Violent Crime in the United States

Violent crime is a type of crime in which the crime doer uses or threatens to apply violent force on the victim. The crime may involve the use of a weapon or no use of any weapon. Such crimes also encompass the crimes whereby the actions that involve violence are the objective as well as the criminal activities in which violence results to the end of the action. Good examples include murder and robbery. The Department of Justice in the U.S, Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) lists five groups of crimes that include, murder, robbery, forcible rape, simple assault, and aggravated assault. Crimes seem to be inevitable in the entire world, and somehow man has been unable to stop crime fro happening (Ferguson, 2010). However, knowing how crimes come about, when they take place, the persons who can carry out the violence, and the regions that are more likely to harbor violence is significant when it comes to stopping the crimes. 

The imperfection of society contributes to the nature of crimes that are considered violent. Some of the traits that can contribute to the occurrence of crime include mental abnormalities, personal traits, low intelligence, behavior inheritance, and relationships that are dysfunctional. Additionally, people who come from families that are abusive, rejection, and poor parenting can always resort to violent criminal activities. A person can also engage in violent crime because of the factors that are evolutionary such as death instinct which makes a person desire to destroy himself and as such, the person can develop the urge to commit a violent crime. The use of alcohol and drugs can also make a person be involved in a violent crime without being fully aware of their actions (Fajnzylber, Lederman, & Loayza, 2002). Additionally, the environment in which a person lives in and the cultural norms can also act as a stimulant to the promotion of violent activities among people. It is imperative to note that there is no limit to the extent of violent crimes in the society. As such, the aim of this paper will be to describe, explain, and assess the nature and incidence of violent crime. Also, the paper will locate the current research on the specific form of criminality in the empirical literature that includes a theory as to what causes violent crime. 

Nature of Violent Crimes 

There are five violent crimes that the Department of Justice in the U.S, Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) lists and they encompass forcible rape, robbery, murder, and assault that is further classified into simple assault and aggravated assault. 

Murder 

Murder in the violent crime can be defined as the act of forcefully taking away of someone’s life while carrying out crime in case such a person resists. Murder cases are rampant in the violent criminal activities. Murder can further be classified into various categories that include first and second-degree murder, homicide, manslaughter, and felony murder. First-degree murder always involves the intentional killing of a person while carrying out the criminal activity (Dahl & Vigna, 2009). Felony murder is a term that is always applicable in cases whereby an individual died during the commission of a solemn criminal act such as kidnapping or robbery. The participants who engage in such criminal activities can get murder charges. Additionally, murder can also be classified as a homicide in which a person kills another not considering the situations. Such killings normally occur in offices and at homes. Second-degree murder involves the unintentional killing of a person by another whereby the killer demonstrates an intense lack of sympathy to the life of human beings or gratuitous disregard to the victim’s life. Manslaughter involves a case in which a person unintentionally kills another through his or her reckless conduct. 

Forcible Rape 

Forcible rape involves a sexual intercourse that is done forcefully encompassing both physical force and psychological, sexual intimidation. Sexual intercourse that is forced can involve oral penetration, anal, or vaginal penetration by the offenders. Moreover, the sexual act can also involve the anal or vaginal penetration by use of an object such as a banana or a bottle. In encompasses the homosexual and heterosexual rape, the attempted rapes on both the female and the male victims. Additionally, attempted rape can also be in the form of a verbal threat. 

Assault 

Assault at common law means a deliberate act by an individual that develops uneasiness in another of an impending offensive or harmful contact. Assault is always conducted through a bodily harm threat that is coupled with a present and apparent ability to inflict the harm. It is both a tort and crime and thus, it may result in either civil or criminal liability. 

Elements of Assault 

The important elements of assault include an act that is intended to result in an apprehension of offensive or harmful contact that results in the apprehension of the contacts in the victims. The action that is necessary for the assault should be explicit. Words can also result in an assault especially when coupled with some deed that shows the capability to conduct the threat (Neumayer, 2005). As such, a meager threat to harm is not an assault though a threat that is accompanied by the raising of a hammer is sufficient to result in a rational uneasiness of damage in the victim. The intent is a vital element of an assault especially if it is considerably sure, to a person who is reasonable, that the result will be an assault. 

