal research and its dangers.
  • Hate crime : the implications in criminal justice.
  • Serial killers : risk groups, ways of detection and prevention.
  • Serial killers: portrayal in media.
  • Organized crime : how does it affect criminal justice?
  • Crime prevention programs.
  • Street lighting: does it reduce crime?
  • Terrorism prevention technology.
  • Identity theft : risk groups, ways of deception, prevention policies.
  • Due process model: procedural and substantive aspects.
  • Crime control in criminal justice administration.
  • Types of drugs: how do they affect the users?
  • Smart handheld devices: their function for security personnel.
  • Social media : its impact on crime rate.
  • Public health: how does criminal justice affect it?
  • Psychometric examinations: what is their role in criminal justice?
  • National defense in the US.
  • National defense in the UK.
  • Sexual harassment : the role of activism, ways of responding, prevention and prosecution.
  • Substance abuse : military.
  • Criminology and criminal justice jobs: a full list.

🌶️ Hot Criminal Justice Topics

  • The history of modern police.
  • Different types of prison systems.
  • Is situational crime prevention effective?
  • How to prevent wrongful convictions.
  • Challenges faced by crime victims.
  • The advantages of community corrections.
  • How do ethics influence criminal justice?
  • Disadvantages of felony disenfranchisement.
  • Does correctional system in the USA really work?
  • Possible problems of prisoner reentry process.

💂 116 Criminal Justice Research Topics & Questions

Here are some of the most typical and interesting criminal justice issues to dazzle your professor.

  • Prison system : the main problems and the hidden pitfalls.
  • The question of gender: why are there more men who receive capital punishment than women?
  • Kidnapping and ransom: common features, motifs, behavior patterns.
  • Crime prevention : key principles.
  • Firing a gun: what helps professionals understand whether it was deliberate or happened by accident?
  • Cybercrime : the legal perspective.
  • Internet vigilantism: revenge leaks.
  • Hate crime on the Internet: revenge leaks, trolling, defamation.
  • Crime and justice in mass media .
  • Parental abduction laws.
  • Sex offender registry: pros and cons.
  • The deterrence theory and the theory of rational choice : are they relevant in the modern world?
  • Sexual assault in schools and workplaces.
  • Jury selection: how is it performed?
  • Experimental criminology: the latest innovations.

Criminal justice system.

  • Wildlife crime: areas of prevalence, ways of prevention.
  • Felony disenfranchisement laws: when do they apply?
  • The relation between organized crime and corruption .
  • Victim services: what help can a victim of a crime get?
  • Prison rape and violence: the psychological aspect, ways of prevention.
  • Juvenile recidivism : what are the risk groups?
  • Forensic science : role and functions in modern criminal justice.
  • Shoplifting: how to prevent theft?
  • Witness Protection Program: who is eligible and how to protect them.
  • Date rape : what are the ways for the victims to seek legal assistance?
  • Substance abuse and crime: correlation or causation?
  • Identity theft: dangers and consequences in the modern world.
  • Online predators: what laws can be introduced to protect kids? Real-life examples.
  • Civil and criminal cases: how to differentiate?
  • Domestic abuse victims: what laws protect them?
  • Elder abuse : what can be done to prevent it?
  • The strain theory : the unachievable American dream.
  • Concepts of law enforcement: pursuing criminal justice .
  • Ethics and criminal justice: the unethical sides of law enforcement.
  • The top problems to be solved by law enforcement today.
  • Information sharing technology: how has it helped in the fight against terrorism ?
  • Terrorism in perspective: characteristics, causes, control .
  • Serial killers : types.
  • Drug use and youth arrests.
  • Aggressive behavior : how does it correlate with criminal tendencies?
  • Community corrections : are they effective?
  • Sentencing: how does it take place?
  • Punishment types and the established terms.
  • Unwarranted arrest: when is it acceptable?
  • Human trafficking in the modern world.
  • Human trafficking: current state and counteracts .
  • The role of technology in modern forensics .
  • Similarities and differences between homicide , murder, and manslaughter.
  • Types of offenders: classification.
  • Effects of gun control measures in the United States .
  • The role of crime mapping in modern criminal justice.
  • Male crimes vs female crimes: are they different?
  • Prisons : the problems of bad living conditions.
  • Victimization : causes and ways of prevention.
  • Victimology and traditional justice system alternatives .
  • Rape victims: what are their rights?
  • Problem-solving courts: what underlying problems do they address?
  • Mandatory sentencing and the three-strike rule.
  • Have “three-strikes” laws been effective and should they be continued?
  • Criminal courts : what can be learned from their history?
  • Hate crimes : what motivates people to commit them?
  • Youth gangs: what is their danger?
  • Fieldwork: how is it done in criminology?
  • Distributive justice : its place in criminal justice.
  • Capital punishment : what can be learned from history?
  • Humanities and justice in Britain during 18th century .
  • Abolition of capital punishment .
  • Criminals and prisoners’ rights .
  • Crime prevention programs and criminal rehabilitation .
  • Campus crime: what laws and precautions are there against it?
  • Criminal trial process: how does it go?
  • Crimes committed on a religious basis: how are they punished?
  • The code of ethics in the Texas department of criminal justice .
  • Comparison between Florida and Maryland’s legislative frameworks .
  • Fraud in the scientific field: how can copyright protect the discoveries of researchers?
  • Prosecution laws: how are they applied in practice?
  • The classification of crime systems.
  • Cyberbullying and cyberstalking: what can parents do to protect their children?
  • Forgery cases in educational institutions, offices, and governmental organizations.
  • Drug courts : how do they work?

Controversial Topics in Criminal Justice

Want your work to be unconventional? Consider choosing one of the controversial topics. You will need to present a number of opposite points of view. Of course, it’s acceptable to choose and promote an opinion that you think stands the best. Just make sure to provide a thorough analysis of all of the viewpoints.

You can also stay impartial and let the reader make up their own mind on the subject. If you decide to support one of the viewpoints, your decision should be objective. Back it up with plenty of evidence, too. Here are some examples of controversial topics that you can explore.

  • Reform vs. punishment: which one offers more benefits?
  • Restorative justice model : is it the best criminal justice tool?
  • The war on drugs : does it really solve the drug problem?
  • Criminal insanity: is it a reason enough for exemption from liability?
  • Juvenile justice system : should it be eliminated?
  • Drug testing on the school ground.
  • Police brutality in the United States .
  • How to better gun control ? 
  • Why Gun Control Laws Should be Scrapped .
  • Pornography: is it a type of sexual violence?
  • Whether death penalty can be applied fairly?
  • Jack the Ripper: who was he?
  • The modern justice system: is it racist?
  • A false accusation: how can one protect themselves from it?
  • Concealed weapons: what are the criminal codes of various states?
  • Race and crime: is there a correlation?
  • Registering sex offenders: should this information be in public records?
  • Juvenile delinquency and bad parenting: is there a relation?
  • Assessing juveniles for psychopathy or conduct disorder .
  • Should all new employees be checked for a criminal background ?
  • Are delinquency cases higher among immigrant children?
  • Restrictive housing: can it help decongest prisons?
  • Homegrown crimes: is there an effective program against them?
  • Prostitution: the controversy around legalization .
  • Eyewitness testimony : is it really helpful in an investigation?
  • Youthful offenders in boot camps: is this strategy effective?
  • Predictive policing : is it effective?
  • Selective incapacitation: is it an effective policy for reducing crime?
  • Social class and crime: is there a relation?
  • Death penalty: is it effective in crime deterrence?
  • Extradition law: is it fair?
  • Devious interrogations: is deceit acceptable during investigations?
  • Supermax prisons: are they effective or just cruel?
  • Zero tolerance: is it the best policy for crime reduction?
  • Marijuana decriminalization: pros and cons.
  • Marijuana legalization in the US .

Now that you have looked through the full list of topics, choose wisely. Remember that sometimes it’s best to avoid sensitive topics. Other times, a clever choice of a topic will win you extra points. It doesn’t depend on just the tastes of your professor, of course. You should also take into account how much relevant information there is on the subject. Anyway, the choice of the topic of your research is up to you. Try to find the latest materials and conduct an in-depth analysis of them. Don’t forget to draw a satisfactory conclusion. Writing may take a lot of your time and energy, so plan ahead. Remember to stay hydrated and good luck!

Now, after we looked through the topic collections on criminology and criminal justice, it is time to turn to the specifics in each of the fields. First, let’s talk more extensively about criminology. If you are training to be a criminologist, you will study some things more deeply. They include the behavior patterns of criminals, their backgrounds, and the latest sociological trends in crime.

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In the field of criminology, the specialties are numerous. That’s why it’s difficult to pinpoint one career that represents a typical member of the profession. It all depends on the background of a criminologist, their education, and experience.

Careers possible with a criminology major.

A criminologist may have a number of responsibilities at their position. For example, they might be called forth to investigate a crime scene. Participation in autopsies is unpleasant yet necessary. Interrogation of suspects and subsequent criminal profiling is another essential duty.

Some professionals work solely in research. Others consult government agencies or private security companies. Courts and law firms also cooperate with criminologists. Their job is to provide expert opinion in criminal proceedings. Some of them work in the prison systems in order to oversee the rehabilitation of the convicted.

