The prison population in the U.S. has quadrupled within the last 15 years, with high rates of recidivism. Using material from the readings and on-line sources, provide an explanation for why this is so. Support your arguments and cite your sources.
Identify the problems associated with prosecuting white-collar offenders. Include specific examples of these problems from current affairs. Suggestion: Look at articles in the daily newspaper.
The so called “War on Drugs” has persisted despite evidence that it is not effective. Relying on the texts, and any other sources, provide an explanation for this. As part of your explanation, make use of the concept “moral panic” (used in both texts). In understanding this phenomenon, is this consensus or conflict model of crime more useful? Support your choice.
4. Brown et.al. present riding a motorcycle without a helmet as a “prototypic victimless crime” and discuss the arguments and counter arguments in the debate about this issue. Pick another so called victimless crime and show how the arguments and counter-arguments are similar and how different from those in the helmet debate. How do the laws and enforcement policies concerning your chosen victim-less crime fare when evaluated using the criteria offered by Herbert Packer?
You have spent a good deal of time exploring the ways in which theories of crime and criminality are developed and used in society. For this assignment, you should pick one of the types of crime presented in Unit 8, and examine it critically in terms of the underlying social assumptions we have about this type of crime. You should then offer the theoretical explanation (or explanations) that you feel would best describe why people involve themselves in this crime, and then offer a social program that you feel would work to decrease involvement in this crime. You can choose any of the theories covered in the text throughout the course.
Section 1: The type of crime you have selected, and what aspect of that crime you choose to address (e.g. “economic crimes”- “robbery”).
Section 2: The underlying social assumptions about this crime (i.e., the social construction of our view of this crime) in contemporary U.S. society.
Section 3: The theoretical model that best explains this particular crime. Show in detail, how and why this model best explains your chosen type of crime. Are there aspects of this model which do not work or could be explained better using another model? Are there other theories that have been used? If so, show why you think your choice is the best.
Section 4: This section involves two parts: A. Describe the social program that you feel would work best to lower involvement (or discourage further involvement) in this type of crime. You are not limited in this area to prevention, although that is certainly an option; i.e., you may focus on deterrence, incapacitation, etc.. Be specific —describe the suitable participants, the actual mechanisms of control or treatment, length of involvement, etc.
In your essay you should show how your proposed program is:
1) informed by or is consistent with explanations found in the theoretical model chosen in Section 3 above, and;
2) explain how your program is or is not consistent with the main tenets of “Peacemaking Criminology” covered in the previous Unit. Make sure you provide enough information so your reader understands these tenets. If you feel your proposal is consistent with these tenants, explain why you think it is. If you feel that your ideal program is not consistent with these ideas, show the reader how it differs and justify your choice to ignore the Peacemaking approach in your proposed program. Provide all the details you need to make your case.
