SOC 368 1nd Edition Lecture 5 Outline of Previous Lecture I.Irony of Official StatisticsII.ReportabilityIII.Major MeasuresOutline of Current Lecture I.Review of Crime FactsII.Critique of UCRIII.Crime of Myths and Fear of CrimeCurrent Lecture Constructing the Crime “Problem”I. Review of Crime Facts a. The idea that they are theory laden comes from the fact that what “counts” as crime is entirely based on our own measuresb. Defining crimes is where our theory comes fromi. These definitions lead to measurement of consequences and multiple measures of the same crime1. This affects what we count as crimea. This leads to policy and actionb. In this case, “policy” comes from who actually does the actions to protect themselves from crimec. Actions as individuals (social policies) are the most prevalent result of the fear of crime at an individual leveld. Knowing historical origins of rules and laws is important to understand why they are in place; being aware of why rules exist and their relevance helps to ensure that rules in place are still applicable and fair ii. These all feed back into each other, reinforcing the status quo- policies affect how people look at crime, affecting the measurement and consequences of crime, and so oniii. The direction at the individual rather than social aspects surrounding crime results in individualization of social issues, which leads to normalizationThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.1. Eg. rape becomes individualized rather than being seen as a societal problem, and amplifying rape culture2. When asking about different types of assaults, the NCVS believed that the responses were referring to assaults by strangers; upon revising their question wording in 1992, asking about in-home assaults led to a 44% increase in overall estimates of victimizationa. What appeared to be a huge crime wave was actually just a more thorough reporting of crime statisticsiv. Specific types of victimization tended to increase1. Sexual assault and rape increased by 157%2. Women’s reports of victimization by intimates increased 72%v. Changes in reportability1. NCVS not an entrance into the Criminal Justice System, rather just a survey and report; thus even though the reports increased significantly, no direct action in homes was takenII. UCR Critiquesa. The process of making this data, and getting it into the UCR has many loops allowing for chances of distortion across the linei. Perceiving the “event” as a crimeii. Someone must notify the policeiii. Cops must “accept” the event as a crime1. Does not always happen for various reasons (eg. victim protects perpetrator; cop is too lazy to follow through; etc) iv. Cops must code the crime1. Does not always happen correctly, again for a multitude of reasonsv. Submit to FBI for UCR1. Hierarchy rule: only the highest crime committed is sent to FBI; this often cancels out many other crimes that may have occurreda. If a burglar enters a home to steal, and ends up raping and murdering the homeowner, only the murder is reported2. If crimes are not reported to the FBI, they end up estimating values anywaysb. Distortionsi. Discretion in making decisions 1. Not random “wiggle room”a. Discretion is clearly shaped by predominantly race, but also class and gender to a significant extentb. Conditions that decide whether or not whether or not the crime is acceptedi. Seriousness of crime committedii. Complaints of the crime’s preferenceiii. Relational distance to and from the victim to the offender1. i-iii all have extreme variance based on social demographics, and the way that the accused is perceivediv. deference (behavior with cop)ii. Statistical enforcement by Law Enforcement officials1. Recategorizing the offense 2. “slate cleaning”a. Making an arrestb. Measure of effectiveness (CCA)c. Appearing to be offering results and progress, making the area safer, it increases the CCA, thus making the effectiveness seem higheriii. Political process1. Recourse allocationa. When people are running for offices, they may view the hype the fear of crime, and use that to dictate their recourse allocation and put more money into the CJS2. Prioritization by (especially) othersa. People support the decision to have increased numbers of police and regulation, if it means they are saferIII. Fear of Crime & Crime Mythsa. UCR Biases- feed into the image of what/who is a criminali. Noting that the UCR is biased, and that biases away from actual criminals and crimes committed by people who do not fit the stereotypical crime profileii. Racialized/Classed1. Patterns of how something is organizes and established are based on meanings of race/meanings of class, whether or not that is intentional2. This moves away from white collar crimes, allowing more people to engage in these crimesa. While interracial crimes are often a point of fear for peoplebecause of the way that black people are stereotyped, many fear them unfairly; however, the majority of interracial crime is not committed by people of colorb. Since these aren’t in the UCR, it adds to the racialization of crimeiii. Gendered1. Women are often not seen as criminal, and if they are found to have committed a crime, it is often masculinizeda. People from colored races and lower socioeconomic statusare often targeted far more than upper/middle class white women, because they are usually seen as less feminine and easier to target for arrests2. The idea of stranger danger affects the acceptance of crime and where it comes froma. Most victimization towards women occurs from intimates, yet the idea that women should be more afraid of strangers affects how they interactiv. All are applicable to the fear of crime, and lead to crime myths1. False beliefs regarding crime2. Interaction between fear and myths, and how they feed back into each otherb. Introduction to prevalence and relevance i. Most have no firsthand knowledge, yet everyone thinks they know about crime and criminalsii. Thus, the fear of crime is the #2 fear across America (right after the fear of terrorism)1. There is a distorted view of crime in the media, particularly violentcrimeiii. Social construction of fear: we shape it 1. Eg. social problems and moral panicsiv. “unholy trinity”Fear of crime Media Mythsv. Each feeds into the other; positively correlated with one’s placement in the