War Crime Strials

Race & Crime

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:05:24 +0000

The History of Crime and Race

The historical definition of race was an unchallengeable and was a distinctive form, sharing distinct racial uniqueness such as establishment, disposition, and psychological abilities. These races were not conceived as being related with each other, but formed a chain of command of intrinsic value with the Europeans usually at the top.The late twentieth century is seeing a rise in racial conflict in the United States as well as on the universal stage in a broad-spectrum. This increase of abhorrence based on the differences between humans includes a concept that has come to be called anti-Semitism, which is defined normally as a detestation of Jewish people and the fundamentals of their culture. Such anti-Semitism has been manifest in the newly reunified Germany, where anti-Semitism is seen as especially treacherous given the chronological milieu in which these procedures seize place. The evidence within the anthropological literature seems to point to the Jews who do not fall into any definition of the term “race” when race is defined along anthropological or biological limits.

Regrettably, it is this very similar race-based nationalism that is recurring in Germany, the United States, and other nations around the world these days that still influence race and crime. Acquaintance of the past and of the very temperament of individual life can be used to avoid a reliving of persecution on a mass scale. In the United States of America Black/White race relationships tend to endow with as a lightning rod for most issues pertaining to race. This is in large part due to our exclusive history. But changing away from this contracted focal point, to race relations in general, highlights a common issue – the role of those at the top of the racial pyramid: Whites and the perpetuation of global White dominance. The moment of awareness for many Whites that White Privilege exists is often a genuinely uncomfortable one. While the arrogance and sense of superiority that some experience is nothing more than a byproduct of racism and racial hierarchy. Yet, we all become heir to consciousness of this common order. In all era children turn four, they are sentient of race and racial stereotypes. White children come into an intellect of superiority, a confidence and conviction that they are the model and norms of society, that all others are unlike them which make them different, and that different is bad. Children of color learn that they are not the right color and that it is better to be White. Although most Whites are conscious of and could even give graphic representation of racial hierarchy – inserting Whites at the top, Asians following them, Latinos and Native Americans behind that, and Blacks at the foot – they infrequently suffer the pessimistic implications of race, and therefore, they hardly ever think about their decisions, belief, and events that may be based on their assumptions about race.

The history of the United States is one in which people who are considered “white” have dominated the justice system; there were more white judges, lawyers, and prosecutors, which represented the legal system. In the 20th century was when a few more minorities started to be represented in the legal process of the justice system. Regardless of how many centuries there is a diverse population in the United States. There are many countries of origin that have remained an important aspect of a person’s identity in the United States. Though race is not a scientific term, it remains a powerful social influence regarding criminal investigations. Historical views returns to the encounters of African Americans under slavery Jim Crow laws and so many other discriminative acts.

In addition, when examining crime and race one can have a long hypothetical correlation between the two. Race synonymously functions with crime. The relationship between race and crime has been a focus and concern among sociologists and criminologists since the beginning of the disciplines in America. There are many racial and ethnic minorities in the United States who have consistently been associated with higher rates of crimes. It would appear that since the beginning of time, most of the “crime groups” have been the newly immigrated populations in the United States. Many groups such as Hispanics and African Americans living in impoverished “ghetto” neighborhoods are subject to police attention, and are overly represented in court dockets, jail and prison, media reporting crime, and street crime victims. Despite the fact that with race and criminal research for the past decades some have ignored the connection with race and crime, nonetheless, there are also reasons to consider race difference by crime.

The history of race and crime have shown concerns for racial profiling, for instance the police stops a motorist may be unfairly treated based on their race or cultural background. Profiling was a policing practice in many states such as New York and New Jersey because police were focusing on certain suspicious behavior, appearance, incidences likely to have criminal connections or a match to a crime patterns. There are existing statistics that found that males, especially the minority youths, were more commonly connected to crime and this caused police to pay much attention to this group. Police profiling is known to maximize the accuracy of the police work as well as their safety, it has been abused. The tendency to patrol high crime areas and neighborhoods, several are in or relatively close to minority residential areas, which led many to assume that the police were “profiling” blacks. In addition, a disproportionate of large number of young black males were been pulled over by police, and were accused of “driving while black” or what is know to be racial profiling. Colored individuals in the United States is lead to assume that many young men were pulled over and harrested because of the color of their skin, but not for any violation or criminal offense of the legal system. These cases of racial profiling and harassment continue to prevail throughout the 1990s. Figures cited from the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics, stated those 7,083 youths younger than 18 were held in jails in 2004, and a total of 59% were blacks, 28% whites, and 11% Hispanics. Needless, to say the adults were charged much more severe.

