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Crime and Violence
Click on each question to check your answer.
1. What are social disorganization theory and strain theory?
Answer: Social disorganization theory says that crime is the result of a breakdown in social integration. It is based on the work of Durkheim, which says that rapid social change results in social disorganization, which creates a loss in social cohesion. Strain theory, also a functionalist approach, looks at social inequality. They see all groups of people, regardless of what their social means are, as wanting certain ends. While some groups can use wealth to get what they want, others revert to violence as they see no other path to attaining the desired value.
2. Why do you think that Indigenous people are more likely to engage in criminal activities, and as a result, be incarcerated?
Answer: Like some other ethnic groups, Indigenous people are mostly poor, and poverty drives them to crime. Racially prejudiced law enforcement system is also responsible for this.
3. How does crime affect the economy?
Answer: It is through spending on law enforcement, the criminal court system and the correctional system. The number of police officers has risen steadily over the past 10 years. Police service spending increased by 43 per cent during this decade.
4. Why do we have an inaccurate idea of how much violent crime is committed each year?
Answer: It is challenging to measure crime because both police reporting and self-reporting are not completely accurate. This is in part due to difficulty with “secondary-victimization,” concerns over increased suffering at the hands of the judicial system. As noted in the chapter, all forms of statistics on victimization are flawed in one way or another.
5. What is white-collar crime and which forms does it take?
Answer: White-collar crimes are crimes committed by white-collar workers during work. This type of crime falls into two categories: business crimes and corporate/suite crimes. White-collar crimes hurt millions of people. Fraud is one common example of corporate crime. Fraud can take the form of falsified account books and insider trading.