|
Crime types and levels are actually very interesting because it does quite openly combine morality and economics; what is and is not morally right to do as determined by the structurally powerful of the society (you're allowed to starve but not to steal) and (through inflicted punishment as retribution) a rough guide to how bad they think those things are and then what impact does that have on what everyone actually does to survive. It's also a pretty good proxy for measuring discrimination, both in what things are illegal and how demographic groups are prosecuted (crack and powdered cocaine being the textbook example) but also in measuring crime levels in mixed demographic communities while controlling for poverty to see how the different groups co-exist with the identifiable 'other'. Beyond that you've got the difference between violent and non-violent crimes where crudely put violent crimes are caused by lack of community, where an 'other' group develops and people learn to fear it which creates a cycle of mistrust and violence, and non-violent property crimes which relate to poverty directly but also wealth inequality particularly when they otherwise share similar traits which makes people wonder why that particular section of people get to have that particular item and they don't. Then there's the lead hypothesis which basically says the amount of lead in industrial society had braindamaged most of the population and made them more violent but since it's being cleared out then that's why crime is generally decreasing, there seems to be reasonable statistical evidence for it but it's very biologically essentialist to argue and drat depressing if true. Basically if when you've been asked 'What causes crime?' and you start talking about the character of the criminal, you're a loving idiot who needs to get back into their Victorian timemachine and go back to 1843 and you're still missing the wider picture if you only talk about the criminals individual poverty level.
|
#
¿
Aug 4, 2014 15:38
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 9, 2024 22:49 |
|