Replies
snakeater50
W8_Replies.docxRunning head: RESPONSES 1
RESPONSES 2
Samual,
The Broken Windows Theory was created by James Q. Wilson and George Killing in 1982. This theory was used as a metaphor to fixed the issues within the neighborhoods dealing with crimes.
The original name for this theory was Criminological Theory; which dealt with the states visible signs of misdemeanors and felony crimes that were being committed. This theory also viewed the anti-social behavior and civil disorder that was created in the urban areas. Intern, this theory changed the way policing was done in preventing crimes from being committed.
The Broken Windows Theory would help in the community where I stay. Because the community works together and lookout for each other, when things does not look right or if something is suspicious in the area, whether it a person or a vehicle. The citizens in the community will call 911 and they do invite law enforcement to the neighborhood watch meetings for their concern on any issue they might have, such as a lot of entering auto happening in the area. This will prompt law enforcement to patrol the area more, plus the area will be put on what we call the Beat Watch List. This list all local agencies gets and they are able to patrol the areas if they are on patrol too.
Prompt 2
These last eight weeks was a refresher for me, because the course is in line with my career as a police officer. There the criminal justice system need to be revamp all together. I feel the strengths are they are trying to get the justice system where it needs to be. The weakness the justice system is not really being proactive, they would whether wait until something goes wrong or case law is made before they react.
Aaron,
Discussion Prompt #1 - The Broken Windows concept was initially called the "Safe and Clean Neighborhoods Program", and was started in the mid-70's in New Jersey. It would later be developed into the Broken Windows Theory we know it by today in 1982 by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling. At it's most basic and fundamental description, the theory poses that "broken windows", a metaphor for several different types of social community decay, as well as physical deterioration of the physical structures within a community, would lead to an increase in crime. If the community didn't care about it's appearance, or didn't act to address the informal social controls of alleviating disorder in the neighborhood, then criminals would exploit that condition, and commit crime.
My neighborhood is a middle-class neighborhood, filled with most prominently middle-aged white residents, with some that are quite older. The neighbors do an above average job of maintaining their properties, with a few exceptions, of course. The Broken Windows Theory essentially holds true here, although, we do have spatterings of low-level and petty crime throughout the area. Surprisingly, we have had some shooting activity very near our home, but it has always been tied directly to one house in the neighborhood. The family is hispanic, the mother is single, and she is raising several teenaged boys who run amuck. We also have a home across the street where we suspect they are running an illegal grow house for marijuana. There are people coming in and out of that house at all hours of the day and night, and they don't live there. Aside from these random major crime issues, there are quite a few young kids who are caught late at night on Ring doorbell cameras breaking into vehicles.
Discussion Prompt #2 - I have learned a great deal in this class, and some of my previously held beliefs about crime have been enforced. I have always, and still do, hold our form of justice in high regard. While not extremely efficient in some cases, like capital punishment cases, for the most part I believe it is a fair system. I was slightly dissmayed, although not entirely surprised, to learn about the numerous ways in which discrimination plays into the system. As I suggested in one of my papers for this class, we often think of discrimination in the "racial" sense first and most often, but there are many other ways in which it is revealed. Some of those ways are clearly discriminatory, others, I believe are more an example of fairness, or the lack thereof.
---------------------------------------------REPLY--------------------------------------------------
Samuel,
I concur with you regarding the actions that should be taken to reduce recidivism in the society. The rationale behind my concurrence is based on the fact that you comprehend the critical causes of recidivism; you present various measures that should reduce cases of recidivism. Ideally, ex-prisoners usually find themselves in jail again for repeating the offenses they had been jailed for due to a range of reasons (Caldwell, 2016). First, punishing criminals with less consideration on the issue that led the criminal to commit a crime will not help the person that much. Addressing the cause of the criminal act will be very instrumental in instilling some positive change in the person. The causes may be drug and substance abuse, lack of an alternative way to earn a living, or peer pressure (Hanson et. al., 2016). These would need to be addressed by instilling transformative and rehabilitative measures.
References
Caldwell, M. F. (2016). Quantifying the decline in juvenile sexual recidivism rates. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 22(4), 414. Retrieved from: DOI: 10.1037/law0000094
Hanson, R. K., Thornton, D., Helmus, L. M., & Babchishin, K. M. (2016). What sexual recidivism rates are associated with Static-99R and Static-2002R scores?. Sexual Abuse, 28(3), 218-252. Retrieved from: doi: 10.1177/1079063215574710. Epub 2015 Mar 25.
