Criminal Behavior and the Law in the US - Assignment Example

Criminal Behavior and the Law in the US Abstract This paper is related to the study of different types of crimes that occur in the United States of America. First, the paper describes the differences between the job responsibilities of criminologists, criminalists, and forensic psychologists. Then the paper describes different types of crime measured by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the Uniform Crime Reports. The paper also looks as white-collar and blue-collar crimes in detail and relates some key differences in those crimes. In the end, the paper describes some violent and property crimes belonging to the index-one crime category reported by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting. Introduction Crime is a disgraced act or violation of a public law. Today, the crime rate in almost every country has reached its heights and not a single individual can be fully safe from any specific criminal act. Implementation of crime prevention strategies plays a significant role in reducing the crime rate effectively. The role of criminologists, criminalists, and forensic psychologists is very important in dealing with crimes. In the United States of America, different types of crimes occur which are reported by the Uniform Crime Reporting. Some of the major types of crimes reported by UCR include forcible rapes, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, and vehicle theft. In this paper, the focus will be on white-collar crimes, blue-collar crimes, index-one crimes, and index-two crimes measured by Uniform Crime Reports of the FBI. 1 - Criminologists, Criminalists, and Forensic Psychologists Criminologists In the broad context, all criminologists, criminalists, and forensic psychologists work for the same purpose, which is, reduction or prevention of crimes. However, there are big differences in the working of these professionals. Studying all three fields related to the field of criminal justice, it can be said that the professionals of all three fields work together to deal with crimes. Criminologists deal more with the study of criminal behaviors and analysis of different crime prevention techniques as compared than actually participating in crime prevention. They provide proper solutions and assessments to government agencies, law enforcement agencies, correctional systems, and police officials. They also provide academic services in colleges and universities. According to Rothe and Friedrichs (2006), criminology deals with the identification of the causes of crimes and their prevention measures from sociology perspective. Criminalists The field of criminalists, on the other hand, is related more closely to the field of forensic science. Criminalists collect evidences of the crimes upon instructions of the law enforcement agencies, which hire them. A criminalist’s job activities are somewhat similar to a forensic science specialist although their job responsibilities cannot be mixed up with each other. According to Bell (2008), criminalists need to possess a BS degree along with on-the-job training in order to become a skilled professional (p. 299). Forensic Psychologists Forensic science technicians collect physical evidences from the crime locations and study those evidences in the laboratories. According to Towl and Crighton (2010), forensic psychologists study physical aspects of the crimes and deal with the issues of legal nature (pp. 62-68). 2 - White-Collar Crime and Blue-Collar Crime White-Collar Crimes White-collar crimes are referred to as such crimes, which are committed by those persons who are at some higher rank, and they misuse their authorities in order to get some financial gains or personal favors. Businesspersons who are either in the government or in bureaucracy commit white-collar crimes. White-collar crimes are not violent in nature; rather they involve such crimes, which are committed for various financial purposes. Piquero and Benson (2004) state, “The typical whitecollar offender greatly differs from the typical street offender and does not appear to fit into the proposed explanations of life course offending patterns”. Some common types of white-collar crimes include bankruptcy fraud, embezzlement, medical crime, computer crime, counterfeiting, extortion, corruption, black mailing, bribery, cellular phone fraud, pension fund crime, charity fund crime, forgery, financial crimes, and occupational crimes. White-collar criminals generally include those people who already have a high status in the society. These people include government servants, business people, bank officers, bureaucrats, politicians, and entrepreneurs. Although the white-collar crime rate has been decreased in the United States of America over the last decade but we cannot say it a very notable decrease. The reason is rise of technology, which has made it easier for the criminals to access the private records of the banks, organizations, and other financial institutions. According to Benson and Simpson (2009), although white-collar crimes can never disappear forever but they can be reduced to a lowest level (p. 199). Blue-Collar Crimes Poor class commits blue-collar crimes. Such crimes range from violent crimes to all sorts of relatively less violent crimes. Some of the most common blue-collar crimes include murders, homicide, sexual assault, abduction, manslaughter, robbery, and false imprisonment. Blue-collar crimes are those crimes in which the offender makes use of violence in order to get personal favors. Carrying out an unlawful physical attack on some other person is referred to as blue-collar crime. Blue-collar crimes also include sexual abuse in which the offender uses his power to get involved in sexual activity with another person without any mutual consent. Blue-collar crimes not only physically injure a person but also leave a fearful impact on the mind of the victim for the rest of life. Blue-collar crimes turned out to be the most critical security issue in whole world during the 1990s. According to Hill (2009), blue-collar crime offender, whether violent or non-violent, is punished more severely as compared to a white-collar criminal (p. 186). 