National Crime Victimization Survey, Essay Example

The purpose of this survey is to draw some correlation in to what people in the community think of crime, victimization, and prevention, as well as what the author, Samuel Walker, based his research upon in, Sense and Non-Sense About Crime, Drugs, and Communities. For the following survey, many questions were asked of ten respondents, including myself. In doing this research, there were many different opinions based on how people view crimes, sentencing and incarceration, victimization, prevention, and juveniles and crime. The first survey covered crime problem. Within the survey it consisted of questions such as the rank of crime in comparison to other problems relevant in this country. Based on the responses of the survey questions, the past crime experiences seemed to match up to the information presented in Walker’s book. Based on the responses on the importance of crime, while all ten respondents saw crime as a problem only three felt that it was a top problem. This compared to problems such as unemployment, terrorism, economy, and government. Queen B felt, “Crime is at the top of the list. I believe our world has become dehumanized because of increased crime.” This sediment is felt also in Walker’s measurement, in which crime is a problem, however since earlier in the 20^th century it has drop considerably. Yet crime seems to impact to types of classes, the white middle class American, and then the young, the poor, and the people of color. (Walker, 2010)

In asking, “Looking only at the problem of crime, which crime areas are the most serious for our society today?” The response was mixed, with violence, sex crimes, and theft being at the very top of crime. Looking at Walker’s information, we can see that murder, rate, and robbery are at the highest percentage of crime, as well as the rearrests percentage for felons. According to Walker, the types of victims include your race or ethnicity and your income. “The victimization rate for robbery in 2007 was 1.9 per 1,000 for white Americans and 4.9 for African Americans.” (Walker, 2010) The burglary rate was higher for those that were among the poorest, compared to those that were at the top of the income bracket. Research on the percentages of homicides, places a huge racial disparity in which African Americas were six times as more likely to be murdered over their white counterparts. Looking at the response from the survey believe that people were more susceptible to being victims based on their location, particularly at night, being a female, and living or visiting high crime areas. While that doesn’t necessarily line up with what Walker has measured, it does have an inclination to become a victim of a crime.

In terms of prevention, based on Walker’s research, many citizens feel that the justice system is too lenient on criminals. While other research revealed that law makers use punishment and prevention mutually, and although all laws are meant to prevent crime, but the consequences in which these crime prevention has. Looking at the respondents, four out ten believed that the criminal laws today represent the value and concerns they have. However all felt that there needed to be harsher punishments for those that commit theft, drug related crimes, stricter rules in prisons, decriminalization of drug laws, punishment for crimes against children and human trafficking, as well as the need to do away with the death penalty. While not all respondents agreed on each opinion, Walker’s research revealed that many felt that punishments should be harsher as well. However Walker believe, “The justice system’s threat of punishment reinforces our behavior because the criminal law expresses our values; it is wrong to kill, and wrong to take something that does not belong to us.” (Walker, 2010)

As reiterated they viewed the criminal justice system overall with four out of ten respondents believing that it reflect their personal values. However, many felt that in some areas there needed to be harsher punishment, or that some laws needed to be reviewed to exact a different punishment for the crime. However they all were all in agreement that the rich tended to get more lenient punishment and better treatment in the courts over people that were more economically challenged. This is also an assessment made by Walker, and the general belief. While many felt the criminal justice system didn’t reflect their values, they were optimistic that it could be corrected with stricter punishments and laws for certain crimes. The areas that influenced crime varied from the influence of alcohol and drugs, the problems of unemployment, to race and discrimination, and poverty and poor neighborhoods. They felt that while changes to the economy could impact the criminal justice system, other changes were needed. Their feeling reflected what was researched in the book, as well as information in the class notes. This follows more along the lines of sociological theory posed by liberals, in which, “criminal behavior is largely the result of social influences such as the family, the peer group, the neighborhood, economic opportunities, and discrimination.” (Walker, 2010) Along these lines criminal law is not effective in influencing people’s behavior, but it is effective in reinforcing established behavior. The sample didn’t differ as much as what was presented in the textbook. While their answers were based on their location, they did provide similar responses that correlated to the data of Walker.

Based on their regional answers on Houston, many felt that the local police were needed 100 percent in schools to counteract school violence, but four out of the ten respondents believed that the police were moderately to very effective in their neighborhoods. The respondent, Big Dog believed the police were, “very ineffective because they are never around”, while Maria felt, “Kingwood is a pretty safe neighborhood. I see many police officers driving around a lot, and watching. That’s important.” Two people living in Houston that have different responses based on their area feel the effectiveness of their police officers. In answering the survey for crime prevention, the respondents generally felt that more police on the streets were needed to deter crime, and the offenders will have a high probability of being caught. In regards to the courts, the respondents saw their purpose is to protect society and punish the offender. While the textbook, believed that the court’s purpose was to punish the offender to deter further crime, and protect society. However the court systems are complex, and all differ since they all have different punishments for the same crime. (Walker, 2010) Looking at corrections, the respondents believed there should be more programs that help in deterring reoffending, and helping with drug treatment, a majority felt there should be treatment for anger, counseling, education, job training, and other services. For juveniles, all agreed that there should be harsher punishments that help to reduce school violence.

As pointed out, many didn’t share the same responses from the textbook in terms of the victim’s profile. They believe the propensity to be a victim largely concerned the location as well as the greater risk of being a female in the wrong place at the role time. Their answers weren’t based on racial or economic background of the victim or the offender, however the demographics as well as location did play a part in how the respondents’ responded to questions along the lines of victimization. Maria who lives in a more affluent area in Houston, didn’t feel that race or income played a part in crime, but Mama C felt that race played a 75% part in the problems of crime. Many respondents felt that the problems of crime that needed to be addressed specifically in Houston are the problems of illegal immigration and human trafficking. In Houston, the problems of theft, sex crimes, and human trafficking have impacted the way they see crime and the criminal justice system. There were no surprising answers because these problems while might differ from the rest of the country, are significant to the citizens of Texas. They want more punishments for sex offenders, and those that commit crimes against children, and human traffickers. These are the types of crimes that have been prevalent in the area. Their responses are quite realistic based on information from the textbook that also shared, some felt that the court systems needed to inflict harsher punishments to certain crimes, as well as a review in drug decriminalization, services to rehabilitate offenders, and services to compensate the victims. Their information is based on news reports and the media, so they are probably not aware of the complex court systems, as well as how police officers feel they are deterred by the courts. Each punishment for the same crime is different in numerous courts, so punishments don’t always fit the way people would see justice is served. Based on the results from the different surveys, it is concluded that overall measuring the responses of crime statistics offers a various response. As crime is seen as a behavior in which societies’ deem as illegal or unacceptable. The perception of crime changes over time as the result of the legislation from the government, as well as the attitudes of individuals. It has a tremendous impact on the way crime is measured, as well as how to prevent crime.

References

Data Collection: National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). (2013). Bureau of Justice Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=dcdetail&iid=245#Methodology

Kraska, Peter B. (2006). Criminal Justice Theory: Toward Legitimacy and an Infrastructure. Justice Quarterly Vol. 23. Retrieved from http://cjmasters.eku.edu/sites/cjmasters.eku.edu/files/jqtheory.pdf

Survey Respondents. (2014). Assignment 3-7. Survey Responses.

Walker, Samuel. (2010). Sense and Nonsense About Crime, Drugs, and Communities: A Policy Guide. Cengage Learning. California.