BCJ 2000 Unit 6 Scholarly Activity

Unit 6 Scholarly Activity

Columbia Southern University

There has been a very high increase of murders and aggravated assault cases in Jackson, Mississippi. Jackson is the largest city in the state of Mississippi, and is considered the most dangerous as well. Jackson has always been known for the amount of crime that takes place in the city. For every 112 people that live in Jackson at least one of them will have the probability of being a victim of a violent crime. There have been 58 murders and assault cases reported.

The U.S. Rates have spike since 2014. In 2014, there was an estimated amount of 741,291 aggravated assaults in the nation, which is 2014 had rose 2% since 2013. In 2017 the crime has risen by 7 percent from 2016. Murders went up by 5.2 percent but aggravated assault has decreased since 2016. The largest 2 increases of crimes rates were in 2015 and 2016 in a quarter of a century.

The national and local rates have both went up since 2014 and I think that they will continue to rise. The government and local official have started to crack down more on the opioid epidemic, guns, and drugs. The increase in murders and aggravated assault could have something to do with the war on drugs itself, and the shooting of unarmed civilians by police officers. A lot of people are outraged about what is going on and I don’t think they know how to deal with it. Most people are obtaining guns illegally in order to try to protect themselves from others that have them. Police Officers often target minorities and frame them for crimes that they did not do.

When someone is murdered it is called a homicide. A homicide it defined as the willful killing of one human being by another. That means that they either tried or mistakenly killed someone else. Aggravated assault is an attack by one person upon another for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injuries. What that means is someone tries to hurt another being hitting them any objects or body part to cause them pain. Now someone can murder someone and get charged with aggravated assault if the evidence shows that they wanted to hurt the individual.

An example of a murder is what happened to Crystal Jewel Williams on March 2, 2018. She found dead in her home in the 100 block of Maple Street in Jackson, Mississippi. The suspect was 22 year old Devin Williams, the son of the woman who had died. They have not identified what the weapon of it the boy was the one that committed the crime. He could be charged with aggravated assault if the investigators uncover that he want to cause bodily harm to Ms. Williams before she died.

Cleared by arrest is stated to be concluded when a person is arrested, charged with the offense, and given to the court for prosecution. Cleared by exceptional means that certain things prohibit law enforcement to arrest or charge someone with an offense. Law enforcement must identify the suspect, have the evidence to support the arrest, know where the suspect was at to make the arrest, and deal with circumstances that make an arrest impossible. There was 64.8 percent of murder offenses and 56.4 aggravated assault cases cleared in the 2016 compared to 2017.

I believe that a lot of the people in Mississippi commit murders, and aggravated assault because of the social control theory. Most of them are used to being around a certain group of people they tend to follow where they go. There are a lot gangs in Jackson and if you are friends of people in gangs they are automatically assume that you are in that gang as well. A lot of people have a great bond with their friends so if one person in the group joins a gang then all of them are. They say that the people that are around you reflect who you are as a person.

References

Myer, A. J., & Belisle, L. (2018). Highs and lows: An interrupted time-series evaluation of the impact of north america’s only supervised injection facility on crime. Journal of Drug Issues, 48(1), 36-49. http://dx.doi.org.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/10.1177/0022042617727. Retrieved from. https://search-proquest-com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/docview/1979094355?accountid=33337

Schmalleger, F. (2016). Criminology 3rd Edition. Hoboken: Pearson.

FBI, & Office of Attorney General (2018). FBI Releases Preliminary 2017 Data on Crime in the United States. Retrieved from https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/fbi-releases-preliminary-2017-data-crime-united-states

2014 Crime in the United States (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2014/crime-in-the-u.s.-2014/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/aggravated-assault

The Neighborhood Scout (2000-2018). Jackson, MS Crime Rates. Retrieved from https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ms/jackson/crime