Distorting the Truth - Case Study Example

Distorting the Truth Introduction: Crime is any act or behavior against any law or regulations set by a regulatory authority. Whenever we hear the term, crime, we think of crime against children, against individuals, against property and even against a country. It is something which is related to destruction, whether it be of property or any kind of human rights. It is something which causes any type of harm to the third people whether they are living in the same country or even people belonging to different countries. There are thousands of people who suffer from these cases of crime every day. Every country has its own set of laws for criminals but the international court of justice which has set some laws which are applicable to the entire world. Some of these cases are reported while others are never heard of. One specific type of crime happens to people belonging to different ethnicities and races. People belonging to a particular race will have distinct features and biological traits which the other group would not have. People tend to treat people of some races differently for example the way a person might treat an Asian might not be same as the way they treat an American. The color of their skins is one through which people discriminate among people belonging to different races etc. Some physical differences are said to be inherited but discrimination is basically based on your social background or even your upbringing. People who discriminate on the basis of color, background or ethnicity are called racists and this can be seen as a crime. These people think that certain people belonging to a particular race are superior and the `lower race` do not deserve to even be at the same place as them. Some groups who have been the victims of these types of crime include Asians, Blacks, Hispanics and white people. The Case: Heather Mac Donald`s article “Distorting The Truth About Crime And Race” appeared in the City journal and is based on an article which made the front page of New York Times. Mac Donald believes that the NY times follow a specific procedure of portraying any story related to the New York police Department (NYPD) on the basis of racial context: to relate the behavior of this police department to `racial crime rates`, rather than revealing the actual crime rates and then relating it. Macdonald states that instead of providing real standards against which police behavior should be measured, the NY times continue to drag their traditional theory of blaming the police departments across America to be discriminating against the Black population living in their country. She believes that the fact the whites and blacks are stopped, by the police, at the same rate, goes against their own theory of racially biased policing. Mac Donald refutes the article of NY times by stating that they have only involved the crime rates only in their `defense`, to support their argument, rather than providing information to their readers. The times’ article includes different breakdowns of the population breakdowns and racial crime rates. The author believes that the times` portrays the facts and stories in such a way to be against the police departments especially the NYPD. They keep generalizing the facts rather than telling the true story. The times only gave the actual crime rates in 2007 but that too portrayed as the `opinion` of the police rather than real facts. They always leave the crime-related real numbers in order to support their argument. The author states that blacks are actually `under-stopped` as compared to their proportion of crimes. All the other groups are over-stopped as their stop rates are greater than the crimes they commit but not the blacks. She totally contradicts the times` story that the blacks are targeted by the NYPD by stating that the blacks are only 23% of the population but they committed `66% of all violent crimes` and were stopped only 55% times. She also disagrees with the solution given by the Times that NYPD`s stops should be consistent with the population ratios rather than the crime rates. This makes sense as the stops should be directly proportional to the crime rates as that is what their NYPD`s main task is: to lower the crime rates in their country. She gives the example of Compstat, a proactive style of policing, under which police officials were stationed at high-crime areas in order to stop the possibility of crimes being committed as much as possible. This was a highly effective solution as the crime rates actually dropped especially in the minority areas ruled by the blacks. Mac Donald concludes her article by saying that NYPD`s actions are based on the complaints by the citizens which usually occur in black neighborhoods. She stated that the best solution for NYPD is to against the criminals and save the lives of as many people as they can rather than getting influenced by the Times` false suggestions and `mirroring the census data`. Following the advice given by Times would mislead the public as they would not be able to keep actual control on criminals and the crime rates. Mac Donald`s claims against the Times and in favor of the NYPD can be considered true as her arguments does make sense. The facts and figures speak for themselves and shows that the blacks commit the majority of crime and therefore, need to be controlled or in some cases punished by the NYPD or any other police department across America. Police behavior is certainly based on correctly analyzing the crime and finding who the actual criminals and victims are. The main job of any police