Crime in America

Essay by ashleighwHigh School, 11th grade October 2007

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Crime is defined as an act or the commission of an act that is forbidden or the omission of a duty that is commanded by a public law and that makes the offender liable to punishment by that law. The United States has laws to protect all of it citizens and their rights as citizens. When someone commits a crime citizen's public safety is at a minimum. To prevent this from occurring we have the government to enforce these laws. Even though we would like to always prevent crimes from happening they still happen too often.

For some facts: Every two minutes, somewhere in America, someone is sexually assaulted. In 2002, there were a total of 4,854 cases of aggravated assault in Washington D.C. This calculates to an average of 13 aggravated assaults a day. In Maryland, there were 3,228 cases of larceny and thefts per 100,000 people. In Detroit, there were 42 murders per 100,000 people.

Sadly, nearly one-third of American women report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives. On average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in our country everyday. In 2000, 1,247 women were killed by an intimate partner. That same year only 440 men were killed by an intimate partner. In school and youth violence approximately one in five female high school students reports being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner. Then, eight percent of high school age girls said "yes" when asked, "if a boyfriend or date has ever forced sex against their will."School violence, when surveyed from 1992 to 1999, school-aged children were at least 70 times more likely to be murdered away from school that they were to be murdered at school. This meant that there...