Regardless of the career specialty , most criminologists are working on profiling and data collection. A criminologist is another word for an analyst. They collect, study, and analyze data on crimes. After conducting the analysis, they provide recommendations and actionable information.

A criminologist seeks to find out the identity of the person who committed the crime. The time point of a crime is also important, as well as the reason for it. There are several areas covered by the analysis of a criminologist. The psychological behavior of the criminal or criminals is closely studied. The socio-economic indicators are taken into account. There are also, of course, the environmental factors that may have facilitated the crime.

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Some high-profile cases require a criminologist to correspond with media and PR managers extensively. Sometimes criminologists write articles and even books about their findings. However, it should be noted that the daily routine of a professional in the field is not so glamorous. Most criminologists do their work alone, without the attention of the public.

The research a criminologist accumulates during their work is extensive. It doesn’t just sit there in a folder on their desk, of course. The collected statistics are used for developing active criminal profiles that are shared with law enforcement agencies. It helps to understand criminal behavior better and to predict it. That’s why a criminologist’s work must be precise and accurate for it to be practical and useful. Also, criminology professionals must have a good grasp of math and statistics.

Thinking of a career in criminology? You will need to, at the very least, graduate from college. There, you’ll master mathematics, statistics, and, of course, criminology. An associate’s degree may get you an entry-level position. But the minimum entry-level requirement is usually the bachelor’s degree. The best positions, though, are left for the professionals with a master’s degree or a PhD.

Just having a degree is not enough. To succeed as a criminologist, you will require all your intelligence, commitment, and the skill of analyzing intricate situations. An aspiration to better the society will go a long way. You will need to exercise your creative, written, and verbal communication skills, too. An analytical mind will land you at an advantage.

Criminology: Research Areas

Times change and the world of crime never ceases to adapt. The nature of criminal transgression is evolving, and so do the ways of prosecution. Criminal detection, investigation, and prevention are constantly advancing. Criminology studies aim to improve the practices implemented in the field.

There are six unified, coordinated, and interrelated areas of expertise. Within each, the professionals are busy turning their mastery into knowledge and action.

Criminology research areas.

The first research area is the newest worry of criminology – cybercrime. The impact of this type of crime is escalating with every passing day. That’s why it’s crucial for the law enforcement professionals to keep up to date with the evolving technology. Cybercrime research is exploring the growing threat of its subject at all levels of society. Cybercrime may impact people on both personal and governmental levels. Cybercrime research investigates the motivation and methodology behind the offenses and finds new ways to react.

The second research area is counter fraud. Crimes that fall under this category include fraud and corruption. The questions that counter fraud research deals with are many. How widely a crime is spread, what method is best to fight it, and the optimal courses of action to protect people and organizations.

The third research area is that of forensics. The contemporary face of justice has been changed by forensic science beyond recognition. Nowadays, it’s much harder for criminals to conceal their activity due to evolved technologies. The research in forensics is utilizing science in the identification of the crime and in its reconstruction. It employs such techniques as DNA recovery, fingerprinting, and forensic interviewing.

What is forensic interviewing? It helps find new ways to gather quality information from witnesses and crime scenes. It also works on developing protocols that ensure the protection of this human data and its correct interpretation by police.

The fourth research area is policing. Police service is facing a lot of pressing issues nowadays due to budget cuts. At the same time, police officers still need to learn, and there are also individual factors that may influence their work.

The fifth research area is penology. It’s tasked with exploring the role of punishment in the criminal justice system. Does punishment aid the rehabilitation of perpetrators, and to what extent? The answer will help link theory to practice and thus shape how criminal justice practitioners work.

The sixth research area is that of missing persons. Before a person goes missing, they may display a certain pattern of behavior. The study of missing persons helps to identify it. The results will determine the handling of such cases.

Now that we know what criminology is, it’s time to talk about criminal justice.

While criminology focuses on the analysis of crime, criminal justice concentrates on societal systems. Its primary concern is with the criminal behavior of the perpetrators. For example, in the USA, there are three branches of the criminal justice system. They are police (aka law enforcement), courts, and corrections. These branches all work together to punish and prevent unlawful behavior. If you take up a career in criminal justice, expect to work in one of these fields.

The most well-known branch of criminal justice is law enforcement. The police force is at the forefront of defense against crime and misdemeanor. They stand against the criminal element in many ways. For instance, they patrol the streets, investigate crimes, and detain suspects. It’s not just the police officers who take these responsibilities upon themselves. There are also US Marshals, ICE, FBI Agents, DEA, and border patrol. Only after the arrest has been made, the perpetrator enters the court system.

The court system is less visible to the public, but still crucial to the criminal justice system. Its main purpose is to determine the suspect’s innocence or guilt. You can work as an attorney, lawyer, bailiff, judge, or another professional of the field. In the court, if you are a suspect, you are innocent until proven guilty. You are also entitled to a fair trial. However, if they do find you guilty, you will receive a sentence. Your punishment will be the job of the corrections system.

The courts determine the nature of the punishment, and the corrections system enforces it. There are three elements of the corrections system: incarceration, probation, and parole. They either punish or rehabilitate the convicts. Want to uptake a career in corrections? You may work as, including, but not limited to: a parole officer, a prison warden, a probation officer, and a guard.

📈 Criminal Justice: Research Areas

The research areas in criminal justice are similar, if not identical, to those of criminology. After all, those are two very closely related fields. The one difference is that criminal justice research has more practical than theoretical applications. But it’s fair to say that theory is the building blocks that practice bases itself on. One is impossible without the other unless the result you want is complete chaos.

So, the question is – what topic to choose for the research paper? Remember that the world of criminal justice is constantly changing. Choosing a subject for research in criminal justice, consider a relevant topic. There are many pressing issues in the field. Exploring them will undoubtedly win you points from your professor. Just make sure to choose a direction that will give you the opportunity to show off both your knowledge and your analytical skills.

Not sure that your original research direction will be appreciated? Then choose one of the standard topics. Something that is widely discussed in the media. And, of course, make sure that you are truly interested in the subject. Otherwise, your disinterest will translate into your writing, which may negatively affect the overall impression. Also, it’s just more enjoyable to work on something that resonates with you.

What can you do with your research paper? Literally anything. Explore the background of the issue. Make predictions. Compare the different takes on the matter. Maybe there are some fresh new discoveries that have been made recently. What does science say about that?

Also, remember to backup all your arguments with quotes and examples from real life. The Internet is the best library and research ground a student could hope for. The main idea of the paper, aka the thesis, must be proven by enough factual material. Otherwise, it’s best to change your research direction.

And, of course, don’t put it all off till the last minute. Make a plan and stick to it. Consistency and clever distribution of effort will take you a long way. Good luck!

🤔 Criminal Justice Research FAQs

Criminological and criminal justice research are the scientific studies of the causes and consequences, extent and control, nature, management, and prevention of criminal behavior, both on the social and individual levels.

Criminal justice and criminology are sciences that analyze the occurrence and explore the ways of prevention of illegal acts. Any conducted personal research and investigation should be supported by the implemented analytical methods from academic works that describe the given subject.

There are six interrelated areas of criminology research:

  • Cybercrime research makes law enforcement professionals keep up to date with the evolving technology.
  • Counter fraud research investigates cases of fraud and corruption.
  • Forensics research utilizes science: DNA recovery, fingerprinting, and forensic interviewing.
  • Research in policing investigates individual factors that may influence the work of police officers.
  • Penology explores the role of punishment in the criminal justice system.
  • The study of missing persons helps to identify patterns of victims’ behavior.

There are seven research methods in criminology:

  • Quantitative research methods measure criminological and criminal justice reality by assigning numerical values to concepts to find patterns of correlation, cause and effect.
  • Survey research collects information from a number of persons via their responses to questions.
  • Experimental research assesses cause and effect in two comparison groups.
  • Cross-sectional research studies one group at one point in time.
  • Longitudinal research studies the same group over a period of time.
  • Time-series designs study the same group at successive points in time.
  • Meta-analysis employs quantitative analysis of findings from multiple studies.

The basis of criminological theory is criminological research. It influences the development of social policies and defines criminal justice practice.

Criminological research doesn’t just enable law students to develop analytical and presentational skills. The works of criminal justice professionals, scholars, and government policymakers dictate the way law enforcement operates. The newest ideas born out of research identify corrections and crime prevention, too.

Here is a step-by-step instruction on how to write a criminal justice research paper:

  • Choose a topic
  • Read the materials and take notes
  • Come up with a thesis
  • Create an outline for your work
  • Draft the body
  • Start with a cover page, an abstract, and an intro
  • List the methods you used, and the results you got
  • Include a discussion
  • Sum it up with a conclusion
  • Don’t forget a literature review and appendices
  • Revise, proofread, and edit

The most common types of methodologies in criminal justice research include:

  • Observation of participants.
  • Surveys and interviews.
  • Observation of focus groups.
  • Conducting experiments.
  • Analysis of secondary data and archival study.
  • Mixed (a combination of the above methods).

