Ecology of Crime

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Ecology of Crime

Question 1

Growing development in engineering and information technology has made available better systems and equipment for crime prevention and safeguarding property. They have also led to increased ease of access to information and created a new breed of criminals who seek to prove these systems vulnerable. This new group of criminals commits these offences out of mischief and most time do not take away property or injure people. The widening of the gap between the rich and the poor and high unemployment rates also cause the underprivileged members of society to go after their rich counterparts in a bid to provide for their families. The justice system can also be faulted for promoting crime due to their lack of space leading to grouping of criminals together resulting in the hardening of even the petty ones.

Advancements in policing and surveillance have done a lot to reduce crime and deter criminals especially terrorists. The involvement of communities in ensuring security has also enhanced surveillance and tracking of criminal activities through improved information and surveillance. Improvements in infrastructure such as street lighting and clearing of bushes along highways and residential areas have made it hard for muggers to operate as they lack adequate cover. Ease of information has enabled most people to learn basic self-defense and have availed concealable but powerful weapons like stun guns and pepper spray that can disable attackers and create a window for escape. Surge in drug abuse and drug development has created more addictive and destructive narcotics that greatly impair a persons sense of morality and lowering their inhibitions and leading to loss of livelihood making them resort to crime to sustain their addiction. Awareness and education coupled with proper parenting can be attributed to the drop in crime rates since they ensure that children grow into law-abiding citizens.

Question 2

A family is the basic social school where children learn how to interact peacefully with each and to temper any behavior that is frowned upon by society. Parents, being the heads of the family unit, play an important role in ensuring that their children grow up to understand good from wrong and have high regard for others rights as they would their own. The rate for which children grow to be mindful law abiding citizens depends on how early their learning of morals begins since it is in their formative years that these teachings find good ground. This is because they are still unadulterated by the world and are highly impressionable making the first lessons important. A father showing love to his children’s mother is probably the greatest lesson parents can teach their children since this environment of love and tolerance teaches them to be tolerant and mindful of others.

Engaging young children helps them understand why some actions are bad and why some are good and helps the child when evaluating future situations with the lessons learnt and ensuring they have a good moral compass. Punishment in these formative years can negatively affect a child’s esteem and impair their growth and development by making them anxious and afraid of trying new things for fear of failure and punishment. It also teaches a child to react with violence to any instance they consider bad which paves the way to a rowdy and violent future. Once children are old enough to tell good from bad, punishment can be introduced when the child repeats a mistake but care should be taken to allow the child to explain why the misbehavior is persistent. This will also help the parent to understand where they might have gone wrong while teaching their children morality.