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Crime in America
The Nature of Crimes
Question of the Day
• What do you think is a major crime problem in your school? In your community? Have most crimes increased or decreased over the last three years where you live? Where can you get this information?
Crime
• A crime is something one does or fails to do that is in violation of a law.
The Crime Clocks
1. Did crimes occur less or more frequently in 2004 than 2000? Do you think these changes are significant in any single category of crime? Among all the categories?2. What are the possible explanations for these changes? Are there any crimes that people might be reluctant to report to police? Explain.3. Based on what you read in the newspaper or watch on the television news, do you think the data accurately reflects the crime problem in Manchester?
According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, P/C insurers lose over $30 billion a year in fraudulent claims. And according to the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, auto insurance fraud alone costs insurers about $14 billion a year. (Los Angeles Times, 11/24/04)
Question of the Day #2
• After looking at all these charts, what do you think caused this problem to become worse in America?
• What could we possibly do about it?
Crime in America
Gangs & Crime/Guns and the Law
Question of the Day
• Write a letter to the chief of police in Manchester, making at least THREE suggestions about what should be done to combat gang violence.
What is a gang?
• Gangs are people who form groups closed to the general public, for certain common business or nonprofit purposes that may include violent criminal activity.
Symbols, emblems, colors, phrases and clothing
Who joins a gang and why?
• Mostly male, female membership rising
• Many have family in a gang
• Many fail at school, have substance abuse problems, dysfunctional families, poor self esteem and/or a history of violence
• White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, etc.
Guns and the Law
• Most guns never used in a crime
• Some guns are used to conduct violent crimes
• How do we handle this problem?
The Second Amendment
• The Second Amendment reads:
• “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
Attempts to control guns
• Gun Control Act of 1968:– The law prohibits certain categories of
persons-such as convicted felons, minors, and illegal aliens-from buying or possessing weapons. The act requires serial numbers on all guns and established a licensing fee schedule for firearms and ammunition, and it also prohibits the interstate sale of handguns. It also set age guidelines for firearm purchases, 21 for a handgun and 18 for a rifle.
Attempts to control guns
• The Brady Act of 1993-requires a national system to instantly check the background of persons who want to buy guns.
State of Connecticut Gun Laws
• The Connecticut Constitution (Article First, § 15) gives every citizen the right to bear arms in defense of himself and the state. But state law regulates firearm sales, use, and possession.
• With minor exceptions, (1) anyone buying or otherwise acquiring a handgun in Connecticut, whether from a licensed gun dealer or an unlicensed person, must have an eligibility certificate or a permit to sell or carry handguns, and (2) anyone carrying a handgun (except in one's home or business) must have a permit to carry handguns. The credentials allow unlimited gun purchases. No permit or certificate is required to possess handguns in one's home or business.
• Permit and certificate applicants must pass state and national criminal history record checks
• No permit or certificate is required to buy, possess, or carry long guns. But people cannot possess them, if they (1) were ever convicted of a felony or serious juvenile offense, (2) cannot legally possess firearms under federal law because they have been adjudicated as “mental defectives” or have been committed to a mental institution, or (3) know they are under a firearms seizure or restraining or protective order for using or threatening to use violence against someone else. State law sets no minimum age for possessing long guns.
• Assault weapons are illegal. • Machine guns must be registered with DPS
within 24 hours after a person acquires them and annually thereafter.
• The law, with exceptions, prohibits carrying (1) firearms on school property, (2) firearms on Connecticut General Assembly property, (3) loaded handguns in a vehicle, and (4) handguns where barred by law or a property owner.
The following people cannot possess handguns or get the credentials—illegal aliens and anyone: 1. discharged from custody in the preceding 20 years after a finding of not guilty of a crime by reason of mental disease or defect; 2. confined by the probate court to a mental hospital in the 12 months before applying for a permit or certificate; 3. convicted of a serious juvenile offense; 4. subject to a firearm seizure order issued after notice and a hearing; 5. prohibited under federal law from possessing or shipping firearms because they were adjudicated as mental defectives or committed to a mental institution (except in cases where the Treasury Department grants relief from this disability); 6. under a protective or restraining order for using or threatening to use force and in the case of possession, he or she knows about the order and if the order was issued in-state, he or she was notified and given a hearing opportunity; or7. convicted of any felony or specified misdemeanors (CGS §§ 29-28, 29-36f and 53a-217c). Disqualifying misdemeanors are: 1. criminally negligent homicide (excluding deaths caused by motor vehicles) (CGS § 53a-58); 2. third-degree assault (CGS § 53a-61); 3. third-degree assault of a blind, elderly, pregnant, or mentally retarded person (CGS § 53a-61a); 4. second-degree threatening (CGS § 53a-62); 5. first-degree reckless endangerment (CGS § 53a-63); 6. second-degree unlawful restraint (CGS § 53a-96); 7. first-degree riot (CGS § 53a-175); 8. second-degree riot (CGS § 53a-176); 9. inciting to riot (CGS § 53a-178); 10. second-degree stalking (CGS § 53a-181d); and11. first offense involving possession of (a) controlled or hallucinogenic substances (other than a narcotic substance or marijuana) or (b) less than four ounces of a cannabis-type substance (CGS § 21a-279(c)).