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  • The Differences Between Criminal Justice and Criminology: Which Degree Is Right for You? (Concordia St. Paul)
  • Corporate Crime: Britannica
  • The Development of Delinquency: NAP
  • Databases for Research & Education: Gale
  • A CS Research Topic Generator: Purdue University
  • A Introduction To The Federal Court System: US Department of Justice
  • Criminal Justice Research Topics: Broward College
  • Research Topics in Criminology: Cambridge Institute of Criminology
  • CRIMINOLOGY: University of Portsmouth
  • Research: Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice, University of Maryland
  • Criminal Justice: RAND
  • Research Methods in Criminal Justice: Penn State University Libraries
  • Research: School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University
  • Criminology – Research Guide: Getting started (Penn Libraries)
  • Criminology Research Papers: Academia
  • The History & Development of the U.S. Criminal Justice System: Study.com
  • CRIMINAL JUSTICE & CRIMINOLOGY: Marshall University
  • Criminal Justice: Temple University
  • Criminal Justice: University of North Georgia
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The schools of criminology seems like such a fascinating field — it’s definitely not for the lighthearted though! Here in the Philippines, criminology as a course is highly underrated; hopefully that’ll change!

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607 Crime Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

When writing a research paper about criminology or law, you have to consider your topic carefully. Our team came up with 465 titles, along with some crime essay examples to assist you in your assignment.

🏆 Best Crime Topic Ideas & Essay Examples

👍 good crime topics for essays, ✅ simple & easy topics about crime, 💡 most interesting crime topics to write about, 📌 useful crime topics for essays, 📑 interesting crime topics, ❓ crime research questions.

