Find a recent news article (i.e., since 2020) that discusses crime trends in the United States, some other country, or a state/province/municipality, and briefly summarize the article, including what you think is the main takeaway of the article.
Where did the authors get their data from?
How was “crime” operationalized?
What level of measurement was used to measure “crime”?
How did their operationalization compare with your own conception of “crime?”
Based on the article, is “crime” going up, staying the same, or decreasing?
Do you think the authors made a methodologically strong argument? WHY/WHY NOT?
Were you able to identify reification or debunking of any myths about crime?
Use the discussion board to answer the questions. Additionally, you may want to describe, in your own words, the insights, doubts, queries, and serendipitous findings when presented with the content in this module and discuss how you came to understand the concept. This should not be undigested information copied from course materials or internet resources.
After Please comment on the posts of at least two of your peers. By offering suggestions, asking questions, etc.,
Gerad:
A quick summary of an article I found in the New York Times, titled “A Shift in Crime”. This article was about the shift in the United States’ increase in murders and shootings to now the most recent trend in property offenses due to inflation. The article continues to further explain, people might try to get around higher prices by stealing. Higher prices can push people to seek cheaper or potentially steal market goods. For example, the application Tik Tok has introduced me to a website called DHgates.com, on the application content creators create reviews on purchases made from this website in hopes to influence others to purchase items from the website. After watching several Tik Tok videos I decided to research the website. I learned you can purchase sneakers and designer wear (amongst other things) for a fraction of the valued price of the original product you would purchase from a designer and/or shoe store. I must say, by reading the review pictures, these items look almost identical to the original item. The sellers on this website are making more money selling products for an affordable price due to inflation.
The author gathered their data from research, this topic of inflation surge has become very popular since mid-2021 due to too much demand relative to supply. I wouldn’t necessarily say this crime has been “operationalized” because legislators are still trying to figure out how to correct this issue. The Consumer Price Index (CPI), the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Bureau of Economic Analysis measure the percentage change in the price of goods and services used by consumers.
Based on the articles, I think this crime is going to continue until a solution is found. I found the methodology behind the article created a strong argument because it wasn’t until I started reading about the article which was when it started making me think about the topic as a crime.
Reference: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/23/briefing/crime-rates-murder-robberies-us.html
Paul: The article I found is titled “Ghost gun use in U.S. crimes has risen more than 1000% since 2017, federal report says.” The article goes into depth about the increased use of ghost guns in crime. The article also talks about how gun crime has been on the rise in the United States and how pandemic panic buying may have contributed to it. The main takeaway from the article is that the government needs to further regulate ghost guns to prevent criminals from producing and using them to commit crimes.
The author got their data from an ATF report that uses data from between 2017 and 2021. The author operationalized gun crime as any criminal offense committed with a gun. The ATF got its data by reviewing the 1,922,5771 crime guns submitted by police departments between 2017 and 2021. The author used a nominal measure and a ratio measure to describe crime. By pointing out that most of the offenders and purchasers/producers of ghost guns were male, the author used a nominal measure. At the same time, the author also used data to determine how long from the date of purchase most guns were used in crime (this is a ratio measure). The author’s operationalization of crime was rather similar to my own.
Based on the article, it would appear that gun crime is increasing. The author’s reasoning for this is the increased number of firearm owners in the United States. The author did make a methodologically strong argument as she cited data from the ATF for pretty much every conclusion she came to in the article. She also didn’t make any fallacious arguments with the data given to her. One myth the author debunked was that most gun crimes were committed with Assault rifles. The reality is that “the most common type of gun used in a crime was a 9mm pistol.” This seems to make sense given the concealability of handguns and the availability of 9mm ammunition.
Source: (2023, February 2). Ghost gun use in U.S. crimes has risen more than 1000% since 2017, federal report says. CBS News. Retrieved February 5th, 2023 from: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ghost-gun-use-crimes-1000-percent-rise-since-2017-atf-report/
