Causes of Crime in Great Britain and USA - Assignment Example

Causes of crime in Great Britain and USA Introduction Crime rates are increasing day by day everywhere because of the problems in the society, changing life styles and life philosophies. Current generation is less afraid of punishments compared to the older generation because of the loopholes in criminal justice system which may help them to escape from punishments with the help of smart advocates. Moreover, the severity of punishment is getting weaker and based on that the readiness of the people in engage in criminal activities is increasing. United Sates and UK are some of the worst affected countries as far as criminal activities are concerned. Some people argue that poverty is the major reason behind increasing criminal activities. However, US and UK are two of the richest countries in the world and still crime rates increasing day by day in these countries. Cyber crime, burglary, organized crime, gun violence etc are some of the major criminal activities seen in United States and UK. “The UK government has published a report on February 17, 2011, concluding that the overall cost to the UK economy from cybercrime is £27bn per year. Drug-related crime is estimated to cost the UK £13.9 billion a year” (Cluely, 2011). On the other hand, “In 2006, the Internet Crime Complaint Center in America received and processed over 200,000 complaints. Total alleged dollar losses were more than $194 million”(Cyber crime Statistics, 2011).This paper analyses the similarities and differences between US and UK crimes, giving more importance to cyber crime and burglary. Cybercrime and burglary in UK and USA: Similarities and differences Cybercrime is one of the most modern crimes added to the list of organized criminal activities list. No country seems to be free from cyber crimes. Hardcore technology and online expertise are now available for rent and it is possible for even the unskilled antisocial elements to take these skills on rent basis for the execution of their criminal activities. In fact some of the organized cyber attacks which occurred in the recent times have surprised some of the highly technically skilled personnel. Kinetic weapons, power of electromagnetic energy, malicious computer code etc are some of the most common methods of cyber attacks employed by cyber terrorists. Botnets (vast numbers of compromised computers that have been infected with malicious code, and can be remotely-controlled through commands sent via the Internet) are another major tool for cybercrime, because of its effectiveness and the easiness in usage. America is facing more cyber attack threats from countries like China compared to United Kingdom. China wanted to outcast America from the superpower list and for that purpose; they are constantly engage in cyber espionage with America. China’s involvement in some of the recent cyber attacks on American computers was proved beyond doubt. The Times on 8 September 2007 reported that the Chinese military hackers have prepared a detailed plan to disable America’s aircraft battle carrier fleet with a devastating cyber attack, quoting a Pentagon report (The Times, 2007). Fox news on 24 March 2010 reported that the cyber attack on Google and US companies are part of suspected Chinese government operation (Fox News, 2010). In short, America is facing cyber crimes not only from individuals, but also from other countries as well. On the other hand, UK seems to be facing fewer threats from other countries as far as cyber espionage is concerned. In fact China and America are the two countries accused of spreading cyber espionage because of their superior technologies in IT and computer sectors. Cluely, (2011) has pointed out that total money losses in cyber crimes in UK has already crossed the £27 billion per year.- £9.2 billion comes from theft of intellectual property (IP), and £7.6 billion is calculated for industrial espionage (Cluely, 2011). Private sector in UK is facing severe threats related to the theft of intellectual property. Pharmaceutical, biotech, electronics, IT and chemicals are some of the worst hit private sectors as far as theft of intellectual property are concerned. In short, industrial espionage in UK is more than that in America. Identity theft and online scams are other major areas of cyber crime both in US and UK. “The £3.1bn annual economic cost of cyber crime to UK citizens includes an estimated £1.7bn for identity theft and £1.4bn for online scams” (Cyber crime costing UK economy £27bn a year, 2010). “Nearly 10 million Americans fell victim to some kind of identity theft in 2009. A typical victim spends 44 hours recovering from identity theft and average of $500 repairing damage on their credit reports” (Credit Card Fraud - It Happens All Too Frequently, 2010). The above statistics clearly shows that both America and United Kingdom are facing almost similar problems as far as identity theft is concerned. Americans and the British are believed to be highly educated people. Even then, it is surprising to see that these people are more vulnerable to identity thefts. The people in these countries are taking fewer precautions while giving their private data to the online companies. The statistics about cyber crimes in America show that the number of crimes getting decreased because of the increasing awareness of the public about the cyber crime. Earlier, people were not much aware of the possibilities of cyber crime and were trapped easily by the cyber criminals with the help of phishing e-mails or fraudulent web pages. At the same time, cyber criminals are devising new ways to cheat the public. Thus the financial losses are increasing day by day even though the number of cyber crimes seems to be decreasing. “In every 14.6 Seconds, a Burglary Happens somewhere in America. Property crime makes up slightly more than three-quarters of all crime in the United States” (Burglary Statistics, 2010). “Every 37 seconds a home somewhere in Britain is burgled. Every year there are over 1 million burglaries and attempted burglaries in UK” (Household Burglary in the UK: facts and Figures, n. d). In United States, property crime seems to be prominent everywhere irrespective of whether it is rural or urban areas whereas in UK, property crimes occur mostly in the rural areas. The rate of occurrence of burglary in US is almost three times of that in UK.. Both the countries are facing increasing property crime rates even though, in some years the statistics may show some decreasing trends. In America the day time property crime is more than that in United Kingdom. In fact majority of the property crime in America occurs during the day time itself. Organized crime is more seen in United States than in United Kingdom. There are many families in America which engage in organized crime since hundreds of years before. For example, The Genovese crime family is one of the five major families which engaged in organized criminal activities in New York City even from the beginning of the 20 th century. The Genovese crime family was believed to be developed from some street gangs. Extortion (cheating others for money, property or services from another person or entity) and bootlegging (smuggling of alcoholic beverages like goods using water transportation) were the main activities during the early stages of their development. But at present they engage in criminal activities like violence, including murder, attempted murder, extortion, robbery, labor racketeering, the financing and making of extortionate extensions of credit, and the collection of extensions of credit through extortionate means etc (Kilpinen, 2011) On the other hand, in UK, such criminal families are less compared to United States. The following table provides some elementary ideas about the burglary crime statistics in America and United Kingdom. United States Of America United Kingdom There is a large amount of shop robberies and violence. In America, the crime clock continues to click: one murder every 22 minutes, one rape every 5 minutes, one robbery every 49 seconds, and one burglary every 10 seconds. And the cost of crime continues to mount: $78 billion for the criminal justice system, $64 billion for private protection, $202 billion in loss of life and work, $120 billion in crimes against business, $60 billion in stolen goods and fraud, $40 billion from drug abuse, and $110 billion from drunk driving. When you add up all the costs, crime costs Americans a stunning $675 billion each year.    According to the British Crime Survey, in 2001/2002 3.5% of households were burgled, 7.1% of vehicle-owning households had items stolen from their vehicle, 1.7% a vehicle stolen, and 0.85 of adults were mugged. In 1997, there were over 1.6 million domestic burglaries in England and Wales. Burglary is the crime most commonly referred to Victim Support, with nearly half a million victims of burglary being offered help each year. (USA VS UK Crime, 2005) In short, America is facing stiffer challenges from other countries than UK as far as cyber espionage is concerned. At the same time UK is facing more industrial espionage and intellectual property related crimes than America. Identity theft is another cyber crime which is creating problems both to US and UK. Property crime is one of the major burglary related crimes both in America and UK. In America, both the rural and urban areas are equally vulnerable to property crimes whereas in UK, rural areas seem to be most vulnerable to property crimes. Organized crimes are more in America than in UK. The association of family in criminal activities is more in America than in UK. Moreover, the burglary rate in America is three times more than that in UK. Causes of crime in UK and USA: Similarities and differences China engages in cyber espionage with America in order to expel America from the superpower post. China knows very well that they are capable of causing problems to the Americans because of their superior internet and computer technologies. Chinese technology is capable of penetrating the barriers constructed by the US for the protection of its secret weapons and technologies. John Diamond, on 5/17/2006 written on USA TODAY that “China is running aggressive and wide-ranging espionage operations aimed at stealing U.S. weapons technology that could be useful against U.S. forces, according to the nation's top spy-catchers” (Diamond, 2006). In the name of trade and cultural integration many Chinese people are currently working in America. Many of them are working in America as scientists, students, business people, or bureaucrats, in addition to professional civilian and military intelligence operations. It is easy for them to engage in spying like activities. On the other hand, China sees not many dangers from United Kingdom at present and hence they are not targeting UK very much as far as cyber espionage is concerned. Identity theft is one of the easiest ways of robbing money from the public. There many traps waiting for a fresh surfer in the internet. Only the experienced internet users can identify these traps whereas the fresher often been trapped by the scammers. Phishing is one of the major ways through which the cyber criminals steal the identity or private data of the public. It is the way of collecting usernames, passwords, and credit card details through electronic communication. Current people are more active in internet and they are often been trapped by the scammers with the help of exaggerated emails with false claims and offers. Many of the Americans and the British are currently facing severe financial problems because of the recent financial crisis and they are in search of making money at any cost. Internet scammers know this fact very well and they are exploiting such feelings for trapping innocent people. “It revealed that hidden unemployment