  • Youth Crime as a Major Issue in the World The relationships that exist in the families of the youths could facilitate the indulgence in criminal activities for example when the parents are involved in crime, when there is poor parental guidance and supervision, in […]
  • Unemployment Leads to Crime Essay In the 1990s, the rate of unemployment was low and so was the rate of property crime. Crime rates increase steadily in society, and the rate of crime is connected to unemployment and low wages.
  • Applying Developmental Theories of Crime to Jeffrey Dahmer In the framework of this theory, Dahmer’s obsession with dissecting animals and necrophilic fantasies from a young age are not connected to the other events in his life but are simply manifestations of his latent, […]
  • The Effects of Mass Media Glorifying Crime and Criminal Lifestyle Crime has and will dominate popular media, ranging from the traditional police and detective shows/movies to documentaries, and more recently the ‘true crime’ genre or psychological thrillers attempting to tell the story from the perspective […]
  • Infamous Crimes: Laci Peterson’s Murder Even during the war in Iraq, the search for her and the ultimate arrest of Scott Peterson led the news. Her cell phone and purse were still in the house, and a neighbor said she […]
  • Chris Watts and His Murder Crimes Watts pleaded guilty to the killings of his children and wife. Watts concluded the interview by saying he was sorry and repented for his actions after seeking refuge in God.
  • Three Pathways to Crime Identified by Loeber It encompasses an account of an individual’s past in the course of time of problem behavior in a continuing increment of seriousness of problem behavior.
  • Technology for Crime Prevention With the modern computer technology and advanced software, criminal justice system has been in a capacity to compile data and store it as well as share its analysis with other agencies both in and out […]
  • Marxists and Functionalists’ Views on Crime and Deviance Also, the essay seeks to explain why people commit crimes in reference to a social and political transition, poverty, globalization of crime and state bureaucracy in order to evaluate the most effective conceptual approach to […]
  • Frankston Serial Killer: Background, Crimes, and Motives At the time, the police noted that Denyer was with his girlfriend. The letter claimed that Denyer knows his whereabouts, and that he was planning to break out of prison to kill him.
  • Impact of Crime on Wider Society Therefore, just as some organs in the body can be removed in order to improve the health of a person, the people who cause problems in the society can also be removed so that the […]
  • Social Cultural Causes of Crime There is need to highlight the social cultural factors of crime and describe the necessary positive measures to prevent the occurrences of crime.
  • Why Does Crime Exist in Society? Philosophically this is the equivalent of saying that without evil one would not recognize good, and while this is evident in the criminal world and the world of law, it only provides some explanation as […]
  • Consequences of Committing Crime These factors affect the behavior of an individual and might lead them to criminal activities depending on the effect of the overall combination of the elements mentioned above.
  • Types of Crime Analysis The goals of tactical analysis are to recognize crime trends and to develop the best suited strategies to address them. This is a matter of great concern and the department would inquire more into the […]
  • Crime TV: How Is Criminality Represented on Television? The public’s views and comprehension of crime are heavily influenced by television, the internet, and print media, which can spread the message about the exaggerated danger to society.
  • International Organized Crime: The 14K Triads in Hong Kong Being one of the largest transnational criminal organizations globally, the 14K does not depend on the strict structure, operates according to the principles of secrecy, and it is rather difficult to bring the organization to […]
  • Campus Crimes Types and Causes According to the college administrators’ records, crimes in campuses were minimal in the 19th century and in the early 20th century.
  • Displacement: Crime Prevention It refers to circumstances where crime intervention efforts make the cost of committing an offense greater than the benefits accruing from the crime.
  • Parental Responsibility for Crimes of Children Parents should be held responsible for the crime of their children because in most cases criminal involvement of children is the result of lack of parental control.
  • Solving the Issue of Crime As the director of the county juvenile court, the research question related to the problem at hand should state as follows: What are cost effective methods of solving the proliferation of violent street gangs in […]
  • To What Extent Are New Technologies and Organized Crime Linked? There are three major issues in the assessment of the crime and technology which will form the basis of our argument in this research paper; the level of information technology that is used by the […]
  • Capital Punishment and Deterrence of Crime For the case of murder or crimes that necessitate capital punishment, the incentive to commit murder is directly related to the uncertainties that punishments for the crime will generate.
  • Crimes Against Property, Persons, and Public Order The least in ranking is crimes against public order for they have no serious repercussions to lives and livelihood of the involved people.
  • The Genre of Crime and Gangster Movies The gangster movies always tend to idolize the gangster figures with a relation to the sinister activities that always define crime and the lifestyles of the gangsters.
  • White Collar Crimes From a Marxist Criminological Perspective Marxist criminologists interpret it in the following way: “…the crimes of the upper class exert a greater economic toll on society than the crimes of the ‘ordinary people’”.
  • Suspect, Crime Scene, and the Victim: Evidence Triangle In every crime investigation, it is mandatory that the evidence gathered be adequate to draw the link between the suspect, crime scene and the victim.
  • Zodiac Movie: Crime, Media Reporting and Ethics The development of the events and the rise of the killer’s popularity began as soon as the reporters of the San Francisco Chronicle received and discovered the letter with threats to American society.
  • Social Theories of Crime in Explaining Gang Violence This theory incorporates the strain theory as well as the social disorganization it points out that as a result of strain and societal segregation there is a particular culture that establishes for the low income […]
  • The Impact of Social Media on the Rise in Crime For example, Jones cites revenge porn, or the practice of publishing a partner’s intimate contact on social media, as one of the results of social media use.
  • Relationship Between Crime Rates and Poverty This shows that the strength of the relationship between the crime index and people living below the line of poverty is.427.
  • Crime Scene Investigation in Criminal Justice In the process of controlling the crowd and maintaining order with the aid of the police officers, I took some photographs of the surrounding and then approached the main spot of event. I managed to […]
  • “The Functions of Crime” by Emile Durkheim In the article “The Functions of Crime”, Emile Durkheim argues clearly that crime should be treated and analyzed as a normal aspect of a given society.
  • White Collar Crime Parties affected by the crime and how it affects them White collar criminals place more emphasis on their personal needs than their organization’s to the point of downplaying the real costs of their actions.
  • How Biochemical Conditions and Brain Activity are Linked to Crime Studies have shown that areas with high rates of homicide and other forms of violence had a lot of lead in the air.
  • “Sisters in Crime: The Rise of the New Female Criminal” by Adler This includes the extent, nature, control and cause of crime in the society. It focuses on supernaturalism in the definition and address of crime in society.
  • Crime: What Modifies the Human Acts? A young man entering medical school has, as proximate and intermediate ends, the passing of his exams, and the advance from the first to the second class; more remote ends are the exams and classes […]
  • Cyber Bullying and Positivist Theory of Crime Learning theory approaches to the explanation of criminal behavior have been associated with one of the major sociological theories of crime, the differential association theory.
  • Crimes Against Person Cases of murder falls in the rule of felony murder which is well stipulated by the constitution of any given country and the penalty is administered depending on whether the case was committed in an […]
  • The First Officer at Crime Scene One should perfectly realize the fact that the crime scene investigation is an extremely important and, at the same time, complex process that determines the success of the whole case and contributes to the improved […]
  • The Evolution of Behavioral and Cognitive Development Theories of Crime Behavioral theory is based upon the principles of behavioral psychology and is the basis for behavior modification and change. This theory is founded on the belief that the way in which people organize their thoughts […]
  • Analyzing Graffiti as a Crime Other types of graffiti such as the commercial graffiti are categorized as crimes because making use of graffiti as a form of advertisement is usually against the advertisement along with media laws established in most […]
  • Youth Crime According to Conflict Theory The second one is that the youth might engage in criminal activities and violence due to misappropriation of resources, lack of jobs, and inadequate strategies to meet their social needs.
  • Factors Influencing the Commission of Crime Some of the factors that contribute to the decision-making of the offender are based on time constraints, the ability of the information available, agreeing with the offender’s plans as well as the availability of favorable […]
  • Crimes and Criminal Tendencies: Cause and Effect The school makes demands of control, discipline, and accountability which are difficult for the low self-control student to meet, and, for this reason, early school leaving is a result of low self-control, not a cause […]
  • Processing a Crime Scene That is why, for the effective investigation, it is important to take all the necessary crime scene processing measures correctly, and the role of the first responding officer is particularly significant.
  • The Cause of the Crime Since it takes a lot of time and resources to get involved in crime, it is evident that involvement in crime is entirely due to decision of the person to gain the rewards that are […]
  • The Influence of Peer Groups on Youth Crime The impact of youth crime on the community is profound, and so is the influence of criminal behavior on the lives of adolescents.
  • Statistics of Crime Costs to the UK Healthcare The statistic is describing the claims by Labour that the NHS uses 500 million a year to treat wounds caused by knife crimes.
  • Investigating Crimes against Property According to the Uniform Crime Report of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, there are about 9,767,915 cases of property crimes reported in America annually.
  • The Long Way to Confession in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment The act of confession is one of the central themes in Crime and Punishment, since it is the climax point of the novel signifying crucial changes in Raskolnikov’s mental and physical state.
  • Criminology: Application of Crime Theories For an action to amount to crime, there has to be a breach of law followed by the administration of punishment by the state to the accused.
  • Aileen Wuornos’ Background and Crimes Aileen Wuornos began her series of murders in 1989. For a short period, she killed seven people, and all of them were men.
  • Crime in Canada: Causes, Regulation and Legislation There are those activities that are universally accepted to constitute a crime, however, what might be considered the crime in one society is not necessarily applied in a different society; for instance, looking at a […]
  • Youth Crime in Functionalism and Conflict Theories The analysis will focus on determining factors contributing to youth engagement in criminal acts, examining the types of delinquencies they are likely to commit, and establishing the socio-psychological facets associated with the teenagers in the […]
  • White-Collar Crime: The Notorious Case of Ford Pinto Additionally, the representatives of this organization argued that the actions of the company should be judged according to the standards of federal law.
  • Drug, Crime and Violence This essay offers a brief discussion of how the abuse of illegal drugs is related to both crime and violence. It is prudent to mention that drug and violence have been noted to be closely […]
  • The Impact of the Internet on Traditional Crime How the Internet helps the criminals The advancement in the modern computer technologies and the Internet has put radical changes in the concept of information and the mode of exchanging the data.
  • Hate Crimes: Crimes or Deviant Behavior? Because hate crimes are associated with the violation of the First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and association, it is believed that the motive for hate crimes is a crime itself.
  • Freakonomics: What Attributed to the Sharp Drop In Crime? This article focuses on these reasons that were thought to have led to reduction of the rising crime rates experienced in United States in the 1990s and refutes the claims flaunted by the theorists.
  • Race, Ethnicity and Crime There are a number of opposing issues concerning racism and disparity that has led to complication in the discussion of the issue of racism in the Criminal Justice System. The larger the differences between the […]
  • The Crimes of Charles Manson In reality, based on the ghastly consequences of his actions and “teachings”, he is generally considered a pathological liar, a shrewd manipulator and a man guilty of not only coercing others to murder in his […]
  • Models of Organized Crime Executive Summary The creation of a bureaucratic structure usually becomes important when the activities expand and the necessity to control the enterprise through the use of rules, hierarchy, specialization and the desirable means of communication while the […]
  • Prohibition and the Rise of Organized Crime In the 1920s, the United States was facing worrying rates of crime that called for the intervention of the Congress to avert the situation.
  • An Epidemic of Knife Crime in the UK In the case of the former, it is evident that social class plays a key role in the emergence of knife crimes across the UK.
  • Neighborhood Watch Programs and Crime Prevention The presence of a service that supports victims of crimes in the area also plays a significant role in the lives of the residents and of the neighborhood watch program.
  • The Future of Global Crime: Globalization and Integration The main argument is money, and the pursuit of it particularly among major criminals pushing cocaine and heroin evokes every illegal act that falls within the analytical categories discussed above, with the prevalence of the […]
  • Cyber-Bullying Is a Crime: Discussion It is easy to see the effects of cyber-bullying but it is hard to find out who is the bully making it hard for authorities to pin the blame on the perpetrator of a crime […]
  • Policy Recommendations for Controlling Crime However, his theory was important in that, it gave a challenge to the idea of criminals being wicked or as having chosen to be engaging in criminal acts.
  • Organized Crime – John Gotti’s Analyze He argues that the American social structure and its structure of wealth distribution and that dream of achieving the ‘American dream’ all require crime to maintain social stability in the face of structural inequality.