Roles Play in Race and Crime
For much of the 21st century crime have provided a vast amount racial divide in America. In recent history both the school system and the criminal justice system can now be considered an active cause of racial inequities. The paradox of race and crime persist and the disparities worsen. The roles and function of the justice system in a democratic society should include peacemaking, law enforcement and service, modeling styles of excellent behavior, equal education, but yet that is not so. There are reports that have built extensive results that indicate that black youth receive different treatment in the United States criminal juvenile justice system. In some reports to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the United States Department of Justice, majority of the states has reported data which proved the unbalanced trend of minority youth. Minority youth continues to be at a disadvantage in the justice system, when compared to whites because of the unequal treatment as it pertains to petitioning, detentions and dispositions.

Inspiration in the Justice System

The past 50 years there have been court cases that inspired the civil rights movement, such as the due process reform movement and more. Minorities are no longer denied bail without legal representation. However, the past 30 years the criminal justice system has continue to focus on young African American males in inner city and low-income community. Studies have shown that the difference in communities where blacks and whites live, explain race and crime differences. Communities that are racially separated seem to have high concentrations of poverty. The junction poverty can with race and crime in certain community is part of the problem (The 2001 Current Population Survey report from the U.S. Census Bureau called “Poverty in the United States” says that in 2001, the poverty rate was 7.8 percent for non-Hispanic whites, 22.7 percent for blacks and 21.4 percent for Hispanic). It would appear that studies that analyzes racial profiling and crime, indicates that there is an extensive relationship between criminal violence and an area’s racial composition.

In conclusion, a large body of information has been evident on race and crime and its effect at all stage in the criminal justice system, some find direct discrimination in the justice system while others find various variables as factors. Without a doubt there is compelling evidence that discrimination with race and crime continue to exist in the justice system today.
Further Readings

Crime in Camden, America’s Most Dangerous City

admin — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:24:20 +0000

Despite its small population of just 70,0000 inhabitants, Camden (NJ) has been in the top 10 of America’s most dangerous cities for more than half a century with just some rare gaps. In fact crime rate in Camden rarely subsided too much since the time the city picked up its infamous criminal background reputation in 1949. That was the year when an unemployed Howard Unruh murdered 13 people in 12 minutes, having thus set the sad record of killing as many people in as little time – more than one per minute! – and becoming the first known single-episode mass murderer in the USA’s modern history.

If you review the city’s only recent years history of crime and violence, then total of 7,639 serious crimes were reported to Camden police in 2000. In 2002 the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report cited Camden, New Jersey, to have put on record 607 cases of robbery and 797 cases of aggravated assault, nearly double the national average.

The 2004 crime statistics ranked Camden, New Jersey, as the nation’s highest crime rate city, up from the third place in 2003. Those rankings took into account a city’s crime rate for crime categories covering 6 basic crimes such as murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft. In 2004 Camden experienced an increase in every category over the same criminal statistics in 2003. Specifically, the murder rate was cited almost 9 times the national average of 5.7 per 100,000. The privately funded research in 2004 compared 354 cities with the population starting from 75,000 residents.

“We must give our people jobs, training and opportunity,” said City Council Member Ali Sloan-El while talking before the public in 2005. The official then identified Camden’s poverty and unemployment as the most important factors feeding the community’s high crime rate. According to the Prosecutor’s Office Camden also got then a position in the list of America’s poorest cities.

Nonetheless, the year 2005 used to be seen by the Police and City Counsel as inspiring some valid hopes for the public safety improvement due to many police measures taken. Really, the start of the year 2005, from January to March, saw 24 percent decline in crime in Camden, providing more reason for the community optimism at the time than ever before.The city officials announced start of the program aimed to implement a proven aggressive crime-fighting technique called “crime mapping”.

