Crime and Criminal Justice

This blog will be focused on crime and criminal justice. Crime can be defined as behavior prohibited by the criminal law because it is considered to be especially harmful or offensive. But how does crime tie into the sociological perspectives? There is different theories regarding crime for each of the perspectives. Looking at the functionalism perspective, there is social disorganization and anomie. Social disorganization suggests that certain social characteristics like poverty, population, dilapidation, etc. contribute to high crime rates. Anomie proposes that crime by the poor results from a gap between the cultural emphasis on economic success and the inability to achieve such success. Conflict perspective theories include group conflict, radical, and feminist. These theories give the idea that crime can be the result of social groups, wealth, and gender. The symbolic theories provide the ideas of differential association, labeling, and social bonding.

Looking at the NCVS Crime Dashboard, I'll be analyzing and focusing in the trends within violent victimization by race and Hispanic origin from 2002 to 2024. Overall, across most groups violent victimization decreased from the early 2000s into the mid 2010s, then leveled off or slightly increased in recent years. Based on the graphs, American Indian/Alaska Native populations have the highest rates, Asian populations have the lowest. We can also see that White, Black, and Hispanic groups show similar moderate levels by the 2010s-2020s. This also has Black rates starting off higher but decreasing over time. While the data does show a general decline in violent victimization over time, there is recognizable differences between racial and ethnic groups. 


The nonprofit organization I chose this week is Nana's House. Their mission is to provide a safe, secure, and loving home for neglected, abused, needy, or abandoned children 0-19 years old. They work to provide housing, utilities, transportation, clothes, schools needs, toys, etc. They currently have a gated community with eight homes, housing 5 children and 2 parents each. This organization has helped hundreds of children since their establishment in 2009, and will continue to help hundreds more!

https://nanaschildrenshome.com/


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