Summary
Florida is one of the states with the highest crime rate in the United States of America. Moreover, in 2010 the violence and property crimes rate in Florida was even higher than all over the country. This report is devoted to the issue of crimes in Florida. The report consists of two major parts: literature review and recommendations. Literature review part contain information on data, statistics and is aimed to outline the problem of crimes in the state. Besides, in this part I outlined the main reasons for such high crime rate. Besides, I have made a research on the issue of mass incarceration. The essay contains the research on the mass incarceration reasons and consequences. besides, I have showed its consequences on the example of a male teenager. The same example was used in the second part of the report. The point is that most of criminals begin their career when they are teenagers. Hence, it is significant to prevent repeat crimes in teen age. The second part of the report contains recommendations on preventing crimes among juveniles. To show the effectiveness of one of the methods, I have used the example of a teenage juvenile. In my opinion, Florida authorities should take such methods into account. They will help to prevent mass incarceration, as well as its consequences in the nearest future.
Introduction
Throughout human history, society tries to find the right way to deal with juvenile crimes and solve problems of children who are abandoned, left without parental care or ill-treated. In the 19th century, the United States of America began to move in the direction of important social reforms that ultimately led to big changes in the ways of solving these problems. Different states have passed laws on child labor, which protected children from abusive working conditions, laws on social assistance to children who have worked when the parents abused children and did not care about them, the laws in the field of education, which guaranteed the right of every child to receive education.
Currently, the United States does not have a unified and comprehensive juvenile justice system. Conversely, there exist at least 52 distinct and different systems. Although states are watching the actions of other states and testing their effect, each state is endowed with the prerogative to develop and implement a juvenile justice system that reflects their own traditions, needs and customs.
Many states have recognized that within the system there must be a fundamental difference - between laws aimed at protecting children from abuse, neglect and lack of care on the part of parents, and laws aimed at combating juvenile delinquency. Much of the discussion in each state has been devoted to the definition of the concept of "child." For example, it was once thought that a child under the age of seven years can not have criminal intent. Today age separating children from adults varies from one state to another and may even vary within the context of the same jurisdiction. An obvious example of this is the state in which the young person has legal capacity to contract at the age of 18 years, but not the right to buy alcohol before the age of 21 years. Each state has its own laws, defining the term "juvenile" and "adult" for purposes of the criminal law. This essay is aimed on analyzing crimes committed in Florida, as well as presenting recommendations for decreasing the number of crimes among juveniles. The essay will consist of several parts. The first part will be the literature review, in which I will provide short analysis of several significant articles and analytical papers concerning the issue of my research. Moreover, I will present data and statistical facts. The second part of the essay will contain suggestions on how to deal with juveniles at the early stages of their offending careers.
Literature Review
Florida is considered one of the states with the highest crime ration in the country. (Crime rate by state, 2011) the statistic shows that both violence and property crimes ratio in Florida is much higher than in the country:
The presented graphics show the difference between the amount of property and violence crimes in the country and in Florida. There are several reasons for such high crime ratio. First, Florida is the state where there are many Latinos. Most of them do not have job and the only way for them to survive in the country is to rob and kill. Besides, another reason is that Florida is the state where weapon selling is legally allowed and there are no strict rules for either a buyer or a seller. The research showed that last year during the Black Friday wholesale, weapon sellers did not pay much attention to the crime background check of their buyers. Third, inequality in modern society. It has been already mentioned above that there are many Hispanic Americans in Florida. They feel the inequality in society towards them. Besides, most of Hispanic Americans are poor and try to get money even illegally to get something to eat. Another reason for crimes in Florida is previous imprisonment. Some sociologists and criminologists have conducted a research and showed that those who had been imprisoned previously, had more chances to become imprisoned again. Another reason for being imprisoned is drug addiction. Most of the crimes in Florida are committed under drug influence. (Crime control in America, 2008)
Moreover, many criminals are repeat ones. Regardless the fact that one gets a stricter sentence for the second crime. Many researchers suggest that this cycle is unbreakable: people commit crimes, especially, foreigners who do not know language and, consequently, do not have a job; when a criminal is caught, he or she is imprisoned. When a criminal is released, he or she has nothing to do but to commit another crime. However, in my opinion, the cycle can be broken.
Mass incarceration in many urban neighborhoods in Florida has a bad impact on it. The point is that people are refusing to buy houses there. Hence, such neighborhoods will become empty in no time: people will be willing to sell their houses and move out of a city. On the contrary, there will no buyers for such homes. The economics of the city will fall. Mass incarcerations may badly influence not only economics, but its reputation as well. The more incarcerations and arrests are conducted in a neighborhood, the worse the neighborhood will be considered.
In the textbook “Crime control in America” the author showed that the United States of America government has been trying to decrease the level of crimes in the country from the end of the last century. The idea was to increase the amount of policemen (Crime control in America, 2008). The author of the textbook showed the reasons for crime increasing in the country. First, some say that modern justice system is too “soft”. There are several suggestion to sentence harshly, for example, to sentence to death those who have committed a murder. The second reason is that modern life is too costly. The author of the text book suggested that urbanizing, industrializing of our lives has become the reason for committing a crime by some of individuals. The third reason is that kids are afraid to become adults, face the problems of adulthood. Besides, together with two reasons mentioned below, juvenile crimes become more violent every year.