  • Electronic Crime: Online Predators on Facebook Facebook, as one of the many social network sites, will be addressed in this paper and after looking at the dangers that such sites pose to the contemporary world, a conclusion will be arrived at […]
  • Nature of Crime in the UAE The irony of this phenomenon is that most embassies in the UAE advise their citizens to take normal security precautions while in the country, yet they are among the biggest offenders.
  • Crimes, Future Challenges and Issues Law enforcement agencies will have challenges with legal requirements and privacy issues in operating vehicles that demand law enforcement agency compliance.
  • Note-Taking and Crime Scene Photography Concerning the effectiveness of notes, generally, they should contain a high level of detail, and straightforwardness and cover all areas of the crime scene.
  • Rediscovery of Crime Victims Voicing of problems of crime-affected persons is a good effort in addressing their plights because it brings their troubles to the attention of the public.
  • Restoring the Requirement of Mens Rea for All Crimes The reason behind incorporating the two notions was that people had to be responsible for what they do whether intentionally or not; the law also seeks to prevent people with criminal intentions from violating the […]
  • Sociological Perspectives on Crimes of Power: Enron Selfish ambitions of people are dangerous to the organization because this will lead to the downfall of the company in the long run as it happened with Enron.
  • Lipstick Analysis in Crime Detection The modern analytical methods enable the detection team to analyze the constituents of the chemicals in the lipstick and the traces of smear extracted from the victims lips of eyelashes.
  • Petty Crime Offenses: A Case of Mary Lee It is easy for the prosecution, in this case, to request the judge to sentence the defendant due to her criminal behavior.
  • Crime and Delinquency, Eric Smith’s Case Thus the psychological problems that smith developed were due to the experiences he had gone through the courtesy of his bright red hair, freckles, and speech problems.
  • Medea’s Justification for Her Crime Medea felt Jason had betrayed her love for him and due to her desperate situation she was depressed and her normal thinking was affected that she started thinking of how she would revenge the man […]
  • Crime Laboratories: Accreditation and Certification S, the four major accrediting bodies include the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board, the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation, Forensic Quality Services, and the American Board of Forensic Toxicology, though each body […]
  • Bernie Madoff Ponzi’s Crime Scheme The image of the American Dream and the Strain Theory works in reverse as well: if a person fails to possess lots of quantifiable treasure, then the social order will consider him as a disappointment.
  • Crimes in Biological, Psychological, Sociological Theories With the course of time, people also started paying attention not to the very commitment of crimes but to the triggers that made a person act in a particular way.
  • Crime Scene Investigation: Principles and Process Besides, the paper presents the qualities that crime investigators should have to guarantee a successful inquiry process. Upon arrival on a scene or the site of the crime, one should: Offer assistance to the injured […]
  • Raskolnikov’s Crime in Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” Using the ingenuity of Fyodor Dostoevsky and his eternal masterpiece Crime and Punishment, the paper is going to prove the idea that the actual crime committed by Rodion Raskolnikov was the arrogance he had towards […]
  • Controlling Organized Crime In some instances, law enforcement officers have to get court orders first before they are allowed to search the premises of criminal suspects and this makes it difficult for them to stop different criminal incidents […]
  • Luka Magnotta and His Crime From the attention that the media has shown and the public outcry it is possible to conclude that the case is one of a kind.
  • Why Hate Crimes Should Carry More Severe Punishments Having looked at the impacts that hate crimes cause to the individual victim and the society it is of the essence that severe punishments are accorded to the hate crime offenders.
  • Crime Theories: Psychodynamics and Rational Choice The rational choice theory explained the causes of crime to be the ability of an individual to commit the crime, their need for valuable possessions and money, their physical health and ability to commit the […]
  • The Most Effective Crime Prevention Strategies in the Past Two Decades The conditions are; the desire of the criminal to carry out an offence, the opportunity to carry out the crime and finally the possession of skills and tools necessary for commitment of the crime.
  • Marijuana Legalization and Crime Rates The possible outcome of this effort will be the safe consumption of the drug, easy monitoring, and creation of awareness to the public on the dangers of excessive use of the drug and lastly the […]
  • The Major Theories of Crime Causation The survival of any civilization hinges on the establishment of laws and codes of conduct and the subsequent obeying of the same by the members of the society.
  • Impact of Cyber Crime on Internet Banking The paper evaluates a con article on ‘The impact of cybercrime on e-banking’ [1]. H2: Identity theft will have a negative impact on the adoption of electronic banking.
  • The Crime Scene Investigation Effect Theory In this context, the public has come to expect too much from criminologists and the criminal justice system because of the CSI Effect.
  • Medical Crimes in the Health Industry This is because the industry has such a long bureaucracy that makes the efficient management of the organization very complicated due to the decentralization processes.
  • Transnational Crime and International Policing This further aids the level of operation and success of international policing by creating the need for control on transnational crime.
  • Middle Class and Crime: Historical Analysis of Crime The middle class norms place a high evaluation on the cultivation and possession of skills and on the tangible achievements which are presumed to witness the possession of skills and the application of effort.
  • Does Drug Interdiction Increase or Decrease Drug-Related Crime? Thesis: Drug interdiction helps to reduce drug-related crime by reducing the flow of drugs into the country and by disrupting the flow of funds into the hands of the terrorists.
  • Prostitution as a Victimless Crime The association in the law and morality in the subject of prostitution is been a wide concern as prostitution can be considered as one of the oldest phenomena of humankind in a way of practicing […]
  • Crime Scene Investigation and Evidence Classification They include the explanation of physical evidence to identify purposes, the discussion of the differences between class and individual characteristics of physical evidence, and the evaluation of the class characteristics’ importance.
  • Corporate Crime – BP Oil Spill The spill contributed to the disruption of the ecosystem and the wildlife, these included both aquatic and terrestrial wildlife. This contributed to the loss of life, environmental pollution and health issues among others.
  • Cybercrime and Cyber-Related Crimes The introduction of computer technology has created room for cyber crimes and cyber related crimes that have caused many people pain and losses to the society.
  • Crimes and Criminal Law Therefore, facts on crimes and decisions of the judge is referenced from the constitution, which prescribes the nature and extend of the punishment or fine awarded to an individual found guilty of an offense. One […]
  • War Crimes During the World War II It is clear that the holocaust was a war crime by the fact that, these were innocent civilians who were targeted specifically because of the hatred that Hitler had for them.
  • Crime and Deviance Crime is an act that is against the norm of a society and the registered law of the entire country. A person is usually taken to the court of law where the offence is listened […]
  • The Community Policing Impact on Juvenile Crime Moreover, the involvement of the police when it comes to community activities and narrowing the gap between law enforcement and youth is also related to criminal activity in the region.
  • Design Theory in “Ornament and Crime” Essay by Loos One of the striking examples of this opinion is the desire to combine the interior and exterior decoration of the building, making them a logical continuation of each other.
  • Globalization and the Internet: Change of Organized Crime Everyone is aware that the emergence of the Internet is a contributor to the break of national boundaries and the improvement of interpersonal and intercultural relationships.
  • “Crimes Against Humanity” by Ward Churchill Throughout the essay, he puts a lot of words and phrases in quotation marks to underline the unique and figurative meaning of these phrases.
  • Conflict Criminology and Crime Causation Theories If we connect the theory of relative deprivation to the stratified society and criminology, we will see that the majority of social movements are based on the phenomenon of relative deprivation.
  • Reasons Why Women Are Often the Victims of Violent Crimes Law enforcement, family, and friends often chose not to pay attention to women in violent relationships, which is another cause of the number of crimes related to femicide to increase.
  • Juvenile Crime of Lionel Tate: Causes and Effects However, the application of laws and the imposition of punishments for minors is difficult due to their age. The purpose of this essay is to investigate the causes and effects of juvenile crime.
  • Drug Crimes and Merton’s Anomie It is also reported that in the year 2004, seven percent of the State inmates in the United States jails and eighteen percent of the Federal prisoners pointed out that they engaged in committing offenses […]
  • White Collar Crime Characteristics It is possible to conclude that white collar offenders are usually well off and have certain status in the society. On balance, it is necessary to note that demographic and psychological characteristics of white collar […]
  • Natural and Legal Crime Conceptual Distinction Natural crime is therefore described as a crime against the fundamental laws of nature as well as personal crimes which could or may sometimes not be against the laws of the land.
  • The British Crime Survey’s Strengths and Weaknesses The British Crime Survey’s main purpose is to check the crime level and the number of affected people in England. The investigation performed by the British Crime Survey is in the form of an interview, […]
  • The Relationship of Drugs and Crime This has been a topic that has garnered a considerable amount of attention for the past few decades among the public, media, and politicians because of the considerable negative social and economic impact on society […]
  • Psychological Theories Explaining Violent Crime Genetic influences refer to the blueprints for behavior that are contained in a person’s chromosomes. It is theoretically possible for a person to carry genes that influence behavior; the behavior they express would be the […]
  • Computer Forensics: Identity Theft The forensics process that is maintained in the framework of computer-related technologies provides professionals with the opportunity to gather, analyze, and report on the information.
  • Forensic Psychology: Media and Crime Relationship Consequently, it is arguable that exposure to stimuli involving violence such as the one found in a violent video game and some TV programs including cartoons may cause activation of aggressive scripts among children.
  • Crime Causes in Sociological Theories The former can be characterized as the outcome of the constructive or adverse influence of rewards/ penalties on the individual’s behavior.
  • Social Disorganization and Crime Social disorganization can be conceptualized as the incapability of the community structure to attain the common values of its members and maintain effective social controls, or as the failure and degeneration of social institutions and […]
  • Substance Abuse and Crime Logically, it is still not possible to prove the theories that correspond to criminal behaviour studies and consequently the correctness and relevancy of the theories vary in application depending on the strain of the situation, […]
  • Functionalist Approach to Deviance and Crime This paper looks at the functionalist approach to the explanation of the causes of deviance and crime. Some level of deviance is however healthy as it leads to better adaptation of the society.
  • An Inchoate Crime Under the conspiracy element in the Wisconsin Statutes, conspiracy is defined as the agreement or combination of forces by two individuals with the intent of committing a crime.
  • The Connection Between Drugs and Crime The central viewpoint is that it is not an absolute truth that drug use is not an obvious cause of crime.
  • Cyberspace: Statistics, Policy, and Crimes Key stakeholders, including experts in matters of security and politicians, are making every effort to see to it that the public is aware of the consequences of cyber terrorism.
  • The Role of American Laws in Protecting Corporations From Cybercrime The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a statute in the United States of America that seeks to protect the government and organizations from cyber attack by prosecuting IP theft.
  • Extortion in Organized Crime Groups Blackmailing is a standard tool in organized crime, as it relies on one’s ability to threaten with severe consequences for non-compliance.
  • The Crimes of Charles Manson, Serial Killer Even though his people did it himself, he was not involved in this, and the organization of a particular group of people is not in itself an immoral act but is prohibited in some places.
  • Guidelines for Responsible Reporting on Hate Crimes The media is responsible for maintaining a balance between their interests and the needs and rights of crime victims, the public, and defendants.
  • Water Pollution as a Crime Against the Environment In particular, water pollution is a widespread crime against the environment, even though it is a severe felony that can result in harm to many people and vast territories.
  • The Crime of Attempt: Adequate Punishment In this situation, it is necessary to cooperate with a lawyer to prove the absence of intent to harm or to verify the impossibility of committing a crime.
  • Hate Crimes from a Biblical Perspective Therefore, hate crimes include immoral conduct and a risk to the wellbeing of the general populace, and the courts are without a doubt vested with the jurisdiction to decide how the perpetrators of these offenses […]
  • Andrew Luster’s Crime and Media Attention Henry Luster, a psychiatrist, and Elizabeth Luster, the parents of Andrew Luster. The film concluded with a snapshot of Luster and an appeal for witnesses to his whereabouts to notify authorities.
  • Categories of Crime in Current Justice System A stable and effective legal system work is one of the fundamental aspects necessary for the evolution of society. The severity of the crime is determined by the damage done to a person and the […]
  • Crime Scene Investigation Techniques Digital GPS evidence refers to the location data that is collected and stored on digital devices such as smartphones, laptops, tablets, smart watches, and others.
  • The Most Effective Crime Reduction Approaches Therefore, the assessment and monitoring of the community must remain a core strategy for a crime analyst to prevent a rise in crime.
  • Mental Health of Crime Offenders The research was created with the idea that women have a significant role in promoting global health because of the importance of their health. According to the findings, life skills training programs improved women’s mental […]
  • A Theoretical Perspective on Crimes On the one hand, if the core of committing crimes is the moral values or rational decisions of the individual, then re-education seems to be a feasible strategy. Consequently, the concept of re-education is not […]
