Crime Is An Act Committed Or Omitted Within Violation Of...

Chapter Nine Summary â€Å"Crime is an act committed or omitted in violation of the law (Zastrow, 2014)†. Crime is a serious problem in the United States and the majority feel the criminal justice system is ineffective in slowing it down. Our laws are put into place according to the social norms and values of the time, therefore, they change according to societal changes. Everyone violates laws at different times of their lives, but most people aren’t caught or their violations are minimal. The people most likely to be arrested for crimes are young males, especially men of color, poor people and city residents. This isn’t because these people commit more crimes, they are just more likely to be profiled, stopped, arrested and have charges pursued against them. White collar and organized crime is just as common, but charges and convictions against these criminals is rare, or older, suburban white men would be the most common criminals. It is impossible to collect a ccurate crime statistics on the amount of crime that takes place since much of it goes unreported and many charges are pled down in court or not prosecuted at all. The police are focused on pursuing specific types of crime and courts spend more time enforcing those cases, making those crimes statistically higher. White collar crimes cause the most financial damage to society and have the largest number of victims, yet police and courts aren’t that interested in enforcing or convicting these criminals. Another