This report will illustrate the different crime rates within the United States, Germany, and Hong Kong. The crimes of robbery, assault, and extortion were studied and are shown in the charts below. Each country’s legal and justice system will be discussed and see if it has any impact on the crime rates.
Robbery
Robbery is the first crime rate comparison, and the chart above shows the statistics gathered in 2015 comparing the crime rate in the United States, Germany, and Hong Kong. Robbery can be defined as taking or attempting to take something that is of value from another person either by violence or the threat of violence (Neubauer & Fradella, 2018). Robbery can be committed against institutions, businesses, and individuals. It is divided into armed robbery and aggravated robbery depending on the weapon that is used during the crime. The United States and Hong Kong use the common law as their legal and justice system while Germany practices civil law (Nelken, 2017). The United States criminal justice system is made up of the law enforcement, correction, and courts which are divided to state and federal levels. Crimes are handled differently in different states because the system allows them to make their own rules although the at the federal level all crimes are handled the same. Germany and Hong Kong legal systems are not divided into different levels as is the case in the United States.
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Under the common law like the one used by the United States and Hong Kong, the lawyers greatly affect the ruling because they can argue on behalf of the defendant, while in civil law like the one used by Germany, the judge dictates the trail. In common law, the judge’s powers are less, and he or she acts as a supervisor of the law while in civil law the judge actuary makes a full judgment with regard to the evidence presented. Other than legal and justice system, other factors that have contributed to higher robberies in the United States than in the other two countries include population size, negative social norms, inequality, poverty, and the ratio of the police force to citizens ratio. In Hong Kong, crime especially robbery is low because of the social norms among its citizens (Chui & Lo, 2016). Families there don’t like to be associated with a crime so the chances of someone committing a crime are minimal because he or she will be a disgrace to his family and the community as a whole.
Assaults
Assault is the second crime rate comparison to be studied among the three countries. In the United States, assault is a criminal act although the punishment varies from one state to another, and also the punishment also varies between these three countries. Assault can be defined as any intentional act that can cause an individual to become fearful of imminent bodily harm (Neubauer & Fradella, 2018). Serious assault crimes can result in several years of imprisonment and high fines, while minor assault crime may lead to small fines or minimal jail time. Assault is considered as a violent crime; therefore, it is a serious offense although it is classified as either aggravated or simple assault. Simple assault does not involve weapons, but aggravated assault refers to cases where weapons are used. A suspect could be prosecuted for assault even if no injury took place as long as he or she threatened another person. Some laws such as “stand on your ground” in the U.S promote cases of assaults. The crime of assault is higher in the U.S mostly because of the negative social norms such as racialism among others. The most assaults occur due to racial differences, and lack of socialism among citizens.
Extortion
The last crime rate studies between the U.S, Germany, and Hong Kong is extortion. Extortion refers to form of the theft which occurs when an offender use coercion to obtain property, money, or services from another person (Neubauer & Fradella, 2018). Extortion is often classified together with blackmail where the offender demand for money by threating to reveal information that has the potential to embarrass, socially damage or incriminate the victim or his or her family members. The offender may extort the victim by using either the threat of violence, destruction of property, or improper government action. Even in this category, the United States still leads in the rate of extortion which is commonly carried by gangs. The U.S criminal Justice system does little to prevent this vice because they’re a lot of loopholes within the system that the offenders use to evade prosecution.
In conclusion, the rate of crime in the United States is higher than in Germany and Hong Kong. The justice system in the U.S, especially the state level, create loopholes which promote more crimes because of the high chances of not being convicted of the crimes. The Germany justice system of civil law is better in controlling crime, unlike the common law. In Hong Kong, social pressure plays a big role in reducing the rate of crimes because family, friends, schools, or companies are more sensitive to the shame that a criminal brings. Most times the criminal is alienated by these social groups, therefore, people stay away from crime not because of the law but mostly because of the treatment they will get from their families and friends.
References
Chui, E. W. H., & Lo, T. W. (Eds.). (2016). Understanding criminal justice in Hong Kong . Taylor & Francis.
Cole, G. F., Smith, C. E., & DeJong, C. (2018). The American system of criminal justice . Cengage Learning.
Nelken, D. (2017). Comparing legal cultures . Routledge.
Neubauer, D. W., & Fradella, H. F. (2018). America's courts and the criminal justice system . Cengage Learning.
