Prior to beginning work on this assignment, watch Crimes of the Powerful, available through the Films on Demand database in the University of Arizona Global Campus Library. Additionally, read Chapters 5 and 6 from the textbook. Our justice system
Myths and Reality of Crime
tends to focus on street crime, often ignoring much more significant problems such as white-collar, corporate, and state crime. The video also discusses euthanasia, although the point of this reference is to illustrate how the law can be used as a tool for social change. The video also discusses moral values with a focus on media coverage of harm to children. Laws have changed in direct response to these incidents and the resulting media coverage. In effect, this coverage becomes an engine for social change. The video ends with a discussion of crime theory, reminding us that many criminological theories fall short when applied to people with wealth and high status. Write a paper discussing the myths and realities of crime.
In your paper,
- Imagine asking 100 strangers to describe a criminal.
- Predict whether those descriptions would be likely to focus on street criminals, or the variety of topics covered in the Crimes of the Powerful
- Evaluate how society defines crime.
- Do not provide a definition – instead, explain how the definition is reached.
- Present a clear statement about a particular crime, something we know to be absolutely true.
- Illustrate how we know that this is an accurate statement.
- Present an example of a widely-held myth or misconception about crime and society.
- Determine how we know that this is a myth. Explain why this myth is so difficult to abandon.
The Myths and Reality of Crime paper