Criminal Justice
Below are a series of questions designed to reinforce the materials that we have discussed in class and that you have read about in the book. The assignment is worth a total of five (5) points. All work should be conducted individually, meaning you are not to team up with others to complete the questions.
If you share answers, or if you work with another student, you will receive a score of zero (0) on the assignment, you will fail the course, I may file academic charges against you, and you may be expelled from the program. Successfully completing this assignment will help to prepare you for the second exam. Answers will be graded on breadth, depth, and accuracy and partial credit will be awarded at my discretion. Providing incorrect information or not answering the question to its full potential will, of course, adversely affect your grade. All answers must be type-written.
You have been put in charge of presenting the results of a study evaluating the effectiveness of a new law on crime. It is your responsibility to 1) briefly discuss the new law and 2) briefly discuss how you plan on evaluating the effectiveness of the new law. Then, you must present the results of your study (using hypothetical data/numbers/statistics that you have created) based on the content covered in your book.
Sample Answer
The New Law on Combating Crimes
There is extensive evidence that well-designed crime prevention strategies lower crime and victimization while simultaneously improving community safety and contributing to long-term development. Everyone’s quality of life is improved by adequate and appropriate crime prevention. In the long term, it will save money by reducing the costs of the formal justice system and other social costs associated with crime. The government has passed new regulations to assist in the fight against crime, including requiring all institutions, enterprises, and facilities inside public areas, such as offices, hospitals, universities, restaurants and pubs, shopping malls, residential residences, and hotels to install CCTV cameras.
According to the law, owners of different institutions will be obligated to provide raw footage captured by their CCTV cameras to the ministry every three months. The government also requires that the cameras be put in all public spaces around the nation. The CCTVs that have been installed will need to be registered with the appropriate authorities. The owners will be expected to ensure that the cameras are operating full time and to be able to notify any malfunctions as soon as they occur. They will also be expected to report to the appropriate authorities any security-related incidents filmed by the cameras. If found guilty in a court of law, failure to comply with the policy might result in the closure of enterprises, penalties, and possibly a prison term. The government assured privacy by stating that only authorized individuals would access the system and recorded video. Police have utilized footage gathered from CCTV cameras to identify criminal suspects and offer as evidence in specific court cases.
Evaluating the Effectiveness of the New Law
The reasoning behind employing public surveillance systems to prevent crime is that if prospective criminals know they are being monitored and are at a higher risk of being apprehended, they will stop committing crimes. Law-abiding residents will feel safer due to the cameras, which will encourage them to utilize public places as informal guardians and prospective witnesses. Proponents of cameras argue that by notifying police of crimes and possibly dangerous locations as they transpire and providing critical information that may help officers choose the best course of action, CCTV cameras should be prioritized as the most effective means to enforce the law. Surveillance film that catches unlawful conduct and exposes offenders and witnesses may help in criminal prosecutions, improving police and prosecutorial efficiency and discouraging a higher proportion of criminals from committing a crime in the future (Bachman & Schutt, 2020).
According to a study done before the law is implemented, there is proof that CCTV decreases crime to a significant level and hence should be used. It is especially effective in lowering crime in car parks, retail malls, social settings, and residential neighborhoods. Drug offenses, vehicle crimes, and property crimes all saw considerable drops. CCTV was shown to be more successful when it included active monitoring of live footage, had more excellent camera coverage, and was used in conjunction with numerous complementing interventions like street lighting. Stakeholders involved in the deployment and usage of cameras overwhelmingly evaluated them positively, demonstrating that they are an effective crime control tool when incorporated into other law enforcement actions. While critics say that technology shifts criminality, they point out that this shift was predicted and avoided.
Reference
- Bachman, R., & Schutt, R.K. (2020). The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice (7th Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sag
