Sex Crimes in the Subway - Essay Example

Sex Crimes in the Subway 27 February Review of the Article “Sex Crimes in the Subway” by Beller, A., Garelik, S., and Cooper, S. Research Question: This paper aims to review a sociological research paper on “Sex Crimes in the Subway”; the author focuses on the nature, extent and experiential consequences of non-felonious sex crimes on the New York City subway system (Beller, 1980). In other words, the research aims to describe the nature of non-felonious sex crimes, the degree to which such crimes occur and the impact or results of such crimes especially to the victims. The researcher is interested in this line of inquiry because of the rise in non-congenital sex crime cases, this is especially due to the urban congestion in modern; this has led to the emergence a body of quantifiable epidemiological knowledge on non-felonious sex crimes. The researcher particularly thinks this study is important because it seeks to highlight why the physical setting of the subway system seems to make it a preferred site for non-felonious sex crimes. In this respect, the research is going to reveal why the metropolitan subway systems have become a common focus for non-felonious sex crimes in the modern city life. Data gathering Method The researchers collected data mainly through analysis of texts and visual data; specifically, the research team carried out literature reviews of statistical data from existing databases on the topic of non-felonious sex crimes; for instance, the New York City Transit Police Department (NYCTPD) was a major source of the background information on the topic (Beller, 1980). The researchers analyzed the police reports on arrests to reveal salient features such as prevalence of cases, nature of victims and defendants among other things. The researchers also collected data through interviews with specialized officers dealing with non-felonious sex crimes at the New York City Transit Police Department; the officers’ subjective impressions of the victims and defendants highlighted other salient issues on the study. Population: The research focused their study on the New York City subway population that is estimated to encompass about 3.5 million riders every day (Beller, 1980); the sample population is based on a number of defining characteristics such as age, ethnicity, social class and gender. For instance, the researchers were interested in demographics of the offenders’ and the victims’ populations; in this respect, they considered things such as the ages of the offenders and the victims, ethnic composition of the populations and socio-economic divisions of the populations (whether employed/unemployed/married/single). Findings: The researchers arrived at several findings and conclusions concerning the nature, prevalence and consequences of non-felonious sex crimes in the New York City subway system. Firstly, the researchers determined that the offenders’ sample population was demographically distinctive with respect to age, ethnicity and socio-economic divisions. For instance, the sample was predominantly non-white (mainly blacks and Hispanics) and their ages range between 20-40 years; the 20-40 years age bracket accounts for over 66% of total non-felonious sex crime arrests and the black and Hispanic offenders account for over 45.8 and 37.7% of the crimes respectively (Beller, 1980). The researchers also found out that only about 54% of the offenders arrested for public lewdness in particular were employed, a large percentage (63.9%) were unmarried and only about 16.9% and 26.5% were described as sloppy or dirty respectively (Beller, 1980). The study also established that the offenders who committed mild non-felonious sex crimes such as public lewdness/ passive exhibitionism are equally capable of committing violent sexual crimes. With respect to the victims’ population sample, the study determined that the New York City subway non-felonious sex crimes are predominantly perpetrated against female offenders. The research also established that out of 819 victims, half of them are between the ages of 20-29, and the rest between the age groups 10-19 and 30-39 (Beller, 1980).Unlike the offenders, half of the victim sample is white, and the rest of the victim population is equally shared between black and Hispanic victims. Another key finding of the research is that the victims are able-bodied and normal-looking, besides being predominantly female, youthful and white; a negligible proportion of the victims can be described as unfeminine, casually dressed or deformed (Beller, 1980). About 21% of the victims of non-felonious sex crimes experience emotional problems due to the traumatic nature of the offences; these victims usually require support services to overcome their post-traumatic feelings. Unlike the other crimes like assault and murder, the researchers concluded that some sort of a stranger-oriented “exogamous” nature (Beller, 1980) distinctively characterizes non-felonious sex crimes in the subways. In this respect, the victims are often unfamiliar with the offenders especially because such experiences are new to a majority of the victims; the physical injuries sustained in the course of the crimes are minor and largely result from the victims’ struggles to resist the offenders. In conclusion, the research posits that non-felonious sex crimes are underreported probably due to unwillingness of victims to relive such experiences; however, the research concludes that there are more incidences of such crimes in the New York City subway system than there are on the above ground. The research posits that non-felonious sex crimes in the New York City subway system almost constitute an aboriginal, unique problem of the underground ecosystem; the researchers recommend indigenous solutions to solving the problem (Beller, 1980). Topical Concepts: The research relates to topical concepts in Sociology such as conformity, deviance and crime (Gibbens 2011); for instance, the article relates the problem of non-felonious sex crimes to deviance behavior in society. The article can also be interpreted by use of sociological theories i.e. to understand the nature of non-felonious sex crimes as a form of deviance; sociological theories of crime are important in understanding deviance. The research further draws from the concept of crime salient ideas such as the importance and limitations of crime statistics, types of crime and ways of reducing crime. Apart from that, the research also draws from the concept of crime the idea that some individuals or groups of people are more likely to be victims or offenders of a crime than others are (Gibbens 2011).This is reflected through the research findings where the offenders of non-felonious sex crimes are predominantly black males and victims are white youthful females. Sociological imagination: From this research, it is clearly visible that there is an increase in non-felonious sex crimes in the New York City subway population; this indicates a much bigger problem in the larger society that is deteriorating norms and deviance. In this respect, individuals in the modern urban societies are increasingly becoming perverted by deviating from the societal norms. The increase in non-felonious sex crimes in the New York City subway system also points to the vulnerability of individuals in the modern urban society. It is worth noting that there must be underlying factors that predispose the modern urban society to such forms of deviant behavior; otherwise, why would such things occur so predominantly in a society of relatively normal being? Every society must uphold some distinctive norms that define stable human relations without which society experiences such problems as discussed in the article. Every society will have two groups of people, conformists and deviants (Gibbens 2011); the conformists will uphold, to some extent, societal norms of existence while deviants will break these norms. However, these two groups are not entirely differentiated because, just as conformists will not obey all the social norms, deviants will not break all the social norms (Giddens, 2011). In this regard, individuals can either conform or deviate from societal norms in different contexts and situations. Furthermore, just as the normal society has its norms, the deviant sub-culture has its norms too; whereas all the conformists are defined by conformity to universally accepted codes of conduct in society, deviants are also defined by their conformity to the deviance behavior/sub-culture. References Beller, A., Garelik, S., and Cooper, S. (1980). Sex Crimes in the Subway. Criminology Vol.18 (Issue 1): Pgs.35-52 Giddens, A., Duneier, M., Appelbaum, R. P., and Carr D. (2011). Introduction to Sociology (8th Ed.). W. W. New York City: W.W Norton Limited. Read More