  • Cryptocurrency Crimes in Financial Markets One of the most relevant, and important news in recent times is the trend of cryptocurrency crimes in financial markets. In this case, it is necessary to improve security systems concerning the management, control, storage, […]
  • Discussion on the Role of Crime The results of this study can be implemented in the education and training of police officers and lead to a reduction in the number of illegal actions.
  • Crime Prevention With Rational Choice Theory In addition, pure RCT may be insufficient for explaining nuances associated with the psychological and social profiles of the offenders. In particular, the traditional RCT faces problems explaining violent crime and irrational risk and reward […]
  • Research in Criminal Justice: Crime Solvability Factors In the sphere of criminal justice, inquiry can doubtlessly assist in the formulation of improved and more progressive laws and institutions.
  • Terrorism and Transnational Organized Crime as Threats to Homeland Security The US is among the nations that have suffered some of the worst terrorist attacks worldwide and it is also a hub of international criminal activities due to its wealth of resources and powerful economic […]
  • Gender Factor of Crime Motivation In essence, understanding why women are less involved in crimes can be instrumental in providing insights into the root causes of crime.
  • Sexual Crimes and Behavioral Problems Treatment The author’s central claim is the need for a comprehensive study of sexual crimes and the identity of a sex offender with mental abnormalities.
  • State Crimes: Strategies to Resisting Tortures in Prisons This paper intends to uncover the effective methods of resistance to state crime on the example of torture in prisons. The main argument will be that the specificity of repressive regimes, which are the main […]
  • The Relationship Between Wealth Distribution and Crime Rates According to Anser et al, the levels of crime and violence in the community depend on the difference between the risks or costs and potential gains.
  • Police Administration Issue: Crime Victim Rights Moreover, the police administration has not acknowledged that the decision of the hospital does, in fact, protect the victims’ rights, a duty that is to be implemented by law enforcement.
  • Hate Crimes and Biblical Worldview The first four commandments of the Old Testament are the commandments about the love of God, and the next six are about the love of one’s neighbors.
  • Sociology Can Be Applied to Offenders and Crimes As a result, such people are likely to be involved in property theft and unlawfully obtain what does not belong to them.
  • Crime Problems and Criminal Justice Notably, except for the last one, all listed procedures can be applied to crime issues discussed above and seem practical in preventing law violations.
  • Suitability of Electronic Monitoring: Crime Control Perspective Electronic monitors must be used for youthful offenders because it provides the necessary level of structure and rules that the individuals must follow in order to remain in the community.
  • Low Crime Clearance Rates in the United States The decline in clearance rates might be explained by the relaxation of law enforcement and the simultaneous increase in standards for making an arrest.
  • Crime Control and Prevention Methods In addition to notations that are usually tiresome for schoolchildren, police officers who specialize in working with minors can show movies about the dangers of drinking alcohol.
  • Crimes and Victimization: Gender Issues Generally, a common way to perceive the dynamic between men and women in the context of crime and deviance underestimates women’s capacity to be self-sufficient and expects to see the predator-prey relationships between the genders.
  • Transnational Organized Crime in the United States The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia’s and the Taliban’s engagement in the narcotic business is essential to their position to uphold terrorist activities.
  • Crime Reporting in Irish Media The impact of the increase in crime reporting is the rise in worrisome behaviors among the citizens. On the other hand, there is an increase in crime rates, especially cyber crimes and sexual offenses.
  • Police Corruption: A Crime With Severe Consequences
  • Analysis of Crime and Punishment Bill
  • Investigating and Reporting White Collar Crimes: The Case of Bernie Madoff
  • Curtis Sliwa’s “The Guardian Angels”: Fighting Crime in New York City
  • “Time and Crime: Which Cold-Case Investigations Should Be Reheated?”: Key Ideas
  • “Hot Spots of Crime…” Article by Weisburd & White
  • Crime of Ricin Using or an Easy Way Out
  • Current Trends in Globalization of Crime
  • Substance Use During Pregnancy as a Crime
  • The Crime and Justice Impact on New Media
  • Legal Issues Related to Cyber Crime Investigations
  • Crime Rates in the United States
  • Processing a Physical and Electronic Crime Scene
  • Criminalistics: Forensic Science, Crime, and Terrorism
  • Crime Trends in the Jurisdiction
  • Websites Against Cyber Crimes: Investigating High-Tech Crime
  • Cultural Criminology: Inside the Crime
  • Juvenile Crime and Human Institutions’ Solutions
  • Crime of Extortion and Potential Defense
  • Alternative Punishment for Minor Drug-Related Crimes
  • The United States Uniform Crime Report’s Aims
  • Department of Justice Project on Organized Crime
  • Illegal Immigration Policies and Violent Crime
  • Major Crimes Committed by Women
  • Finding a Crime Series: Murders Committed by John Wayne Gacy
  • Review of High Tech Crime Investigation
  • Analysis of Crime and Violence Trauma
  • Crime Maps of Detroit and Michigan
  • Criminologists’ Views on Crime and Justice Issues
  • Napoleon Beazley: Analysis of Crime
  • Developmental Crime Prevention
  • Case Study on Tax Crimes: Distributional Implications of Joint Tax
  • Aspects of Sexual Crime Myth
  • The Drug Crime Story of the Stickup Kids
  • Analysis of the Social Context of Crime
  • Document Falsification Crime and Response to It
  • The Phases of a Crime and Their Importance in Psychological Profiling
  • Criminal Justice & Security: Measuring Crime Statistics
  • Overrepresentation of African Americans in Crime Statistics
  • Business-Related Crime and Preventive Measures
  • Factors Affecting Losses From Property Crime
  • Hate Crimes and Implications
  • Juvenile Violent Crime and Children Below Poverty
  • Mens Rea and Actus Reus of Crime: A Case Study
  • Increasing Level of Fear of Crime and Its Cause
  • Criminological Theories Explaining Overrepresentation of African Americans in Crime Statistics
  • Robert Merton’s Strain Theory Explaining Economic Crime Trends
  • Profiled in Life & Death: Crime Victims’ Compensation and Young People of Color
  • American Serial Killer Joseph Paul Franklin’s Crimes
  • Prison Sentence Alternatives for Drug-Related Crimes
  • View of the Financial Crimes
  • Crime Commitment and Punishment
  • The Federal Bureau Investigation Crime Statistics
  • White-Collar Crime-Related Data Sources in the US
  • Crimes Against Humanity – Genocide
  • Ordinary vs. Hate Crime Activities: Key Differences
  • Public Perceptions of Racial Crimes
  • Public Perceptions of Crime Analysis
  • Crime and Violence: Modern Social Classification
  • The New Perspective in the Management of Crime and Offenders
  • Measuring Crime Within Lynfield Estate
  • GIS Comparing to Areas in Baltimore in Comparison to Crime
  • Comparing the Rate of Crime between the US, Japan, and Mexico
  • Who Are the Two Partners in All Crimes?
  • State Report: Crime Rates in Wisconsin
  • Sentencing Philosophies in Crime
  • Victimless Crimes in the United States of America
  • Youth Crime Statistics in the US
  • Hate Crimes – Bullying
  • The Crimes of Sexual Assault in Canada
  • Transnational Organized Crime in Port Security Operations
  • Social and Cultural Inequalities Impact On Crime Experience: London
  • Prison Reforms for Handling Crime Effectively
  • The ‘Street Games’ Athletic Intervention to Reduce Youth Crime
  • Conspiracies in Society: Power Elite and State Crimes Against Society Theories
  • Asian Hate Crimes in the United States
  • Disability Hate Crimes in England and Wales
  • Close-Circuit Television: Crime Control vs. Privacy
  • Victims and Crime Evaluation
  • Hate Crime Problem Overview
  • “Adventures in Crime” Book by Amanda Archer
  • Managing the Hate Crimes and Preparing Officers
  • Adaptations to Anomie. Theories of Crime
  • Rape Theories and Policies to Minimize Crimes
  • “Legend” Crime Drama Directed by Brian Helgeland
  • Federal Statutes: White-Collar Crime
  • Juvenile Use of Drug and Committing of Crime
  • Data-Based Analysis Approach in Preventing Crime at Dallas Police Department
  • Researching Hate Crimes in America
  • Crimes Against Unborn Children
  • Crime in 2020 During COVID-19
  • Evidence of a Relationship Between Crime and Economy
  • Federal, State, and Local Hate Crime Laws
  • The Costs and Benefits of Dealing With Juvenile Crimes in Boot Camps
  • Property Crime in Boston and Detroit
  • Main Aspects of Organized Crime Models
  • Crime Control Perspective & the Due Process Perspective
  • History of Crime Measurement vs. Contemporary Situation
  • Profiling and Analytical Skills in Crime Detection
  • The Difference Between Media Depiction and the Reality of Crime
  • The Use of Social Crime Prevention Techniques in the UK
  • Effects of Community Policing Upon Fear of Crime
  • Homeland Security: Digital Crime and Terrorism Activities
  • The Theft of a Laptop in Various Crime Scenarios
  • Problem-Oriented Crime Intervention and Policy Analysis
  • Hacking as a Crime and Related Theories
  • Affect of the Organized Crime in Australia
  • Crime Challenges in the 21st Century
  • Deviance and Deviant Crimes
  • Human Consciousness Leading to Hate Crimes
  • The Government Solutions of Violent Crimes
  • Crime Statistics in United States
  • Causes of Committing Crimes
  • Anti Money Laundering and Financial Crime
  • Sexual Crimes: Criminal Liability
  • Crime in Virginia: Nature and Trends
  • Crime Prevention Strategies and Quality of Life
  • Noble Cause Corruption – A Crime-Fighting Sub-Culture
  • Insider Trading Crime and Sentencing
  • Criminal Street Gangs as Organized Crime Groups
  • Developmental Theories and Crime Prevention Programs
  • Race and Culture Factors in Crime
  • Analysis of Mental Health in Crime
  • Isla Vista Mass Murder as a Hate Crime
  • The Genetics of Crime: ‘Criminal Gene’
  • The Links Between Gender and Crime
  • Crime Prevention Strategies at Walden University
  • Louisiana’s Crime Law: Victim Rights
  • Crime Prevention, Law Enforcement and Correction Theories
  • Applied Crime Prevention in Hollywood 20 Cinema Location
  • White-Collar Crime: Importance of Awareness
  • Factors Related to Crime and Their Influence
  • The Effects of Campus Shootings on Fear of Crime on Campus
  • Global Crimes Impact Assessment
  • Improving Crime Policy in Canada by Using Criminological Evidence
  • Computer Crime in the United Arab Emirates
  • Hate Crime Statistics in Los Angeles and New York Metropolitan Areas
  • Theories on Crime
  • Criminology in Brief: Understanding Crime
  • White Collar Crime: Insidious Injuries
  • Generalisation of Persons Who Commit Crime
  • The Wire: A Crime-Drama Television Series
  • The Crime of Robbing the Big City Bank
  • Social Developmental Crime Prevention Programs
  • The Crime Phenomenon: Victimization and Its Theories
  • White-Collar Crime: An Overview
  • “Thinking About Crime: Sense and Sensibility in American Penal Culture” by Michael Tonry
  • Gender Crime Rates: The Role of Division of Labor
  • Official Crime Statistics: ‘Criminal Activity’ Measure
  • Organized Crimes: Review
  • Types of Crime in Cyberspace
  • A Research of the Crime in State Nevada
  • Marriage and Crime Reduction: Is There a Relationship?
  • Application of CompStat Crime Model in Los Angeles
  • Problems Related to Defining and Regulating Crimes in the Home
  • Copyright Implications: Crime Punishable by Law
  • Crime in America: What We May Learn From Its Causes?
  • Reducing Crime Rates by Analyzing Its Causes
  • Crime and Family Background Correlation
  • White-Collar Crime Conceptual Study
  • How America’s Top Cop Reversed the Crime Epidemic
  • Impact of Economic Characteristics on Sex Crimes
  • Juvenile Crime Statistics
  • Factors Contributing to Gender Disparity in White Collar Crimes
  • Comparison Between Organized Crime And Terrorism
  • Mental Illness Relationship to Crime
  • White Collar Crime-Enron Corporation
  • Actus Reus and Mens Rea Aspects of Crime
  • Houston City Demographics and Crime Profile
  • Hate Crime Against the Jewish Community
  • Anomie, Crime, and Weakened Social Ties in Social Institutions
  • State of Crime in California
  • The Highest Crime Rate: Metropolitan County of Jefferson
  • Identifying Crime Patterns
  • Increasing the Rates of Crimes in Modern World
  • Crime Analysis Data Sources
  • Corporate Regulation and Crime
  • Understanding the Causes of Juvenile Crime
  • White-Collar Crime Offenders and Legislation
  • Strategic, Tactical, and Administrative Crime Analysis
  • Methamphetamine Drug Crime Registration
  • Crime Analysis Conceptual Study
  • Classical and Biological Theories of Crime
  • Property and Computer Crimes
  • Increasing the Severity of Punishments Imposed for Crime
  • Crime in the Suites Effects of Power and Privilege
  • Causes of Organized Crime Analysis
  • Mr. Charles Dempsey Court Case: Cause and Consequences of the Crime
  • The Fears of Reporting a Crime: Why Witnesses Do Not Report Crimes
  • Investigation Methods: Terrorism and Cyber Crime
  • Impact of Globalization and Neoliberalism on Crime and Criminal Justice
  • Routine Activities Theory of Crime by Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson
  • Electronic Crime Scene Investigation & Good Practice Guide
  • Economy and Crime: The Relationship
  • Cyber Crimes: Court – United States vs. Ancheta
  • White-Collar Crimes: Prevention and Fight
  • What Is a Crime? Is It Possible to Prevent Crime?
  • Asian Crime: Different Cultures, Different Attitudes
  • International White-Collar Crime
  • Community Cohesiveness and Incidence of Crime
  • Crime Theories: Intimate Partner Violence in the US
  • Crime Factors & Levels in South Africa vs. Canada
  • Age-Crime Relationships and Motivations
  • Processing the Crime Scene: Tools and Techniques
  • Forensic Serology and Its Key Aspects in Investigating Crimes
  • Detrimental Effects of Gender Influenced Crime and Interventions
  • The Prevention of Crime and Community Justice
  • Use of the Information Technology to Solve Crimes: DNA Tests and Biometrics
  • Using the Internet to Solve a Crime
  • Nature of Crime in the State of Virginia
  • Crime and Social Learning Theory Concept
  • The Parallel Between Crime and Conflicts in Africa, Asia and Latin America
  • War on Crime Influence on Power Shift Among Various Groups
  • Trends in Police Recorded Crime in Northern Ireland
  • Human Factor in Enabling and Facilitating E-Crimes
  • Financial Crime and Employment
  • Power Elite: Deviance and Crime Discussion
  • The Crime of Sexual Violence Committed by Men
  • Screening in Aviation: Prevention of Crime
  • Seligman & Perspective on the Drop in Crime Rates
  • Human Trafficking as a Global Crime Industry: Labor, Slavery, Sexual Slavery, Prostitution, and Organ Harvesting
  • Salem Witchcraft Hysteria: Crime Against Women
  • Depiction of White-Collar Crime: Toxic Chemicals and Effects of the Pollutions
  • History of Crime in America Since the Early 1800s
  • US Attorney’s Office Press Release on Birmingham Crimes
  • Cyber Technology: Organized Crimes and Law Enforcement
  • Crime Myths and Domestic Terrorism
  • State or Federal Crime: Texas Kidnapping Study
  • Recidivism Rates for Sex Crimes
  • Prevention of Sex Offenders From Committing Crimes
  • Impacts of the Society’s Response to Crime
  • Policing Operations: Application of New Technologies to Combat Crime
  • Relationship Between Unemployment and Crimes
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America’s Suburban Crime Problem