3- Crimes Measured by FBI in the Uniform Crime Reports FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting is responsible for reporting all sorts of crimes that occur in the United States of America. Some of the major types of crimes measured by FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting include forcible rapes, robbery, burglary, larceny, aggravated assault, arson, homicide, and vehicle theft. Let us discuss some of them in some detail. Forcible Rapes Forcible rape means having sexual intercourse with a person without the will of that person. This crime is on rise in the United States. Special measures need to be taken in order to bring reduction in this crime. Forcible crime rate is measured by the number of rape cases that are reported to the law enforcement agencies. The victims of this type of crime are usually young women, which include colleagues, girlfriends, and maids. Robbery Robbery means taking a precious thing from some other person either by force or by threat. The number of robberies reported to the police stations is the way to measure this crime. The victims of robbery can be anyone from public. Larceny and Vehicle Theft Larceny is a crime in which someone takes something of value from some other person unlawfully with the intent to keep that thing permanently. This crime is measured by UCR by the number of cases that are reported by the people to the police. Any person who possesses something of value can be the target of this crime. 4 – Crimes Focused by the Media The role of media in the present world is very important and influential. Media covers almost every type of crime that occurs in any part of the world. However, two of the major types of crimes, which are focused heavily in popular culture through the media, include drug trafficking and aggravated assault. Drug Trafficking Drug trafficking is a business which earns a lot of money to the drug dealers, manufacturers, and all other people involved in this business. Drug trafficking, which lies in the category of blue-collar crimes, is one most critical issues associated with large-scale immigrations to the United States of America. Sherman (2010) states, “It refers to the illegal process through which narcotics and other illegal drugs are produced, transported, and sold” (p. 7). Aggravated Assault Aggravated assault is also a blue-collar crime. It is a form of physical assault and is more severe in nature as compared to assault. UCR measures this crime using National Incident-Based Reporting System. Offenders of this crime include enemies of politicians and those of other famous personalities whereas victims may include police officers, government employees, and service workers. 5 - Index-One Crime and Index-Two Crime Index-one crimes include property and violent crimes, such as, homicide, aggravated assault, forcible rape, robbery, vehicle theft, larceny, burglary, arson, On the other hand, index-two crimes include fraud cases, prostitution, drug offenses, vandalism, embezzlement, gambling, and other similar crimes. 6 – Index One Violent and Property Crimes Homicide, aggravated assault, forcible rape, and robbery are known as index-one violent crimes whereas vehicle theft, larceny, burglary, and arson are known as index-one property crimes. Conclusion Summing it up, crime is a disgraced act or violation of a public law. In the United States of America, different types of crimes occur which are reported by the Uniform Crime Reporting. Some of those crimes include forcible rapes, robbery, burglary, larceny, and aggravated assault. Some of these types of crimes belong to index-one crimes whereas some of them belong to index-two crimes. However, the crimes need to be prevented or reduced to the lowest level whatever the type of the crime is. Criminologists, criminalists, and forensic psychologists are such professionals who work for this purpose, that is, reduction or prevention of crimes. References Bell, S. (2008). Encyclopedia of Forensic Science (2nd ed.). New York: Infobase Publishing. Benson, M., & Simpson, S. (2009). White-Collar Crime: An Opportunity Perspective. New York: Routledge. Hill, J. (2009). The Political centrist. Tennessee: Vanderbilt University Press. Piquero, N., & Benson, M. (2004). White-Collar Crime and Criminal Careers: Specifying a Trajectory of Punctuated Situational Offending. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 20(2), 148-165. Rothe, D., & Friedrichs, D. (2006). The State of the Criminology of Crimes of the State. Social Justice, 33(1), 147-151. Sherman, J. (2010). Drug Trafficking. Minnesota: ABDO Publishing Company. Towl, G., & Crighton, D. (2010). Forensic Psychology. West Sussex: Blackwell publishing Ltd. Read More