Assignment:
If the neighborhood or area that one lives in is closely related to one's likelihood of being involved in crime, it would seem that the neighborhood environment is directly correlated with crime. However, there are many citizens who live in high-crime and impoverished areas and refrain from committing crimes.
- Provide your opinion about the rates of violence (murder, aggravated assault, rape, robbery) in the United States, and compare them to at least 2 other industrialized countries (such as Canada, England, or Germany).
- If you find that the rates are much higher or much lower, why do you think this is true?
- Discuss some of the difficulties you have experienced when comparing crime rates across countries.
- Describe some of the social and economic factors that differentiate the United States from other countries.
- Which of these do you think has influenced the rates of violence the most? Why?
- Discuss some of the potential reasons for the United States’ high violence rate in comparison to other industrialized countries.
- Discuss which criminological theories (such as, but not limited to, social deviance, classical theory, differential association, positivism, social structure, and control theory) may be used to explain the United States' high rate of violence.
- In your opinion, why do you think some individuals within low-crime neighborhoods commit crimes while many in high-crime areas refrain from crime?
- Does this suggest that the environment has little impact on an individual’s criminal behavior? Explain.