Crime in the United States

Essay by huck88College, UndergraduateA+, April 2004

download word file, 2 pages 5.0

Since the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, we have become more fearful of crime than ever before. The groups that are more fearful of crime are typically not the groups that are the most victimized. Our nation, as a whole, needs to implement more ways to reduce the fear of crime that we have. These ways can begin as close as our own homes.

According to the 2002 Department of Justice summary findings of victim characteristics, the people most likely to become victims of violent crime are single low income African-Americans and Hispanics, ages 12 to 24 that are living in urban areas. The people most likely to become victims of property crimes are also low income African-American and Hispanics living in low-income urban areas. But the difference is that the age group jumps from 12 to 24 and moves to the elderly.

People with the greatest fear of crime in our nation are, for the most part, the same as the actual victims.

This group is comprised of mostly females, African-Americans and Hispanics, those over 30, low income, and living in urban areas.

The correlation between the two groups is that they are made up of mostly African-Americans and Hispanics living in low income, urban areas.

There are many ways to reduce our fear of crime. Most of them can be done right in our own backyard. Teaching good values to our children at a young age may be able to stop crime before it even starts. We can also utilize the school and church programs to help instill good values in our children and help to keep them off of the streets.

As a community, there are various programs that can be taken advantage of to help reduce our fear of crime and can actually...