They were hoping to follow Newark, the other former violent crime rate leader in America that had started off with similar project in 1996. The “crime mapping” pattern implemented in Newark was able to result in truly dramatic 43 percent reduction in reported crime as quickly as already by 1998. There was no reason doubting the same scheme would work for Camden too, the more so that according to the Inc. Magazine, early in 2004 the city of Camden had been ranked #6 out of 277 biggest cities as the most promising place to do business in. The unseen flow of investments that had started literally pour into the city’s infrastructure was expected to end up with poverty and unemployment and resolve the city’s major crime problems. Even if no expert or analyst expected any immediate results and hoped only for long-term improvements, the hope still persisted.

Three years have passed since then. So, what do we see now?

By the end of the year 2008 Camden did report some noticeable decline in violent crimes, such as aggravated assaults, assaults with firearms, and thefts. From the other hand 48 homicides were reported, exceeding 42 in 2007. The first six months of the current year produced so mane fatalities and serious bodily injuries that Camden risked to break its own 12 years old record of 58 homicides reported in 1995.

Even if some improvement did take place, the progress was not even nearly close to what was expected in the year 2005. Sad thing to say, but Camden keeps holding firmly its reputation of the city drowning in street violence. In an attempt to keep control over the situation the Police try to make more arrests for minor offenses such as public drinking, playing loud music, loitering that all belong to the so-called quality-of-life offenses. These arrests are intended to prevent criminal offenses of more serious nature and to serve as a sort of warning for potential felons. But do they?

This current tactics pursued by the police of Camden during the last 2 months starting the end of October 2008 seem to spread public skepticism as for it’s effectiveness. Citizens wonder if police expect to prevent street shootings, acts of homicide or drug-trafficking by arresting people for loitering. The fines imposed on the arrested for loitering are what many of them can’t afford to pay, while getting record of having been arrested or issued warrants start showing up in pre-employment background check reports, making it harder for subjects to find jobs, if not reducing the very possibility of getting employed to the next minimum.

Crime Scene Reconstruction – Rebuilding the Scene of a Crime

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:09:18 +0000

When crime scene investigators are called to the scene of a crime, the first thing they do upon their arrival is a walk-through examination in which CSI’s get a feel for the scene and organize an approach to collecting evidence. After doing a walk-through the CSI starts to formulate a theory of the crime. This involves focusing on the likely sequence of events and the places and positions of each person present during the crime. The following information may be crucial in finding out the truth of a suspect or the credibility of a witness:

Shoeprints may disclose the offender’s steps. Fingerprints may be indicative of the things the offender touched. Physical changes that occur in a corpse may be indicative of whether the corpse was moved moments after or several hours following death. Blood spatters, the angle and severity of blows and stabs, bullet trajectories, and the nature of the victim’s injuries can disclose the absolute and relative positions of the attacker, victim, and anybody else who was there during the crime. Tool markings may indicate the places of entry or where safes or locked drawers are forced open.

The CSI scrutinizes every piece of physical evidence to determine whether it backs up his hypothesis considering the information not only gathered at the scene, but also from the forensic laboratory, medical report of findings of anybody who was hurt, and the results of the medical examiner’s autopsy. Any piece of information that stands out or does not support his hypothesis of the crime must be reconciled. Otherwise, he must reformulate his theory. As more evidence surfaces, the rebuilding of the crime scene continues to evolve.

The criminal investigator constantly tests any new theories against the evidence and avoids making any personal assumptions, no matter how logical they may appear. An investigator may logically conclude that a piece of evidence ended up being at a particular location because of the offender’s actions, but if the hard evidence does not support his theory, the theory still remains in question.

If a knife is found outside the living room window of a house where a homicide occurred, the logical thinking suggests that the attacker dropped the knife on his way out. Even though that is certainly possible, without hard evidence, it would be difficult to rule out other possibilities. This only raises the possibility that the knife had been dumped there in a last-ditch effort to make a domestic homicide look like a murder committed by a burglar whom the victim supposedly caught while perpetrating a crime. Evidence such as the husband’s fingerprints on the knife or the wife’s blood on the husband’s shoes may revise that theory. Criminal investigators will not be able to arrive at any absolute conclusions until all the evidence from rebuilding the crime scene is considered and explained.