• It is illegal to own or possess (1) sawed-off shotguns, defined as any shotgun having a barrel of less than 18 inches or an overall length of less than 26 inches or (2) silencers designed to muffle a firearm's discharge noise.
The law requires retail firearm dealers to provide handgun buyers with a reusable trigger lock, gun lock, or other appropriate locking device for the firearm at the time of sale. They must give buyers the following written warning in block letters at least one inch high: UNLAWFUL STORAGE OF A LOADED FIREARM MAY RESULT IN IMPRISONMENT OR FINE
Law & American Society
Substance Abuse & Crime
Question of the Day
• How do you feel about having courts devoted to cases dealing with drugs where they focus on getting them treatment instead of punishment??
• Do you think this helps or hurts the problem?
Substance Abuse
• The word substance is used to describe all the different kinds of chemicals that people abuse, including alcohol and drugs.
Abuse of alcohol and drugs, often called substance abuse, contributes to many social problems and often leads to other criminal activity. Although many adults use alcohol responsibly, alcohol abuse can be very harmful to society. Some people argue that the best way to handle the drug problem is to legalize some or all drugs. They believe legalization would allow the government to better regulate drugs and would eliminate the problems that are associated with illegal distribution of drugs. Many others, however, strongly oppose legalization.
Alcohol
• Alcohol is the number one abused substance in the US
Drunk Driving
• Refers to terms, DWI and DUI
• Refers to a person’s blood alcohol content
• In Ct. that limit is .08
If You are Arrested for DUI:You will be detained by the police and read your rights.
Your vehicle will be towed at your expense.You will be taken in a police cruiser to the police station.
If the test registers a BAC of .08 or higher, you will be held on the presumption that you were operating under the influence.
You will be kept in a police lock-up until you are bailed out.
Implied Consent
• Ct. has an implied consent law under which the driver agrees to a BAC test in exchange for the privilege of driving. Refusal to take the test could result in immediate and automatic suspension of the driver’s license for a certain period of time, even if the driver is found not guilty of DWI/DUI.
Drugs
• In 1989 the federal government began promoting the use of drug courts. Drug courts embody a humane philosophy of treating drug offenders in that they offer treatment in place of punishment. These specialized courts give nonviolent offenders a simple deal: submit to drug testing on a regular basis, enroll in court-supervised drug treatment, stay off drugs, and you can stay out of jail. Failure to meet any of these conditions results in prosecution. Drug courts also work with offenders, helping them obtain, education, training, and employment. By the end of 2000, there were over 600 drug courts, with several hundred more in the planning stages.
Drug Courts
• Are drug courts a good idea?
• Is there a drug court here? Is it effective?
• Why might some places not want a drug court?
Victims of Crime
• Victims of Crime Every person is at risk to be a victim of crime. However, teens and young adults are more likely than any other age groups to be victims. Victim advocacy groups work to protect victims by promoting the concerns and rights of victims.
Violent crimes included are homicide, rape, robbery, and both simple and
aggravated assault
Megan’s Law as Advocacy• Victims’ groups can often be successful in helping to pass
legislation that provides protection for particularly vulnerable members of society. For example, in the early 1990s, seven-year-old Megan Kanka was abducted, sexually molested, and murdered by a neighbor who, unknown to her parents, was a convicted sex offender. Following this tragedy, through the advocacy of parent groups and communities, voters across the country began enacting local legislation that would help protect children from sex offenders. Within two years of Megan’s abduction and murder, all 50 states and the District of Columbia had passed their own versions of Megan’s Law, requiring the registration of all convicted sex offenders in the community. Ex-offenders have challenged these laws in several states, claiming they are being punished twice for the same offense—once by a term in jail and then again by being listed on these registries. In 2003 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Alaska and Connecticut versions of these laws based on the states’ interest in maintaining public safety and because the goal of an offender registry is to inform, not to judge an offender as currently dangerous to society.
