Crime prevention.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 437.

Crime in the US.

The US has a reputation for having a lot of crime, especially violent crime. For every 100 000 people, there were 597 violent crimes in 1980 rising to 746 in 1994, nine of which were murders. Larceny is also common. Many people believe that the increase in crime is linked to the use of drugs. Guns are easy to buy in the US and are often used in crime. A new crime that began in the 1990s is carjacking: criminals with guns enter cars that have stopped at traffic light and make the driver leave the car, or drive to a place where there are not many people around. They take the car, and any money or jewellery, but usually leave the driver unharmed.

Crime is worse in cities, especially in the inner cities where poorer people live. African Americans are more likely to be victims of violent crime than whites.

At a local level, many British people have joined Neighbourhood Watch schemes, which encourage people to report anything suspicious happening near their houses. There are more policemen on the beat (=walking round an area, not driving in cars) to prevent trouble. Community policemen go into schools to talk to children and teenagers to try to stop them from taking part in crime. In 1995, almost four out of ten offenders were aged14-20.Young people are responsible for a lot of petty crime such as shoplifting (= stealing from shops) as well as more serious crimes such as arson, drug-dealing and joyriding (= stealing a car and driving it round the town very fast).

Closed-circuit television (= video cameras linked to special television screens in police stations) has been installed in many city centers to deter violence and prevent crimes such as ram-raiding (= driving a stolen car through a shop window and stealing the goods inside). Some people think that, because video cameras record the activities of innocent people as well as criminals, they are a threat to personal freedom. Nationally, there are repeated calls for harsher penalties and, sometimes,for the returnof capital punishment to deter criminals.