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Crime, Mankinds Struggle

Crime is nothing new in society. Since the developments of the first settlements of the
first human civilizations, there was crime. However, the level of crime and the scope of the
damage it causes can be regulated. The United States needs to refurbish its system in handling
crimes. The problem is that most citizens dont understand which crime is the most damaging
and as a result, policy making is obscured because people rely on information based on general
assumptions. To control crime most efficiently, policy making should be based on facts.
Criminal activities occur everywhere and there are statistics about what criminal acts
were committed in almost any city or municipality. However, the problem with crime statistics
is that most of them are inaccurate. It is unfortunate that the government bases a lot of its
policies on inaccurate statistics. In Harold Pepinksys book, Myths about Crime, he claims,
Crime statistics are not reliable indicators of harmful behavior, people often resolve them
privately rather than treating them as crime (Pepinsky). When people suffer an injustice, some
dont feel that it is necessarily to call the police. When of child abuse or when a woman gets
raped, the victims of these specific crimes are very reluctant in reporting the crime. So how can
the government formulate a correct policy for dealing with criminals when the statistics that are
used are so critically flawed?
Another problem related to crime statistics is that the media tends to over exaggerate the
problem and bases most of its assumptions on the inaccurate data originally discussed. The
media is very capable of influencing the way a society thinks. When the time comes to electing
an official who deals with crime, society makes the wrong choice and elects the incorrect person
for the job based on public assumption. The media is a very professional and influential entity

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when it comes to delivering and distributing information and it doesnt matter whether the
information is true or not. The information is acceptable because most of society believes it.
When people think of crime, the most common images that are visualized are the crimes
that involve some form of physical brutality or murder. People are advised to lock their homes
and purchase weapons for defense. The majority of people purchase weapons because of the fear
of crime. However, people arent aware of important facts. In 1992, assaults in New York were
11 times more likely to result in death than assaults in London. Residents of New York arm
themselves much more than the population of London (Becket). The population of London is
safer in the sense that conflicts dont escalate into deadly situations due to firearms not being
frequently involved. Ownership of firearms doesnt mean that safer that a community will be
safer; it only means that more fatalities will involve firearms instead of other lethal weapons.
Personal theft and attacks is not the most damaging crime around. So why is it that
people believe that the best way of protecting themselves is by locking up and arming
themselves? While the FBI reported that property loss from street crime was 4 billion per year,
minimum estimate of customer loss from white collar crime was 40 Billion (Pepinsky). Todays
most damaging crime does not come from murderers and street thugs; it comes from white collar
crime and sophisticated corporate frauds. However, even though this is true, people buy guns
and knives to walk the streets with a feeling of safety. How ironic that one buys such weapons to
protect themselves from getting robbed for a few bucks when corporations like Enron and
Worldcom are the ones that empty peoples entire lifes savings.
If the most damaging type of crime is corporate crime, why is it that the government
constantly ignores it and goes after violent criminal crimes? The reason is because violent
crimes are much more destructive in a short period of time than corporate crime thus leaving

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people shocked when a violent crime occurs. The media has a field day on violent crimes;
therefore, the media informs even those who dont really care about what type of violent crime
occurred. Unfortunately, corporate crimes are much more devastating than crime that involves
drugs and murder. However, the problem is that the media and the public are not aware of the
crime; it is only when the corporate crime is publicly known. The Enron and Worldcom
companies are just a few prime examples of severe corporate crime. No one suspected the
horrendous corporate crime that was being committed in Enron and Worldcom. It was only
known when hundreds of thousands of people lost everything: jobs, stocks, and even lives.
Innumerable deaths and injuries occur every year with monotonous regularity because profits
are more important to corporations that human lives (Balkan). If the nation chooses only to go
after violent crime and completely ignore white collar crimes, for that is known, your bank
accounts, security deposits, etc. may be in danger.
Although, it is important to distinguish that all types of crime are very damaging, the
government shouldnt just center on the most known forms of crime; it is important that the
government creates a balance. All types of crimes should be sought out and pursued. It is vital
that one should not forget about corporate and unseen crime and just keep on focus on violent
crimes.
Many people believe that mostly all criminals are drug addicts or very poor and
disadvantaged people. Most of society believes this thus resulting in the failure to go after the
correct group of criminals. In the Bureau of Justice (BJS) Prison Statistics website it is written,
At yearend 2003 there were 3,405 black male prisoners per 100,000 black males in the United
States in prison, compared to 1,231 Hispanic male inmates per 100,000 Hispanic males and 465
white male inmates per 100,000 white males (BJS). Something is seriously wrong when there

