Crime is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as an act or the commission of an act that is forbidden or the omission of a duty that is commanded by a public law and that makes the offender liable to punishment by that law.
Laws are designed to protect us and ensure our safety in all aspects of our lives: physical, financial, psychological and social. Yet not a day does go by that we don’t hear of crimes taking place in our city or state. When a crime is committed, public safety becomes endangered and specific individuals or groups may feel violated. While we would like to avoid such events, they take place all too often. Here are some statistics that demonstrate this:
- Every two minutes, somewhere in America, someone is sexually assaulted.
- In 2002, there were a total of 4,854 cases of aggravated assault in Washington DC. On a daily basis, this computes to 13.2 aggravated assaults a day.
- In Maryland, there were 3,228 cases of larceny and thefts per 100,000 people in 2002. This is one-third higher than the national average rate of 2,445.8 cases per 100,000.
- In Detroit, there were 41.79 murders per 100,000 people in 2002. This is alarmingly way above the national average rate of 5.6 for the same year.
- In 2002, with the exception of burglaries, Philadelphia led all crime levels which were above the national average rates for murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assaults, larceny/theft and motor vehicle theft.
To find out more crime statistics in the , visit the University of Michigan Library.
In addition to crimes against individuals,
- Corporate crime has recently jolted the corporate world with the likes of the Enron scandal and the Martha Stewart arrest. Across , worker rights are often violated by threats of firing and other reprisals made to those who dare to exercise their lawful right to collective bargaining and unions. In 2000, when a department of meat cutters at a Wal-Mart center in Texas voted 7-3 in favor of unionization, Wal-Mart eliminated the meat cutting department, choosing instead to pre-cut meats, resulting in the elimination of meat cutting jobs nationwide. The garment and fabric factories of New York are filled with immigrant workers, many of whom do not have proper working documents. Many of these workers end up enduring poor working conditions for fear of deportation and INS investigations, encouraged by the factory owners. Through collective bargaining, unions protect the rights of workers by giving them fair representation in the work place. On the contrary, some union leaders have been charged for their involvement in crime activities (racketeering, fraud and tax evasion, embezzlement, and extortion). Union or not, corporate crime exists on both ends of the continuum, where the workers continue to be victimized and their rights violated.
- Another major type of crime is terrorism. The tragic events of 9/11 and the terrorists that brought on those acts of destruction have changed the lives of Americans forever. Support the fight against terrorism.
- The War on Drugs deals with addressing the violation of drug laws. Tremendous resources have been devoted and spent on this war, locally and internationally. The recent extradition of drug criminal Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela to the is a sign that indeed the is continuing to wage a war against drug crime.