Types of Assault 

Assault is further classified into two; aggravated and simple assault. Aggravated assault is punishable as a felony it is as a result of a defendant’s intention to do more than a meager threat to a victim. Aggravated assault includes robbery, rape, and the intention to kill. Assault with a weapon that is considered dangerous is aggravated if there is an intention to inflict serious harm. For instance, pointing a loaded gun at a person to frighten her is considered an aggravated assault. On the other hand, simple assault involves an attack on a person without any weapon. The attack can result in minor or no injuries such as swelling, scratches, and bruises. 

Incidence of Violent Crime 

The rate of violent crimes in the United States has been witnessing a decline for the past one decade. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in its report that is compiled in the program of the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) defines violent crimes as offenses involving threat or force. The FBI’s program conducts its data collection through the Rule of Hierarchy, which ensures that only the most offenses that are serious in a multiple criminal occurrence be recorded. The violent crimes in the UCR are the same as the ones that have already been mentioned in this paper. 

Overview 

The FBI’s UCR program reports that in 2013, approximated violent crimes of 1,163,146 took place in the entire US which were a decline by 4.4% as compared to the estimate of 2012. The program also states that by considering a trend of five and ten years then the approximated violent crimes of 2013 was 12.3% below the level of 2009 and 14.5% below the level of 2004. Additionally, there were violent crimes that were approximated at 367.9 per 100,000 residents in 2013. This was a decline rate of 5.1% as compared to the approximated rate of 2012. Aggravated assaults accounted for 62.3% of the violent crimes that were reported to the law enforcers in 2013. Offences of robbery accounted for 29.7 of the offenses of the violent crimes (Federal Bureau of Investigations, 2013). Murder accounted for 1.2% while rape accounted for 6.9. The gathered information concerning the kinds of weapons that were used in the carrying out of the violent crimes indicated that 69% of the firearms were used in the country’s murders, 21.6% of the aggravated assaults, and 40% of robberies. Regarding rape, the data for weapons is not collected for rape. 

Causes of Violent Crimes 

It is acceptable to most individuals that family background, drug and alcohol abuse, circumstances in which a person is born in such as gang culture, unemployment, broken families, race, and poverty are some of the factors that can explain why individuals engage in violent crimes. 

Unemployment and Poverty 

The poverty that comes about as a result of unemployment is a key factor that contributes to some extent to the occurrence of violent crimes in the society as some individuals are driven into crimes out of necessity. Though, it is also not true that every poor person who is unemployed will resort to violent crimes otherwise, the nations that experiences extreme poverty could be facing lots of violent crimes which is not the case (Stolzenberg, Eitle, & D'Alessio, 2006). Crime rates have been escalating in the US during great economic growth than during the periods of great depression. As such, it is a clear indication that poverty is not a great contributor to the violent crimes as it has always been alluded. 

Race 

Some people believe that race contributes to criminal activities in the society and that black people are always more involved in crimes than the white people. Such may arise due to the racial discrimination that comes about in the places of job employment, poor housing, and low incomes where it is a person’s skin color that entitles a person to a job (Brian & Lefgren, 2003). As such, certain people will feel secluded in the society and resort to criminal activities that may encompass violent crimes. 

Broken Families 

The structure of a family, love, and commitment between adults contributes to a proper upbringing of children in the society. The failure by adults to maintain a family that is intact will eventually lead to broken marriages and as such, children will not have all the parents to contribute in the nurturing of their behaviors (Neumayer, 2005). The children from such families can thus engage in criminal activities when they are still at a tender age, and as they mature, they will get used to the criminal activities that even involve violent crimes. There are researches that indicate that children of age twelve to twenty always engage in criminal acts and thus, they need positive mentorship from their parents. Broken families can also lack all the necessities that children require such as proper education due to insufficient funds. Such children may end up dropping out of schools and end up engaging in violent crimes. 

