Last week in lecture we learned that crime statistics weren't real indicators of the amount of underlying criminal activity and this seems to be the case in the readings for the week, where there are a lot of discrepancies on whether crime, in certain areas and across the nation as a whole, is increasing or decreasing. The statistics in Tab 5 highlighted the fact that crime rate has been higher in recent years, i.e. 4.1% higher in 2016 than 2016, but a lot lower than previous decades, i.e. 12.3% lower than it was in 2007. The articles in Tab 6 show an inconsistency in messages, with one asserting that crime in the Los Angeles County has increased while crime in California as a whole has decreased and another article stating that crime in New …show more content…
A majority of the articles and statistics seem to point to the fact that crime might be on the rise, especially since a lot of crimes that occur aren't reported or solved, which means that numbers can be a lot higher than what's recorded. Violent crime might be increasing because of the very present and increasing economic disparity that plagues the nations. A lot of people find themselves, such as the homelessness that plagues Downtown Los Angeles and Oakland, and they have to find a way to make ends meet, even if it means resorting to crime. People feel that the institutions in this country are limiting them and making the rich richer, while the poor continue to get poorer and they might try to take justice into their own hands or might be pitted against someone else in their socioeconomic group who might be an easier target. Another reason is that over the years, people are continuously encouraged to report crimes, such as the influx of rape reports we saw in 2017, and this is being reflected in the numbers. The numbers might not necessarily show that there are more violent crimes, but rather that more crimes are being reported in today's society than one or two years ago. There is a plethora of reasons as to why crime might be increasing, but the biggest question isn't why or not, but rather if its