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are 3,045 black male prisoner per 100,000 black males compared to only 465 white male inmates
per 100,000 white males. This is much more than just a mere coincidence.
Why does the government incarcerate more blacks than whites? Well if someone where
to take a look at what the government targets the most, it is inner city areas where crime is
supposedly out of control. Unfortunately, it is easier to invade the privacy of a suspected black
man in the inner city than a suspected white man in the suburbs. If the justice system pursues as
much white collar executives as it pursues urban city black residents, the disastrous outcomes of
Enron and Worldcom might not have occurred.
Very damaging crimes goes around unknown because a large group of criminals are not
sought out. The most advantaged citizen that one could think of can also be a criminal, such as
doctors. Some crimes that doctors commit is illegally prescribing drugs to drug addicts,
operating unnecessarily, and medical insurance fraud. The electronic article by Newstarget wrote
companies will do anything to make a buck, including outright bribing doctors with lavish
meals, free gifts and even trips to Hawaii (Newstarget). Doctors are constantly tempted to
commit a crime. Those doctors commit much worse crimes than blacks living in the inner urban
areas and the justice system does not lock up more doctors in jail than the average person.
The reason why doctors and other highly skilled professionals who commit crimes are
often overlooked is due to the nature of their crime. Doctors, lawyers, accountants, and
practically any highly skilled professionals can hide most of its malicious activities due to the
complexity of the job that they perform. Unfortunately, the justice system does not target these
types of offenders thus overlooking the severity of the problem. The targeting of minorities in
urban areas is very easy because people always hear in the 9 oclock news of someone who

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was shot today, but you will never hear a story about how a lawyer helped an accountant keep
certain records from being viewed in court.
Professionals are not the only criminals that are overlooked. Sometimes a whole group
of professionals conspire against society; an extreme example can be board members of a
company. Today, the most rampant and damaging type of criminal activity are the ones designed
to increase a companys profits. One example of these types of crimes was the scandals of the
Pfizer Drug Corporation.
Pfizer wanted to get one of its most important drugs on the market as soon as possible.
Therefore, Pfizer helped the FDA certify its Celebrex and Bextra drugs. What Pfizer bypassed by
helping the FDA certify its drug was many test designed to make sure the drug was safe.
However, several years after it was approved, a number of healthy people died from heart attacks
as a result of taking the drugs. The drug was quickly pulled off the shelves by the FDA. Once
the Pfizer Corporation found out, it voluntarily removed a number of its drugs from the market.
Perhaps it was an awakening for the company or just a publicity stunt to restore confidence.
However, it was too late for the hundreds of people who have been taking the arthritis drug.
Once the public was aware about this corporate scandal, the companys stock shares dropped.
The company executives rushed the drug certification process to increase profits as soon as
possible even though the drug might not have even passed FDA standards. Once the scandal
broke headlines, Pfizer drug shares dropped a great number of dollars. CNN reported, The
better-than-expected 2006 forecast helped spark a 3 percent rise in Pfizer shares, which remain
near five-year lows due to safety concerns over its Celebrex and Bextra arthritis medicines
(CNN).

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The government is releasing unsafe drugs that corporations helped certify. So how is
this so different from violently attacking a man on the street? Why is that this event is not
glorified by the media and causes wide spread panic? The answer is that big corporations have
and can afford highly known attorneys and it scares the media into giving out information that
might cause a low profit quarter. Also, this type of problem doesnt really appeal to the masses.
Most people dont really care what a big corporation does; it is out of uneducated peoples reach
to understand and care for these types of problems. The devastation that is created from
malpractice and unethical crimes that doctors and pharmaceutical corporations commit are much
worse than any serial killer or murderer can ever create.
The government depends on created entities to protect the people from corporate crimes.
However, because of budget constraints, certain entities are ignored and are proven impotent
when it comes to safeguarding the public. The FDA is also a victim of this problem. If the FDA
had a bigger budget, it would not have needed the Pfizers help to certify drugs. After the
problem was discovered of how the FDAs budget restricted its activities, to safeguard the public
the Bush Administration quickly acted. FDA news reports, The Food and Drug Administration
announced today that it is seeking an increase of $65 million for fiscal year . The request is
part of the President's FY 2005 budget proposal for FDA, which totals $1.8 billion (FDA)
Unfortunately this came too little too late as it may seem that in order for the government to act,
some form of tragedy must occur.
Crime related to drug trafficking was in its most known state in the 1980s when the
media was exaggerating and misleading the problem, the manner in which the drug problem
was framed in the media accounts during this time is problematic (Becket). The media
stretched the truth and certain laws were enacted that proved unfair and unreliable when dealing