Family Background 

The family background of a person can contribute to his or her engagement in violent crimes. For instance, a person who is brought up right from childhood with a criminal family can never find any wrong in engaging in the criminal acts especially if the people he stays a better life than the neighbors who are not engaging in criminal acts (Martin, Margo & Shawn, 2001). Such a person will thus carry out violent criminal acts to gain quicker riches as he will consider a genuine way as a long process. 

Drug and Alcohol Abuse 

Drug and alcohol abuse by the consumers of the substances can result in the crimes such as violence, assault, breach of peace, petty crimes. Drugs and alcohol can weaken judgment of an individual and instead encourage the individual to make decisions that are improper. The addicts of drugs of Class A such as cocaine and heroine always have an expensive lifestyle that consumes lots of dollars in a week (Elgar & Nicole, 2010). Most of them will, therefore, turn into criminal activities if in case they are running short of cash to get the drugs. Some of their activities will entail violent criminal acts. 

Gang Culture 

Young individuals can carve their identity and also protect themselves by engaging in crimes. Such behaviors can also be as a result of peer influence from the individuals that a person interacts and socializes with (Altheimer, 2010). If the individuals that a person interacts and socializes with are people who engage in violent crimes, then such a person can easily be influenced to join the gang and be a violent criminal. 

Circumstances in which a Person is born in 

Some people ho are born in families that are extremely poor, or the individuals who become orphans at a tender age can sometimes resort to violent crimes for them to earn a living since such people sometimes fail even to acquire an education (Brian, Lefgren, & Moretti, 2007). Some beliefs emphasize that there are individuals who are normally born evil and as such, they find no wrong in engaging in violent crimes. It is thus, difficult to change such a person whom the circumstance dictates what he becomes. 

Conclusion 

To conclude, violent crime engages the use of threat by the person who is carrying out the crime. It is further classified into categories such as assault, forcible rape, and murder. Additionally, various factors lead a person to engage in violent criminal activities such as poverty and unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse, and broken families among other factors that have been mentioned in this paper. 

References 

Altheimer, I. (2010). An Exploratory Analysis of Guns and Violent Crime in a Cross-National Sample of Cities. Southwest Journal of Criminal Justice , 6(3): 204–227. 

Brian, J., Lefgren, L., & Moretti, E. (2007). The Dynamics of Criminal Behavior: Evidence from Weather Shocks. Journal of Human Resources, 42 (5): 489–527. 

Dahl, G., & Vigna, S., D. (2009). Does Movie Violence increase Violent Crime? The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 4 (4): 3-6. 

Martin, D., Margo, W., & Shawn, V. (2001). Income Inequality and Homicide Rates in Canada and the United States. Canadian Journal of Criminology, 43:219-236. 

Elgar, F., J., & Nicole. A. (2010). Income Inequality, Trust, and Homicide in 33 Countries. European Journal of Public Health. 4 (6): 16-19. 

Fajnzylber, P., Lederman, D., & Loayza, N. (2002). Inequality and Violent Crime . Journal of Law and Economics , XLV: 1-36. 

Ferguson, C. J. (2010). Violent crime: Clinical and social implications . Los Angeles: SAGE. 

Brian, J., & Lefgren, L. (2003). Are Idle Hands the Devil’s Workshop? Incapacitation, Concentration and Juvenile Crime. American Economic Review , 93(2): 1560–1577 

Neumayer, Eric. (2005). Inequality and Violent Crime: Evidence from Data on 

Robbery and Violent Theft. Journal of Peace Research, 42: 101-112. 

Stolzenberg, L., Eitle, D., & D'Alessio, S., J. (2006). Race, economic inequality, and violent crime. Journal of Criminal Justice, 34 (6): 303–316 

The Federal Bureau of Investigations. (2013). Crime in the United States. https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/violent-crime/violent-crime-topic-page/violentcrimemain_final