Crime in United States of America Universities - Term Paper Example

Name: Tutor: Course: Date: Crime in U.S Universities Introduction Crime is one of the vices in human life that is so disturbing because it affects the normal living of the victims. Crime refers to destructive actions against the community which are illegal and punishable by law if one is convicted of such acts (Newman 21). Any misconduct can only be confirmed as a criminal act through the laws of a particular country. Various acts of crime include mugging, robbery, rape and homicide among others (Paulsen, Sean & Dan 18). In addition crime may occur in any locality where people are living as a community and these areas may include a country, a learning institution or even in a workplace (Taylor & Adele 1996). This paper will discuss various forms of crime in different localities as well as the way in which income inequality contributes to crime. The paper will also discuss modern ways used by crime analysts and law enforcers to manage crime activities. The paper has reviewed 18 academic articles related with crime in different parts of the globe and these articles include books, journals and research papers. Crime and Geography of Crime Each locality has a distinctive geography that affects how people within that region will respond to certain issues (Paulsen, ‎Sean & Dan 25). Tendency to crime and people’s view of crime is highly connected with the locality in which those people are residing (Barkan & George 30). In addition, localities portray varied characteristics concerning crime and as a result possible solutions to crime differ from one community to another (Wilson Ronald & Brown Timothy 2010). People have a tendency of associating crime with specific geographical zones where they reside, places they want to visit or even a place they would like to avoid. While crime may occur in any place round the globe, particular places record crimes more regularly (National Institute of Justice Research Report. 1996). Crime in the World Although everyone desire to live in a safe environment, this is not the case in various parts of the universe (Siegel & Henk 36). There are various areas in the world where deadly violence has been frequent. For instance, murder rates in America have stayed high for many years compared to regions like Europe and Asia (Hamid 20). The regions where homicide has been rampart are America and Africa. The United Nations have an immensely lower conviction rate of 24% for killings as compared to Asia and Europe whose conviction rates stand at 48% and 81% respectively(Youngs 49). The data is obtained from nation’s law implementers or health authorities as well as from World Health Organization records in cases where the data is not available from the previously mentioned sources. From those records it is estimated that close to half of the 437,000 murder cases throughout the world, are from countries with minimal global population (Newman 24). The Americans recorded more murder cases than Africa in the year 2012(Hamid 22). South Africa is another country that is rated highly among the unsafe states in the world although cases of murder have been on the decline in the country. Other countries that rank high in crime rate include Columbia and Jamaica (Youngs 51). Crime in US State and country level Crime in the United States has been on the record for a long period of time though crime rates have differed from time to time (Shelden, William &‎ Miller 125). However in 1963 there was a notable increase in crime occurrences going up to the 90s. After the 1990s, crimes have reduced to a great extent in America (McElreath, Daniel & Carl 29). Recent crime rates nearly the same as the crime rates of 1960 (Shelden, William &‎ Miller 127). The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the body that provides information on particular crimes (Lott 43). FBI gives a report yearly concerning specific crimes that have been reported (McElreath, Daniel & Carl 35). Index crimes in the United States include property and violent crimes. Property crimes involve house theft, vehicle theft and larceny while violent crime involves murder, violent rape, robbery and forced assault. In essence, violent crimes have declined greatly in the United States of America since the early days though it still remains relatively high compared to other states such as Europe (Newman 26). For example, violent crimes recorded in New York City in America is much higher than those recorded in cities such as London in Europe which has a higher population but fewer crimes (Hamid 23). Crime in the US Universities Crimes are less common in the universities of America compared to the general national coverage (Weiss Karen 13). Although national statistics confirm that crime rates are lower in the colleges, numerous crimes happen everyday in university campuses. In the year 2001, over 600 murders and close to 12,000 robberies were reported across the universities of America (Lott 47). Other numerous cases of violent rape and other kinds of assaults have been reported subsequently. However, there poses a huge challenge in gathering and finding accurate information on crimes in the universities of United States due to the complexity of the issue(Shelden, William &‎ Miller 127). Whereas campuses and colleges are usually less dangerous than their surroundings different universities face different challenges. The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), for instance is one of the universities in the US that has recorded numerous crimes reported to the Department of Education and most of the crimes reported were