The crime rate in US compared to that of 1970 has decreased drastically. The overall rate of serious crime in the United States is at a 20-year low. The murder rate is lower than in the 1970s. In New York City, it is as low as in the 1960s. Not by coincidence, the likelihood that a criminal will be punished for a serious crime is higher today than it has been since the 1970s. Most offenders are not mentally deranged. And most crimes are not irrational acts. Instead, people who often compare the expected benefits to the expected costs freely commit criminal acts. This all begins at an early age at schools. If young men (who commit most of the crime in our country) succeed in school and are not stopped eventually gain constructive employment, drug abuse, violence, and crime can be averted. This however can be prevented by proper parental care and education because if a plant is cut off from its roots it does not have any chance to grow back. Parental education includes encouraging male children to be more nurturing, less aggressive and more verbal in their response to anger and conflict. This could help in socializing boys away from violence. Communities that provide constructive after school or summer programs and activities are also filling a need for young men who have a lot of time on their hands with nothing productive to do.
Political Activists are another important factor that give rise to crime rates. There is always a constant struggle between the people in government on who gets what power. All want more power but not everyone can get power that they want. This is even truer for the branches as a whole. Congress wants power so that they are the dominant force on Capitol Hill but the President not wanting to be outdone also wants enough power to control Washington. So there is a constant give and take battle between these two groups as to who gets more power. This battle however proves fatal for the followers of both parties enabling them to perform crimes like political murders etc. these “ruffians” then roam in the city as if it was theirs and do what ever they want legal or illegal. Because they are of a political group and politicians support them, the security cops are not able to perform their duty fully. Therefore the main root of the problem is the power struggle between the political parties and needs to be resolved.
In recent years the likelihood of going to prison for committing any type of major crime has increased, as has the amount of prison time served. In response to this development, people are committing fewer crimes since 1993. The murder rate has dropped 30 percent, as the probability of going to prison for murder has risen 53 percent. Rape has decreased 14 percent, as the probability of prison has increased 12 percent. Robbery has decreased 29 percent, as the probability of prison has increased 28 percent. Aggravated assault has decreased 14 percent, as the probability of prison has increased 27 percent. Burglary has decreased 18 percent, as the probability of prison has increased 14 percent.
Moreover, once in prison criminals are staying there longer. Compared to the 1980s, the median prison sentence served by prisoners released in the 1990s has risen for every category of serious crime except aggravated assault. The best overall measure of the potential cost to a criminal of committing crimes is "expected punishment." Roughly speaking, expected punishment is the number of days in prison a criminal can expect to serve per crime, as determined by the probabilities of being apprehended, prosecuted, convicted and going to prison, and the median sentence for each crime. Between 1980 and 1996, expected punishment: for murder increased dramatically from 13 months to 37 months, for rape nearly tripled to 119 days, for robbery increased by half to 52 days, for serious assault nearly doubled to 13 days, for burglary doubled from 4 days to 8 days, for larceny/theft increased significantly to 1.1 day and for motor vehicle theft rose 70 percent to 2.1 days.
Evidence shows that potential criminals respond to incentives. Crime increases when expected punishment declines, and vice versa. Between 1950 and 1980, expected punishment for crimes of violence and burglary declined more-or-less continuously from an average of seven weeks for every serious crime committed to only 10 days an 80 percent drop. In response, the serious crime rate more than quadrupled during those years. In the 1980s, expected punishment began to increase, accompanied by the leveling off and then a decline in the serious crime rate.
The odds of imprisonment for a serious offense increased in the late 1980s and 1990s as legislators responded to the public's "enough is enough" attitude. The result has been a decreasing national crime rate. To build on this trend, we must continue raising the odds of imprisonment, making crime less attractive for potential criminals. However that is not always the case. The courts can also go wild on whom they send to jail. Rather than trying to rehabilitate criminals and thinking that laws are to eradicate crime not criminals, they just hope that they will learn they’re lesson through they’re time in jail. This is not always the case. “Nationally, nearly 70 percent of ex-prisoners are re-arrested within three years of their release from prison” (Operation Starting Line Newsroom).
Furthermore even though there are laws present, other laws are put into place that would allow unusual punishments to be administered. “A career criminal was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison under California's three-strikes law for stealing $11 worth of wine, lip balm and breathe freshener” (CNN.com). This three-strike rule states that a mandatory 25 years to life sentence must be handed down if someone already convicted of two felony crimes had committed the crime.
Many cruel forms of Capital Punishment and other punishments are still part of the law in many states. Eighteen states in the U.S. still have the option to use electrocution, gas, hangings, or firing squad as possible forms of the death penalty. When these forms of capital punishments were first put to use, they were considered the most humane methods at the time. But since then, have become obsolete. Luckily for Americans, our right to humane punishments is protected by the eighth amendment to the constitution. “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted” (authors of the Constitution).
These, along with several other facts, are why we need to make sure that our society is clean of any kind of cruel and unusual punishment. But we cannot always trust our government to make sure that laws that would infringe of our rights given to us by the amendments to the United States Constitution. We must always be aware of the laws that are being passed in our area to make sure that they are not in violation on our rights.
If we prevent ourselves from crime, the superhero perched near the top of the waterfall, will be able to divert the swimmers and boaters to a safer turn in the river. He would remain watchful, keeping people from pushing others down the steep cliff. He would still need to fly down to the base and rescue some that slip by him, but there would be fewer trips to the hospital, and a smaller amount of people repeating the treacherous trip down the falls.