A crime scene is marked off with police tape

A fter several years of rising crime, big city mayors and police chiefs across the country are breathing a sigh of relief. Statistics published by the Council of Criminal Justice and other recent analysis show the number of homicides and aggravated assaults fell by a respective 10% and 3% in big cities in 2023 compared to 2022, though the rates remain higher than in pre-pandemic years.

These are hopeful signals. If these trends persisted on a national scale, this could indicate violent crime markets have retracted. But declarations that violent crime is falling miss important—and disturbing—crime trends data that paint a much more complicated picture. While big city crime may be falling, suburban crime may be rising. More surprising still, crime in rural areas appears to be rising even faster—and a much higher share of this crime involves strangers and guns.

These startling findings come from an important but underappreciated nationally representative data source—the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)—that includes crimes not reported to police. Along with last year’s big city estimates, the latest figures from the FBI's 2022 UCR program gathered from police reports, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics' NCVS report drawn from interviews with households, present a complex narrative that does more than merely highlight differences in data collection methods but unveils a nuanced and evolving picture of violent crime in the U.S.

Besides a slight rise in robbery rates from 65.5 to 66.1 per 100,000 residents, the UCR program suggests a national decrease in both the rates of fatal (homicide) and non-fatal felony violence (rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) from 2021 to 2022.  In contrast, the NCVS shows an increase in non-fatal felony violence, with victimizations per 1,000 persons over the age of 12 increasing from 5.6 in 2021 to 9.8 in 2022, primarily due to a doubling of aggravated assault rates. NCVS estimates imply that a substantial portion of crime remains unreported, the so-called " dark figure " of crime that eludes the detection of law enforcement.

A clearer picture of who is at greatest risk for violent victimization emerges when analyzing crime rates by location. The NCVS shows that the traditional boundaries between urban and non-urban violence are dissolving. Suburban and rural areas, once considered safe havens, are now confronting a jump in non-fatal violent crime, fundamentally changing the geography of public safety.

The robbery rate in urban centers increased by 21% over the three years, driven largely by the 78% increase between 2021 and 2022. Looking at the suburbs, the 2022 increase in robbery rates hit 21%, contributing to the 40% increase through 2021. In the rural areas where the American dream of pastoral peace is most cherished, robbery rates rose by 44% in 2022 after a two-year decline.

This shift is further accentuated in the rates of aggravated assault, which have not only risen in urban areas but have skyrocketed in non-urban areas. In urban centers, these assaults have risen by 51% in a single year from 2021 to 2022. Looking back at the suburbs and rural areas, the respective increases were even more pronounced with rates over nearly three times and two times higher in 2022 than in 2021.

