Preview

Why Most Americans Believe Crime Is Increasing

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1417 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Why Most Americans Believe Crime Is Increasing
Increase in Crime in the United States?
Robert T. Nguyen
West Coast University

Author Note

Abstract
(Brief summary of the content) Keywords: increase crime rate, media, exaggerate, gun violence, Bureau of Justice Statistics,

Introduction
Gun violence, assaults, and robbery were high in the United States in the early 90s, but the crime rates henceforth have been decreasing. Evidently, few crimes are being reported throughout the United States in the early 2000s, but Americans are still privy of increasing crime rates. Economic and political conditions are also changing the face of violence and crime, with some stating that state economics and policies are reducing crime. Conversely, other Americans opine that such state policies and conditions are becoming catalysts for crimes, yet the numbers do not add up evidently. In all, the majority of American hold the opinion that crime is indeed increasing especially since 2002. The following illustrative essay examines the reasons why Americans perceive crime to be on the increase, yet they are unaware of the statistical drop in crimes on an overall. The illustration here will examine three major concerns to increasing crime, first looking at State of the U.S in determining criminal activities. Secondly, the article will explain the role of the media taking into consideration national event and issues that seem to define crime. Finally, an illustration of gun rights is provided, with a conclusion that epitomizes not only founded perceptions but a reality on the ground that is ignored.
Why Most America Still Believe That Crime Is Increasing
Over the past year, Americans have increasingly been concerned about increasing crime rates. Essentially, the FBI in collaboration with the Bureau of Justice Statistics is reporting a decline in national and local property and violent crime, and in general, a decline in crime. However, American still views crime locally and nationally as evidently increasing. As

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Uniform Crime Reporting Program, or UCR, relates crime rates to arrest rates and clearance rates annually through the ‘Crime in the United States’ publication. This report (although not foolproof) gives a statistical picture of how arrests and clearance rates compare to actual crimes reported based on information reported from law enforcement departments across the United States. The UCR, as well as the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), may show higher rates of crime, arrest, and clearance in areas with higher population or lower rates in areas with lower population. The most successful way to improve the correlation of crime, arrest, and clearance rates in effort to combat criminal activity would be to rely on the information provided…

    • 360 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    With so many policing agencies, we measure the crime level here in the United States with three main tools. “They are uniform crime report, National crime victimization survey, and the National incident based reporting system. The uniform crime report: Law enforcement agencies voluntarily report crime statistics on a monthly basis to the FBI. Areas of interest are murder, burglary, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, larceny/theft, auto theft and arson. The National victimization survey is conducted by the Bureau of Justice statistics; the survey is conducted every…

    • 639 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bowling for Columbine

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the graph provided with this assignment we see that violent crimes have actually gone down year after year and yet every time we turn on the news we are assaulted with violent images and reports of gun violence. The media keeps gun deaths and violence first and foremost using the news, newspapers, magazines, talk shows, etc to keep us in a constant state of fear.…

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Crime is something that occurs throughout the world. To some people it is an incident that adds stress to one’s life, and to others, they see it as a way of life. Over the last years, different areas of the United States have been affected by crime. The Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Report (UCR) Program is a nationwide program that gathers statistical information from nearly 18,000 agencies that report criminal data on crimes that have been brought to their attention or reported voluntarily (The Federal Bureau of Investigation, n.d.). This instrument is useful for finding the rates of incidents, help determine what factors might explain the differences when comparing different areas, and how the rates have changed over time. This paper will cover the different crime rates of Honolulu, Hawaii, and New York, New York, using the most recent data taken from the FBI’s UCR.…

    • 1634 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The article discusses the relationship between mass shootings and gun control legislation in light of a December 2012 shooting at an Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The author claims that violent crime has fallen in the U.S. while gun ownership has increased. Media portrayals of mass shootings are addressed in light of criticism from researcher Grant Duwe.…