is higher in rural areas of UK, while more people are dependent on part-time work. Total farm income has fallen to its lower level since entering the Common Agricultural Policy and rural homelessness is increasing” (Judd, 2000). In other words, the income of the rural population in United Kingdom is less than the income of the urban people UK. The living standards in urban areas are far better than the living standards in the rural areas of UK. The rural population thus has a tendency to catch up with the income of the urban population and for that purpose, they select shortcuts like burglary. Immigration, irrespective of whether it is legal or illegal, has definite relationship with the increased burglary rate in United States and United Kingdom. The immigrants engaged in criminal activities because of unemployment or poor economic conditions. Uncontrolled immigration can affect the demography of a country and also will create many social problems. The locals always consider the immigrants as second citizens. They will never treat the immigrants in a friendly manner. “Researchers and observers, aware that widespread concern over crime committed by immigrants can boil over into hate crimes committed against them” (Horowitz, 2001). In the UK-US employment sector, immigrants will get only lowly paid jobs. Majority of the illegal immigrants may not get a job at all because of the legal problems in employing illegal immigrants in these countries. Illegal immigrants who don’t have proper visas or work permits, engage in antisocial activities like robbery, theft, etc in order to survive in the country. Being a secular democratic state, America cannot prohibit immigration, but can control it. Most of the immigrants in America and Britain will try to bring their relatives and friends to America and Britain through legal and illegal channels in order to explore and exploit the possibilities in America. All the above factors may motivate the immigrants to engage in burglary like criminal activities in America and United Kingdom. Elements of disparities in social structure are the major cause of organized crimes either by the locals or by the immigrants. The society must be organized or well structured in order to function properly. Any imbalances in the social setup can result in organized crimes in the society. In United States, hero worshiping is more than that in United Kingdom. Organized criminal groups are getting public recognition more in United States than in UK. Even though, Americans are afraid of the organized criminal groups, they are keeping an admiration towards these groups in their inner minds because of their innate genetic characteristics of hero worshipping. On the other hand, UK public does not have such misconceptions and hence organized burglary crimes are less in UK. Conclusions Both United Sates and United Kingdom are facing threats from growing criminal activities like cybercrime and burglary. However, UK seems to be less affected by the cyber crimes and burglary crimes compared to America. America is facing cyber espionage from countries like China whereas UK has fewer problems with such crimes. Identity theft is one area in which both the countries are facing equal problems. Property thefts and organized crimes are more in America than in UK. America’s superpower status is the reason for cyber espionage from China. The changes in living standards and the life philosophies are the major reasons for burglary crimes. Rural population has poor living standards than the urban population and in order to achieve equality with the urban people, people living in rural areas seem to be engage more in property crimes and organized crimes. References 1. USA VS UK Crime, (2005). [Online] Available at: http://www.usa-vs-uk.com/crime.html [Accessed on 8 March 2011] 2. Burglary Statistics, (2010). [Online] Available at: http://www.callslservices.com/didyouknow.htm [Accessed on 8 March 2011] 3. Credit Card Fraud - It Happens All Too Frequently, (2010) [Online] Available at: http://www.creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/fraudAccts.shtml [Accessed on 8 March 2011] 4. Cluely, G. (2011). [Online] Available at: Does cybercrime really cost the UK more than drugs? http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/02/17/does-cybercrime-really-cost-uk-society-more-than-drugs/ [Accessed on 8 March 2011] 5. Cyber crime Statistics, (2011). [Online] Available at: http://www.computer-forensics-recruiter.com/home/cyber_crime_statistics.html [Accessed on 8 March 2011] 6. Cyber crime costing UK economy £27bn a year, (2010) [Online] Available at: http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2027127/cyber-crime-costing-uk-economy-gbp27bn [Accessed on 8 March 2011] 7. Diamond, J. (2006) China broadens espionage operations, USA TODAY 5/17/2006, [Online] Available at: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-17-china-espionage_x.htm [Accessed on 8 March 2011] 8. Fox News, (2010), Cyber Attack on U.S. Firms, Google Traced to China [Online] Available at: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/03/24/cyber-attack-firms-google-traced-chinese/ [Accessed on 8 March 2011] 9. Household Burglary in the UK: facts and Figures, (n. d). [Online] Available at: http://www.secureone.co.uk/domesticalarms/burglaryfacts.html [Accessed on 8 March 2011] 10. Judd, T. (2000). Property crime is rising faster in the countryside [Online] Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/property-crime-is-rising-faster-in-the-countryside-721334.html [Accessed on 8 March 2011] 11. Kilpinen, K.S. (2011). Genovese Crime Family[Online] Available at: http://ezinearticles.com/?Genovese-Crime-Family&id=4896114 [Accessed on 8 March 2011] 12. The Times (2007), China’s cyber army is preparing to march on America, says Pentagon, [Online] Available at: http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article2409865.ece [Accessed on 8 March 2011] Read More