Andres Colon
October 10, 2018
Mythology of Crime and Criminal Justice
When there is public awareness of a particular crime, it prompts people in the government to move swiftly so that they can implement certain laws that would combat the rising numbers of crimes that are committed. Due to media influence, there is a light that is casted on people in Congress that urges them to create these laws. Often, action occurs after someone becomes a victim to a crime that doesn’t have enough laws preventing it from happening in the first place. Public perception is important because it paints a picture of the criminal, the victim, and how the justice system will handle the case, as well as what the law enforcement officials should have done. Sometimes people in positions of power may be able to dodge being held responsible for criminal acts because there are inadequate laws or means for law enforcement agencies to arrest them. Even if they may be held accountable they may not receive hard punishments for the crime and as a result may be presented with the opportunity to commit that particular crime again. The rate of incarceration in the United States is increasing especially with people who commit violent crimes being apprehended and tried in court. Those who commit violent crimes are usually handed harsher sentences if found guilty so that they are not out causing havoc in the streets and also creating precedent with the courts. Some crimes that are committed may go unpunished if the person is not caught, however the highly publicized crimes that get social and political responses is what usually prompts a change in the way charges are filed or the way sentences might be handed down from the judge. This text will analyze the correlation between how harsh the courts handle criminal charged with a particular crime as it relates to the laws that are created by people in Congress. Whether or not the punishments increased overtime with the discovery of the rise of particular crimes such as crimes against children, stalking, organized crime, and and even corporate crime. These new policies that are being implemented gives people within the justice department including the police more power to arrest and prosecute the criminals who engage in these crimes whether or not they had bad intentions, hence the increased punitiveness of the criminal justice system.
There are laws that are created that are in place to deter predators from committing a crime. Crimes such as attacks on children that may involve rape, murder or even pedophilia is what prompted “Meghan’s Law” which requires that the community or neighborhood receive information if there is a registered sex offender either moving into the area, or already currently living there. Because of increased publication of crimes against children, policymakers had to do something about the escalating issue. There were campaigns that were put into place by the Missing and Exploited Children (MEC) and The Natio...