department is to provide safety to the citizens of their country and to make sure that they are not being victimized or harmed in any way. It does not matter whether the criminals or the victims are whites or blacks or Asians or Hispanic etc. They are human beings who are entitled to their rights and a safe life which should be provided to them by the state or the appointed departments. Therefore, the main job of any police department should be to provide safety in a racially unbiased way. Analysis: In the past, many theories have been constructed on racism and crime. One such theory, code of the street, was a Yale professor, Elijah Anderson, who proposed that high violence rates among Afro-Americans resulted from being continuously discriminated and also a result of being economically disadvantaged. This further resulted in their separation from the main public and due to this; they become anti-social and commit violent crimes. Compared to this case, it can be said that the high crime rates of blacks can be traced to these reasons and because of being discriminated by the society, they end up hating it and therefore, they commit crime as revenge. A similar theory of colonial writing, based on the works of Frantz Fanon states that the whites often treats the blacks in such s derogatory way that it psychologically affects the blacks and therefore, they try to commit crime in order to harm the society. This theory shows the racial inequalities of arrests and imprisonments which can be directly related to this case. The Times blamed the NYPD to be racially biased but they didn’t keep in account the facts and figures which supported the actions of the NYPD. Robert Agnew`s general strain theory states that crime is often a result of economic strains. In this case, the economic strains faced by the black population in the past. Other factors contributing to such behavior include abuse, other sorts of victimization and discrimination which affects the people involved terribly and as a result, impacts their whole life. The social disorganization theory states that crime is often a result of poverty and also living in poor neighborhoods. This affects the mind sets of the people involved and as result they blame the society. In this particular case, the fact that the high crime rates of the black population can be traced to these measures. So the main agenda should be to remove these factors from the society by giving equal chances to each and every citizen, irrespective of their race or background. A solution to this issue could be to introduce such laws which emphasize on giving equal rights to all citizens whether they are whites, blacks, Asians, Hispanics or even Chinese. Every human being is entitled to their rights and no one has the authorization to deprive someone of their rights or to discriminate against people according to their skin color, their background or even their religion. This is the responsibility of the state or government and therefore, such laws should be imposed and it should be made clear that whoever goes against these laws would be entitled to punishments. The NYPD will have to make sure that people are following these laws and especially that the blacks are not being discriminated against. Conclusion: It can be said that this case could be important to the concept of race and crime but not entirely. From hundreds of years, blacks have been discriminated by the whites and other people and this has changed the concept of racism in everyone`s minds. The societal views can actually influence the perceptions of people and therefore, every act of this kind is seen as racial when in fact it is not. In this case, the actions and behavior of the NYPD are considered to be racially biased by the Times and other critics of the NYPD but Heather Mac Donald thinks differently. Some people have a tendency to exaggerate issues and facts in order to influence people`s perceptions and throw a negative light on it. The Times should concentrate on facts rather than mere opinions. They should not try to influence people perceptions based on their point of views but rather facts. There should be more research on this issue especially by third parties. They should check if the facts are up to date and if they are not, then proper teams should be employed for this important task. Secondly, surveys should be conducted on a state-level to ensure the police departments are working efficiently and diligently on such sensitive issue. If not, then proper measure should also be taken against them. The citizens, themselves, should voice their opinions in order to benefit the entire population and the country as a whole. The issue of racism is a sensitive one, especially in the US, and should be handled in a proper way so as not to harm the involved parties. Bibliography: Malanga, Steven, Heather Mac Donald, and Victor Davis Hanson. "Distorting the Truth About Crime and Race by Heather Mac Donald, City Journal 14 May 2010." City Journal. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2012. . "SAGE - Student Study Site - Race and Crime." SAGE - the natural home for authors, editors and societies. SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets: Welcome to Sage. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2012. . "Sociology: Race and Ethnicity Defined ." Get Homework Help with CliffsNotes Study Guides . N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2012. . “Race and Crime”. Helen Taylor Greene and Shaun L. Gabbidon. Chapter 3. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2012. 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