Draw from class discussions, power points, and your own independent research to address ONE of the following questions/exercises. ONLY ONE. Please use single space with 12 pt. font. Answers should not exceed 2 pages (please do not ramble). Please also note that your answers will be run through a program that checks for plagiarism by comparing your work with internet sites as well as assignments that have been submitted in the past. The assignment is due on February 16 by 1 pm (worth a maximum of 25 points). Make sure you carefully cite any outside sources that you might consult and provide a reference list.
1). According to available data, the United States has significantly higher homicide rates compared to most other developed/industrialized countries (including countries in Western Europe and Northeast Asia). Drawing from class discussions and your own independent research/reading, employ a sociological perspective to explain three possible reasons as to why that is. Furthermore, once again employing a sociological perspective, what might be two reasons for the decline in U.S. homicide rates, as compared to the 1990s? Explain.
2). While rates of violent crime have declined significantly in the United States since the 1990s, from 2020 onward, several cities —including New York, Chicago, Milwaukee, and several others—have experienced a spike in violent crime. Drawing from your own research and applying a sociological perspective, address at least three factors that might have encouraged this spike.
3). Drawing from your own research, provide at least two crime myths promoted by the media (this could be television media, print media, or social media). How do these myths distort an accurate understanding of crime? (Note: the myths you address can be either current or from the past).
4). Applying a sociological perspective and drawing from your own research, compare and contrast our societal and criminal justice responses to the presumed crack epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s and the presumed heroin/opioid epidemic in more recent years. What might be two reasons as to why responses to these two “epidemics” have been so different?