When speaking about the incarceration cycle, it is rather difficult to outline how it goes. Imagine a male teenager who comes to the United States of America from Mexico to find a better life. He does not know language, does not have occupation, some of such illegal immigrants do not have education as well. The only thing he has to do is to rob or kill to survive. He is caught and imprisoned. in some time, he is released and the situation repeats. Every year, the amount of such boys increases. The point is that it is not only boys. Boys and girls, teenagers and adults come to the United States of America to look for a better life. Moreover, it is not only about Hispanic Americans, the point is that white Americans as well as African Americans or Asian Americans commit the same crimes for the same reasons. Some think that this cycle is unbreakable. However, as it have already stated, the cycle can be broken if some measures are taken.
Summary
Florida is one of the states in the country with the highest rate of crimes. When reading news or posts in blogs, it is obvious that nowadays many people are afraid to come to Florida because of crime threat. The report was aimed on showing the influence of such high crime rate on citizens’ way of life. the report showed that the violence and property rate of crimes is higher in Florida than all over the country. there are many reasons for such a high crime rate:
- Poverty;
- Modern way of life;
- Easiness of getting a gun;
- Previous imprisonment;
- Drug addiction and others.
Besides, the research showed the reasons and consequences of mass incarceration. There are economic consequences as well as moral and consequences that will harm the district’s reputation. The incarceration cycle only seems to be a solution, however, it is not true. I have already stated that the cycle can be broken. The second part of the report will contain suggestions for officials to decrease the amount of crimes among juveniles.
Recommendations
During the transition age youth are at a very close distance from the imaginary boundary that divides our actions on legal and illegal. Attempt to assert itself, the desire to have something that is not enough money from their parents , or simply the desire to attract attention - all this often does not see such a boundary . After trials in school or district inspection juvenile some of them are starting to realize how terrible ruin their lives because of a sudden, unconsidered desires. However, there are those for whom the first violation of the law paves the way for a "new" life. In the area of criminal punishment of children under 18 years old are invited to focus on new methods of punishment, rather than the traditional ones. It is planned to carry out the following steps:
- Enter the existing Criminal mediation process, which will focus on the establishment of peace between the crime victim and the offender . The role of intermediaries will perform mediators - people trained ;
- Release of juvenile offenders from punishment. This can be achieved by changing the stiffness supervision of juvenile offenders in public services ;
- Perform special events that can affect juvenile offenders psychologically. This is necessary in order to build up their sense of responsibility for all your actions made .
- Warning or reprimand
- Transfer under the supervision of parents or persons in loco parentis, or appropriate state authority
- The imposition of the obligation to compensate the damage caused by the crime , or otherwise make amends for the harm
- Imposition of restrictions associated with leisure activities , or establishing other requirements for the behavior of the minor
- Transmission in the family , suitable for education
- An obligation to apologize to the victim ( publicly or otherwise at the discretion of the court)
- Educating a juvenile;
- Part of these measures has only formal differences to criminal penalties ( eg public works ) .
The point is that a judge, having advised with a psychologist or a social worker, will decide upon the exact measure that will be taken. These measures will help to decrease the amount of juveniles imprisoned. One of the measures, presented above, is education. When speaking about the education, it is not only learning an occupation, but finishing school. In the report, I have mentioned the example of a Hispanic teenager who came to the United States of America to look for better life. as he did not have any occupation and did not know the language, the only solution to survive in the country for him was to rob and kill. On the contrary, if he is caught and a judge will sentence him to be compulsory educated, he will learn English, finish school and get an occupation. Besides, he will need to have an advisor. The point is that the teenager appeared to be in a foreign country alone, with no friends. Moreover, his classmates may be mocking at him not only because of his race, but also because of his family’s income and the fact that he has committed a crime. Hence, an advisor can become a good help for him for some time. When he is graduated from school, an advisor may become a good friend of his family or, perhaps, help him choose his further way of life. Moreover, he may enter a college and will not commit crimes again. Many examples may be provided. However, I suggest that this one example is enough to show that the mass incarceration cycle can be broken. In my opinion, the authorities of Florida should take into account the measures I have presented in the nearest future.
Resources:
Cole D. (n.d.) Turning the corner of mass incarceration? retrieved from http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/osjcl/Articles/Volume9_1/Cole.pdf
Kennedy J. E. (2009) The Jena Six, mass incarceration, and the remoralization of Civil Rights. retrieved from http://harvardcrcl.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/477-510.pdf
Krisberg B., Patino V. (2004) Juvenile justice in Florida: what kind of future? retrieved from http://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/nccd/fl-juvenile-justice.pdf
n.a. (n.d.) Florida crime statistics and rates report. retrieved from http://www.cityrating.com/crime-statistics/florida/#.Uq8bhvRdXrw
n.a. (n.d.) Crime rates for Florida. retrieved from http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/fl/crime/
Pratt T.C. (2008) Addicted to incarceration. SAGE
Schiraldi V., Ziedenberg J. The Florida experiment. retrieved from http://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/jpi/florida.pdf
Worrall J.L. (2008) Crime control in America: What works? Prentice Hall