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with drug crimes. Even now, society must face inappropriate laws. One law states this
legislation required a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 (and up to 20) years for any offender
who engaged in a continuing drug enterprise (Becker). Not all drug enterprises are as violent
and damaging as the media portrays. Worst of all, not all people involved in criminal
organization are the kingpins; even though the accused may just be a delivery man who happens
to be caught twice with drugs, the punishment for the delivery man is extreme.
It is unfair to generalize criminals and implement such severe punishments. In 1995, the
U.S. sentencing commissions recommended that Congress abandon its provision of the AntiDrug Abuse Act that penalize crack offenders so severely. (Becker). Unfortunately congress did
not agree and still kept the law. The media played an intense role in scaring America. The
constant stretching of the truth by the media created incorrect policy for dealing with the
problem. Congress should have listened to the commission which was created to evaluate the
problem instead of its constituents who were influenced by the media.
Crime can also serve a purpose in society. Sadly, people that are locked up in any jail
suffer from severe discrimination. For example, whenever an ex-con asks for a solid job that
requires responsibilities, the employer is most likely to ask for records of the ex-cons criminal
history. The employer does not need to even suspect that the person applying for a job is an excon. For most corporations, it is standard to ask if the prospective employee has ever been
convicted of a crime.
The United States is currently experiencing an employment shortage. If one were to
analyze the numbers, manufacturing jobs in this country are being outsourced to other less
expensive labor. Unfortunately, that leaves this country with little work for the average
uneducated citizen. A way in which jobs can be given to a certain group of the population is by

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incarcerating the other group. Ethnicities are constantly being incarcerated. The department of
labor keeps statistics about what current ethnicity holds the least number of jobs. The Bureau of
Labor reports, Over the month, the unemployment rates for adult men (4.6 percent), whites (4.4
percent), and Hispanics or Latinos (5.7 percent) declined. The unemployment rates for adult
women (4.5 percent), teenagers (16.9 percent), and blacks or African Americans (10.3 percent)
were little changed. The jobless rate for Asians was 3.9 percent (BLS). The ethnicity most
incarcerated are blacks. Therefore, it should be no surprise that the greatest number of
unemployed people is blacks. Why is the government targeting specific minorities that are
supposed to be involved in criminal activities? Is it to give other ethnicities an unfair advantage?
The government bases most of its assumptions about crime on statistics, but
unfortunately they are incorrect statistics. The government should not over use statistics and
should not base statistics to create its governmental policies on crime. The only way the
government can gauge the crime level in the country is by creating a sophisticated committee
that is well equipped to understand the problems in society. It is very important to make sure
that all the information the government uses in formulating its policies comes from very well
educated and trained sources. One solution that the government can use is to create a permanent
panel to study criminal statistics in our country. In that panel, well educated individuals should
be members. These people would have a better chance of understanding the problem of
understanding crime statistics and thus they would be able to give the government a more
accurate view of the problem.
Crime is nothing new. The only difference is that we live in the information age where
everything comes to light. The government should not center its programs to curb crime on any
ethnicity. No one should ever generalize who is the criminal. The solution to controlling crime

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is to prepare for anything. It was much easier before the information age to just say violence on
the street was lowered during the year. For example, a doctor practicing during 1950s that may
have killed his patient would have never been known to exist unless a good nurse was standing
by. However, with the help of increasing technology, everything comes to light. In these days, if
a number of patients dies to a certain doctor people can check records and discover the doctor.
Even better, when there is corporate crime it is much easier to check where the crime took place
with our advance technology. Every single criminal act can be found, people just need to know
where to look for it.

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Works Cited
Balkan, Berger, and Schmidt. Crime and Deviance in America. Califonia: Wadsword Publishing
Compnay, 1980.
Call Number: HV 6789. B27
Beckett, and Theodore Sasson. The Politics of Injustice. California: Pine Forge Press, 2000.
BJS. 2005. Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Call Number: HV6789. B38

<http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/prisons.htm>.
BLS. 2005. Department of Labor and Statistics.

<http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm>.
Cnn. 2005. Cable News Network. April 17,2005
<http://www.cnn.com/2005/BUSINESS/04/05/pfizer.earns.reut/index.html.>.
FDA. 2005. Food and Drug Administration. April 17,2005

<http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2004/NEW01015.html>.
Newstarget. 2005. Newstarget. <http://www.newstarget.com/001298.html>.

Pepinsky, and Paul Jesilow. Myths that Cause Crime. Washington D.C.: Seven Locks Press,
1984.
Call Number: HV6789. P46