Hate Crimes in America - Coursework Example

Five Possible Topics July 9, Five possible topics of interest in criminal justice are hate crime; (2) profiling; (3) juvenile delinquency recidivism; (4) white-collar crime; and (5) women and girls in the justice system. Hate Crime The concept to be researched regarding hate crime is “hate crime” itself, how it is and should be defined, how the criminal justice system can determine hate crimes and how these crimes can be prevented and punished. “Hate crime” is hard to define because “crime” itself is socially constructed and can mean different things to different people, so adding the concept of “hate” further complicates the definition of “hate crime” (Hall, 2005, p.1). A useful definition of “hate crime” includes its political and social context and its effects on perpetrators and victims.

Hate crime is an important topic in criminal justice because it can cause numerous kinds of crimes, since it can lead to different forms of violence and discrimination against target individuals/groups/organizations (Hall, 2005, p.4).Profiling The concept to be examined is “profiling” which is not based in inaccurate and purely negative stereotypes about race, ethnicities, gender, religion, and/or age, but based on “observable conditions, behaviors, and activities” (Maxfield & Babbie, 2011, p.35). The research can focus on how to avoid discriminatory profiling that is rooted on personal biases or hate against others and how law enforcers should be trained to adapt a scientific approach to profiling.

Profiling is an important topic in criminal justice because it can be used to help catch criminals or to prevent crimes. However, profiling guidelines and boundaries are essential to its proper theorization and practice.Juvenile Delinquency Recidivism The research can focus on the concept of “juvenile delinquency recidivism,” particularly understanding how imprisoning juveniles, even violent ones, in adult prison systems, can worsen their behaviors and increase recidivism. Labeling theory can partially explain why labeling juveniles as criminals can socially stigmatize them enough to accept the labels as their permanent identities (Gaines & Miller, 2013, p.530). It is interesting to study how the justice system contributes to recidivism based on how it handles juvenile delinquents.

In addition, “juvenile delinquency recidivism” is an important topic in criminal justice because juveniles can turn to lifetime criminals. It is crucial to use the right intervention programs to stop the further development of juveniles to adult criminals. White-Collar Crime “White-collar crime” should be clearly defined as a research concept and legal term because its definition affects the identification of white-collar criminals. The research can focus on how white-collar crime is defined in law and how the criminal justice system punishes these crimes (Hirschi & Gottfredson, 1989).

White-collar crime is an important topic because it is expanding in scope and effects, ranging from identity theft to embezzlement of funds of high-ranking corporate officials and with effects from a hundred dollars to hundreds of millions of dollars. It will be also interesting to determine the right interventions to prevent similar crimes in the future.Women and Girls in the Justice System Women and girls in the justice system are usually perceived as a less serious problem than men-caused crimes because the former are fewer in numbers compared to male counterparts.

However, the increasing trend of crimes involving women and girls, no matter how small or large the rate of increase is, indicates deeper social, economic, and/or political root causes and issues (National Criminal Justice Reference Service, n.d.). The research can focus on the current treatment of the justice system on women and girls and how these treatments help them, or not, in developing ways and resources that can help avoid repeating the same crimes. This is an important topic in criminal justice because society should not treat women/girls in the justice system as invisible because it reflects how they value them as contributors to social and economic development.

ReferencesHall, N. (2005). Hate crime (2nd ed.). Oxon: Routledge.Hirschi, T., & Gottfredson, M. (1989). The significance of white-collar crime for a general theory of crime. Criminology, 27(2), 359-371. Gaines, L., & Miller, R. (2013). Criminal justice in action (7th ed.). California: Wadsworth Cengage.Maxfield, M., & Babbie, E. (2011). Research methods for criminal justice and criminology (7th ed.). California: ABC-CLIO.National Criminal Justice Reference Service. (no date). Women and girls in the justice system.

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