Criminals Footsteps

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A criminals footsteps � PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT �9�

Running head: A CRIMINALS FOOTSTEPS

A criminal's footsteps

Margaret Virgo

Crime and society

SOC 305

Marty McAuliffe

May 16, 2009

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A criminal's footsteps

Crime within society has many avenues to follow. Some of these avenues lead the criminals into the hands of law enforcement, this writer will look into the paths that the criminal will walk when apprehended by the criminal justice system, how these criminals serve their time given and how they are rehabilitated to re-enter society.

Societies react in many ways to the impact of crime. Informal social control is what consists of the reactions of these individuals and groups in response to crime. "The fear of crime is widespread in the United States (Conclin, 2008)." Causing people to install security gates, locks, alarm systems and to purchase fire arms, and dogs as protection. Criminals are looked down upon and not trusted in many societies.

For instance, Serial murders are infrequent but the public's fear is still high. This fear is derived from the random unpredictable nature of serial killers. When a serial murder first occurs in a community every one looks for an explanation, and for the authorities to solve the crime. As it takes a long amount of time to solve the case the public may begin to believe that there is an evil or supernatural force at work. Occasionally Psychics are brought in to assist in the case, and if these measures don't work the killer may achieve a superhuman status in the eyes of the people. These ideas are then fed by the media, who attempt to satisfy the public with wide coverage of the case. Socially a killer at large will affect the public in three ways; Fear of the poised killer, and...