Gun violence also increased and spread across geographies. The gun-related victimization rate in urban centers increased by 1.3 per 1,000 in 2022 compared to the previous year, reaching 2019 levels after a decrease. This rate doubled over the past two years in the suburbs and is slightly higher than in 2019, while in rural areas, there was a surge in non-fatal gun violence rates, with approximately 66,000 more reported victimizations between 2021 and 2022, returning to rates last observed in 1997.

Research suggests most violent crimes are committed by someone the victim knows such as friends, acquaintances, and relatives. This remains the case, but estimates indicate strangers are responsible for more violent crimes, especially in non-urban centers. After decreases in the number of violent felony victimizations involving strangers from 2019 to 2021, all areas experienced large increases by 2022. For this one-year period, these types of victimizations climbed by 37% in urban areas, 73% in the suburbs, and more than doubled (102%) in rural locales.

Read More: If We Want to Reduce Deaths at Hands of Police, We Need to Reduce Traffic Stops

Breaking down the data by race adds a layer of complexity to the narrative. White Americans have seen a marked increase in victimization, particularly in urban areas, reversing previous declines. From 2021 to 2022, violent felony victimization for this group rose by 75% in urban areas, 93% in suburban areas, and 62% in America’s countryside.

For Black Americans, the pattern is more complex, with an initial rise in urban victimization rates followed by a 20% decrease from 2021 to 2022. However, the increase in violent felonies in suburban areas paints a troubling picture of the changing risks these communities face. For Black Americans residing in the suburbs, the rate of violent felonies spiked 74% over the three years, with a sharp leap of 172% from 2021 to 2022. Outside the metropolitan centers, the three-year increase is less dramatic (29%) but still alarming.

The rise in violent crime comes at a time of historic domestic migration . During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns, people and families relocated from cities to the suburbs and rural locales, motivated by the flexibility of remote work and the desire for safer, more affordable, and more spacious living environments. Studies have found that violent victimization influences residential mobility, but it appears more factors are at play. As people migrate, they not only bring their dreams and aspirations but also create economic tensions and cultural integration challenges that can ferment crime and complicate public safety efforts. It's in this intersection of mobility and security that we must revisit our approach to crime prevention and intervention.

Although the Justice Department's Roadmap provides resources based on the Ten Essential Actions Cities Can Take to Reduce Violence Now , developed by the Council on Criminal Justice, the evidence is mostly from studies conducted in urban areas. Efforts to reduce violent crime in non-urban areas face challenges such as limited resources, large territories that inhibit community engagement and response times, despite initiatives like the BJA’s Rural and Small Department Violent Crime Reduction Program that collaborate with law enforcement agencies (LEAs) to develop strategies addressing these issues and Crime Analyst in Residence program intended to assist LEAs in enhancing their operational and procedural management through the utilization of data analysis and analytics.

This shift observed in the NCVS also calls for examination of the racial differences in victimization rates—particularly the heightened vulnerability of white Americans in urban settings and the complex pattern of rising and then decreasing rates for Black Americans.

Further research is needed to address gaps and uncertainties in the valuable insights provided by NCVS, particularly with regards to how victimization rates influence residential mobility within urban centers, the potential underestimation of victimization among Black people, and the variations within different areas. It is imperative to also examine the challenges posed by response rates to the NCVS, especially among hard-to-reach populations.

Meanwhile, NCVS estimates force us to seriously consider that criminal violence might be evolving rather than declining, necessitating the development and adoption of effective strategies like proven community violence reduction initiatives as well as housing, public health, and employment programs adapted to the particular needs and strengths of suburban and rural communities. Otherwise, there is a danger of resourcing and implementing urban-centric, pre-pandemic strategies in a post-pandemic world that misses the opportunity to improve community safety across racial and geographic divides.

While the recent data suggests a decrease in urban crime, many Americans still feel uneasy. It's conceivable that the pronounced changes in victimization, particularly in suburban and rural areas, have heightened this sense of vulnerability. The discrepancy between the actual numbers and public perception challenges us to consider the changing geography of crime and the impact it has on the nation's sense of security.

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Essay on Crime

Students are often asked to write an essay on Crime in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Crime

Understanding crime.

Crime refers to acts that violate the law. They are considered harmful and punishable by a governing authority. Crimes can range from theft to murder.

Types of Crimes

There are various types of crimes. Violent crimes include actions like assault, while theft falls under property crimes. White-collar crimes involve fraud or embezzlement.

Consequences of Crime

Crimes have severe consequences. They can lead to imprisonment, fines, or even death penalties. Moreover, they harm communities and individuals, causing fear and damage.

Preventing Crime

Preventing crime involves law enforcement, education, and community programs. Everyone can contribute to a safer society by obeying laws and reporting suspicious activities.

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250 Words Essay on Crime

Introduction.

Crime, a pervasive aspect of society, is an act that violates a law and is punishable by the state. It disruptively breaches societal norms, creating a sense of insecurity and fear. This essay delves into the nature of crime, its causes, and the role of law enforcement.

The Nature of Crime

Crime is a complex phenomenon, varying across cultures and societies. It ranges from minor offences like theft to severe ones like homicide. The nature of crime reflects societal values, as what is considered criminal is determined by the prevailing legal and moral code.

Causes of Crime

The causes of crime are multifaceted, involving biological, psychological, and sociological factors. Biological theories suggest genetic predispositions towards criminal behaviour. Psychological theories focus on the individual’s mental processes and their interaction with the environment. Sociological theories, on the other hand, emphasize societal structures and inequalities as major crime contributors.

Law Enforcement and Crime

Law enforcement agencies play a crucial role in maintaining order, preventing crime, and ensuring justice. They function as a deterrent, keeping potential criminals in check. However, their effectiveness is contingent upon their ability to adapt to evolving criminal tactics.

In conclusion, crime is a societal issue with deep roots in individual and social structures. Understanding its nature and causes is key to formulating effective strategies for prevention and control. As society evolves, so too must our approach to understanding and combating crime.

500 Words Essay on Crime

Crime, a social and legal concept, has been a part of human society since its inception. It refers to the actions that violate the norms and laws of a society, leading to harm or potential harm to individuals or the community. The study of crime, its causes, effects, and prevention, is a crucial aspect of sociology, psychology, and criminology.

Crime is a complex phenomenon, varying across societies and times. It is not static but evolves with societal norms and legal frameworks. What may be considered a crime in one society may not be in another, and similarly, what was a crime in the past might not be so today. For instance, homosexuality was once criminalized in many societies, but it is now widely accepted and decriminalized.

Types of Crime

Crimes are generally categorized into personal crimes, property crimes, inchoate crimes, statutory crimes, and financial crimes. Personal crimes involve direct harm or threat to an individual, such as assault or robbery. Property crimes involve interfering with another person’s property, like burglary or theft. Inchoate crimes are those that were started but not completed, while statutory crimes are violations of specific statutes. Financial crimes, such as fraud or embezzlement, involve the illegal conversion of property ownership.

The causes of crime are multifaceted, often interwoven with societal, psychological, and economic factors. Poverty, lack of education, substance abuse, and family violence are some common societal factors leading to crime. Psychological factors include personality disorders, low self-control, and aggression. Economic factors, such as unemployment or income inequality, also contribute significantly to crime rates.

Effects of Crime

Crime affects society in numerous ways, from creating fear and insecurity to damaging social cohesion. It impacts the economy by diverting resources towards law enforcement and away from other sectors. On an individual level, crime can lead to physical harm, psychological trauma, and financial loss.

Crime prevention strategies are as diverse as the causes of crime. They include social strategies, such as improving education and employment opportunities, and legal strategies, such as effective law enforcement and fair judicial systems. Psychological interventions, like counseling and therapy, can also play a significant role in crime prevention.

Understanding crime is essential to creating a safe and harmonious society. By examining its nature, types, causes, effects, and prevention, we can develop effective strategies to reduce crime rates and mitigate its impact on individuals and communities. It is a collective responsibility that requires the concerted efforts of individuals, communities, and governments.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

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    Criminology Topics on Types of Crime. Campus crime: the most common crimes on college campuses and ways of preventing them. Child abuse: types, prevalence, risk groups, ways of detection and prevention. Cybercrime: cyber fraud, defamation, hacking, bullying, phishing. Domestic violence: gender, ways of detection and prevention, activism.

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    607 Crime Essay Topic Ideas & Examples. Updated: Mar 2nd, 2024. 31 min. When writing a research paper about criminology or law, you have to consider your topic carefully. Our team came up with 465 titles, along with some crime essay examples to assist you in your assignment. We will write.

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    Crime. In general the definition of a crime is an act punishable by law, usually considered an evil act. Crime refers to many types of misconduct forbidden by law. Crimes include such things as murder, stealing a car, resisting arrest, possession or dealing of illegal drugs, being nude in public , drunk driving, and bank robbery.

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    A fter several years of rising crime, big city mayors and police chiefs across the country are breathing a sigh of relief. Statistics published by the Council of Criminal Justice and other recent ...

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    Students are often asked to write an essay on Crime in their schools and colleges. And if you're also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic. Let's take a look… 100 Words Essay on Crime Understanding Crime. Crime refers to acts that violate the law.