    • 448 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the previous year, 2008 Detroit reported the murder rate of 339. This seemed to be an overall drop from the previous year 383. Though this seems like a positive sign for the city, this merely shows a decrease in violent crimes in the nation. (Hendron, 2009) It seems that more major cities have seen a drop in crime rates over time. The 339 murders over a population just over 951,000 make Detroit the deadliest metropolitan area in the United States. Additionally, Police officials in Detroit had misreported overall 2008 murder figures intentionally to avoid this distinction. (Hendron, 2009) Minneapolis, in comparison, saw their murders drop from about forty to eighteen percent in 2008. (Kohler, 2009) As the rates of crime for these areas show patterns, one thing is certain, Detroit as a whole has a higher crime rate capacity. It appears that in Detroit the crime rate decreased approximately 11% and Minneapolis dropped about 20%.…

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Cited: Bennette, Georgette. Crime Warps: The future of Crime in America. Garden City, NY: Anchor, 1987…

    • 2014 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Police Underappreciated

    • 1260 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Crime: A Serious American Problem. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Information Plus Reference Series. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 12 Mar. 2012.…

    • 1260 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Crime is everywhere, but more recently gun violence has been plaguing our country. This paper will introduce you to the issue of gun violence in America. Little by little gun violence is dominating our country statistics from the National Institute of Justice state that gun violence has peaked in the past years"467,321 persons were victims of a crime committed with a firearm in 2011. In the same year, data collected by the FBI show that firearms were used in 68 percent of murders,…

    • 1888 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The American population has fear instilled in them, by media and government outlets, which portray crime to be increasing. It is hard not to believe what is presented by the media and government; therefore, a lot of Americans believe that a major problem in the United States is crime. The public does not realize that the media and politicians are selling what is more appealing to viewers, to get their ratings to increase (Sims, 1997). Mass media outlets and politicians are distorting the view of millions, setting the pretense that crime is escalating. Politicians use the slogan “get tough on crime” as their main platform to lure in more votes. People will vote for the politicians when they believe that they are making their communities safer from the rising crimes rates. The voting public has an influence on punitive…

    • 2031 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Criminal Justice Trends

    • 889 Words
    • 4 Pages

    References: Abt. Associates Inc.. (2000). Crime and Justice Trends in the United States During the Past Three…

    • 889 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Gun Control vs. Gun Rights

    • 8926 Words
    • 36 Pages

    Gun control and gun rights have been an issue that has been debated for decades. Whenever there has been a mass shooting of any magnitude, it seems that the debate heats up even more. Consideration must be given as to what the benefits are of these gun control laws. Gun control laws must also be written as to not violate the Second Amendment of the Constitution as well. There have been many studies accomplished to determine if gun control laws actually do reduce the amount of violent crimes. These studies have discovered that there is no link between gun control laws and violent crime reduction. Even though most individuals have their different views on gun control, most seem to believe that the current laws do not have an effect on violent crimes. The hypothesis of gun control does not have an effect of reducing violent crimes was tested and the hypothesis is supported by the data collected within this thesis. The data used was collected from studies by other individuals, a survey of the public opinion, and other statistics recorded from previous years of violent crimes.…

    • 8926 Words
    • 36 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The issue of gun ownership effecting crime rates is inconsistent and unreliable due to the lack of credible evidence on the topic. Some evidence suggests negative assumptions while others suggest…

    • 1252 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Gun Control

    • 2123 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Crime and guns. The two seem to go hand in hand with one another. But are the two really associated? Do guns necessarily lead to crime? And if so do laws placing restrictions on firearm ownership and use stop the crime or protect the citizens? These are the questions many citizens and lawmakers are asking themselves when setting about to create gun control laws. The debate over gun control, however, is nothing new. In 1924, Presidential Candidate, Robert La Follete said, “our choice is not merely to support or oppose gun control but to decide who can own which guns under what conditions.” Clearly this debate still goes on today and is the very reason for the formation of gun control laws.…

    • 2123 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Stricter Gun Control

    • 741 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Today’s crimes are becoming more violent than ever because of the widespread use of guns. Guns are involved in many incidents today that people did not even worry about in the past. We see people killed because of gang related incidents, robberies, road rage, and many pointless situations. The main reason is there are just simply too many guns on our streets today. Guns are everywhere and about anyone can get one, including seventeen years old, which is evident from the Chardon High School shooting on February 27,2012 and the Virginia Tech massacre in Blacksburg on April 16, 2007 (Lepore 38-47).…

    • 741 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics