Week 6 Current Events - Assignment Example

Current Events Current Events There are various forms of gun control laws that have been outlined by Zimring and these laws include laws that are categorized as time, place and manner laws and are created on the philosophy that certain areas are quite dangerous that it becomes necessary to prohibit one from carrying as well as using firearms (Zimring, 2004). Another set of laws outlined by Zimring includes restricting dangerous users from accessing firearms. The purpose of such laws is to ensure that fire arms do not fall in the hands of dangerous individuals such as youth, criminal offenders and individuals experiencing psychological disorders (Zimring, 2004).

Third category of laws is recognized as laws designed to restrict carrying and use of firearms that can be used for criminal purposes (Zimring, 2004). I believe that the best gun control laws is to try to ensure that the firearms are not legally placed in the hands of dangerous individuals such as criminal offenders, individuals suffering from psychological disorders and youth. This is because the probability of a criminal offender indulging in future criminal behavior is quite high. Furthermore youth as well as people suffering from psychological disorders do not have the mental capacity to make rational choices.

People who make rational choices tend to consider the negative and the positive side of their actions before carrying out any action. But youth and the people suffering from psychological disorders do not have the mental capacity to make rational decisions and may end up using guns and this might lead to increase in homicide rate. 2. The theories of zero tolerance as well as the broken windows theory is based on the premise that strict actions need to be taken as soon as a crime is committed and due to these strict actions, future criminal activity can be deterred.

This theory was first developed by Kelling et al. but it was even tested before the theory was devised (Kelling, 1997). Laws and policing methods based on this theory have been implemented by Bratton when he was made the head of the Transit Police department of the region of New York. While Bratton was the head of the police department he implemented these laws in several ways and this finally resulted in easing the crime rates in the area of New York City. The various ways through which these laws were implemented includes the authority given to the police officials to stop the citizens of the area as soon as they were witnessed violating even small rules and regulations.

For example the police officers started running immediate background checks or started questioning the citizens if they were witnessed committing crimes such as urinating in public spaces (Green, 1999). A major role was played by the implementation of Compstat in order to reduce the rate of crime. Compstat was introduced by Bratton and it required the police departments to share and update the crime data and make it accessible for police officials at all levels (Green, 1999). This led to the development of crime maps which were used to mark areas where crime rate was higher and based on this crime mapping the police departments especially focused on high crime areas and reduced criminal activities in those areas.

ReferencesGreene, J. (1999). ZeroNYC. Crab.rutgers.edu. Retrieved 25 November 2014, from http://crab.rutgers.edu/~goertzel/ZeroNYC.htmKelling, G., & Coles, C. (1997). Fixing broken windows. New York: Simon & Schuster.Zimring, F. (2004). Firearms, Violence, and the Potential Impact of Firearms Control. J Law Med Ethics, 32(1), 34-37. doi:10.1111/j.1748-720x.2004.tb00446.x