connected with forcible assaults (Ferreira, Paulo & José 2012). The state Law requires that colleges and universities should be given financial assistance in order to help them observe and report any illegal offenses witnessed on the colleges or campuses (McElreath, Daniel & Carl 46). These records are compiled by the Department of Education to assist universities and their societies to understand the security challenges facing them (Weiss Karen 15). Income and Crime It has been found out that crime rates within countries are connected with income inequality (Siegel 51). Inequality encourages high crime rates. The United States ranks number three of those countries with the most unequal incomes in the world and it also has a huge percentage of its people in prison (Siegel 51). The highest murder cases are found in America and Africa regions and the lowest cases of homicide are found in Europe. In Latin America, there are increased rates of drug trafficking, gang activities and organized crimes (Wilkinson & Kate 72). In cases of murder crimes, countries with the highest income inequalities in the Africa region, Jamaica and South America have the highest rate of the crime (McElreath, Daniel & Carl 56). Also, cases of violent rape have shown the same connection with income inequalities. For instance, South Africa has the worst income disparity in the world and it also leads with the highest rape incidences of over half a million victims yearly (Siegel 55). In US, though the prevalence of rape cases have declined considerably, it still ranks high in cases of rape offenses compared to more developed countries. Crimes of robbery and mugging have increased in Latin America and Caribbean (McElreath, Daniel & Carl 56). Assault and robbery are the most frequently reported crime offenses that have been witnessed in localities and neighborhoods that are largely poor. Although there are many other factors that determine crime rates, it is evident that income disparity is one of the major causes of crime offenses (Wilkinson & Kate 72). Regions with high income inequality have more frequencies of crime and consequently people living in poor communities are more prone to crimes than their counter parts (Siegel 54). Similarly, this indicates that economic status and social class of a people determines the prevalence of crimes within a locality and addressing the issue of income disparity will go along way in reducing crime rates hence providing safer environments to live in (McElreath, Daniel & Carl 56). The Use of GIS in Geography of Crime Crime mapping is used by the law enforcers to map, envisage and examine patterns of crime incidences (Fahui 50). The mapping of crime is done by the use of Geographic Information systems (GIS) which allows crime experts to detect hot spots of crime together with other crime patterns (Paulsen, Sean & Dan 53). Through GIS, the analysts can locate hostage shops, schools and other regions and this will help them in devising ways of dealing with the challenge. Geographic Information System is also beneficial for security operations such ass deploying police force and responding to crises in time (Taylor & Adele 1996). Crime mapping helps analysts to make informed decisions as well as strategic analysis about a certain situation. The advancement of internet technologies and especially Web-based GIS technologies has provided new opportunities of using crime mapping to avert crime (Ferreira, Paulo & José 2012). Functions delivered in web-based crime mapping are more compared to traditional crime mapping. However, web-based crime mapping emphasizes more on community policing compared to the traditional systems that focused more on prediction and pattern analysis (Ferreira, Paulo & José 2012). In conclusion, this paper has discussed about crime and how it is associated with a specifics geographic location. The paper has looked into crimes in various parts of the globe such as crime in the world, the United States of America and the universities of America as well. Also issues to do with income inequality and crime as well as the use of Geographic Information System in crime have been discussed in this paper. Generally, crime has been experienced in most parts of the word though some locations seem to be more prevalent than others indicating that geographical locations and economic status of people determine rates of crime within a given area. The fact that GIS is very useful in crime reduction cannot be ignored and the issue of crime should be looked at as a community issue rather than a law enforcer’s concern. In addition more should be done to deal with the issue of income disparity by introducing higher wages, increasing employment opportunities and job security, family supports among others in an endeavor to reduce incidences of crime and as a result create safer environments for all to live in. Works Cited Barkan Steven & ‎Bryjak George. Myths and Realities of Crime and Justice. Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2013. Dalziel Paul , ‎ Saunders Caroline & Eaqub Shamubeel. BWB Texts: Economic Futures. Bridget Williams Books, 2014 Fahui Wang. Geographic Information Systems and Crime Analysis. Idea Group Publishing, 2005. Ferreira J., João Paulo & Martins José. GIS for Crime Analysis: Geography for Predictive Models. Electronic Journal Information Systems Evaluation Volume 15 Issue 1 2012 Hamid Nemati. Analyzing Security, Trust, and Crime in the Digital World. IGI Global, 2013 Lott John. More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control. University of Chicago Press, 2013. 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