Analyzing and Explaining Crime in Rivera Beach, Florida Assignment | Essay Help Services

This paper requires to do chi square, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson r correlation. Please be well versed with doing these statistics. All the data and variables needed to do that statistic is provided in the file that says data. Please only use that data. Please follow the layout in the file provided for paper 2 exactly. Use the sample paper as a guide in how the paper should be written. The sample criminology paper should be your first guide because it is the same paper just not completely done and a different topic. Research method samples will give you an example of how to format the paper visually and do the abstract, list the hypotheses, description of respondents, and results. MUST BE IN ASA FORMATTING INCLUDING THE CITATIONS

Analyzing and Explaining Crime in Trenton, New Jersey

Tyler Faulkner

Introduction

Throughout the United States history crime rates have always had a wave pattern to them. In the 1960s and 1970s the United States saw an “increase in widespread drug use that resulted from events like Woodstock in the 1960s and soldiers returning from Vietnam addicted to heroin, President Nixon launched a campaign to eradicate the use of illicit drugs in 1971 known as the War on Drugs” (NeSmith 2015). In the 1980s when President Ronald Reagan took office America saw another step with the War on Drugs which President Reagan turned into “Tough on Crime” which changed how crime was handled for decades to come. Tough on Crime brought the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 (SRA) which abolished federal parole. In 1986, Reagan’s administration took a bigger step with introducing the Anti-Drug Abuse Act which frame worked mandatory minimum sentences for drug trafficking and drug users. Once in effect, this drastically raised the imprisonment rates to historical levels (NeSmith 2015). The 1990s saw a change in more hands-on policing with the introduction of Terry stops, or stop and frisk, in major cities, primarily New York City. Stop and frisk was implemented under Mayor Rudy Giuliani and police commissioner William Bratton. “The NYPD’s use of SQF increased steadily in the late 1990s into the 21st century. In 2003, for example, NYPD officers conducted more than 160,000 SQFs. In 2003, the NYPD implemented ‘Operation Impact,’ a hot-spots strategy where police commanders identified 24 high-crime ‘Impact Zones’ that would be targeted with “saturation foot patrol in combination with resources from a variety of departmental divisions” (Fradella and White 2017). Since the early 2000s, Stop and Frisk has had push back for the ratio of people of color being stopped compared to the number of white people being stopped. The city that we will be taking a deeper dive into is Trenton, New Jersey. Located on the Delaware River, Trenton sits right in the middle of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New York, New York. Trenton has a population around 85,000 people.

Integrated Discussion of Trenton, New Jersey

Trenton, New Jersey is the capital city of New Jersey and was founded in 1773. Trenton’s overall crime rate has dropped with violent crime decreasing one percent from 23,004 to 22,899 but what is concerning is that the murder rate increased from 354 to 369 and sex crimes increased 43 percent from 950 to 1,362 in just a year (The State of New Jersey 2017). One of the reasons there was an increase in sex crimes the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) had revised the definition of “Rape is now defined as penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim”(The State of New Jersey, 2017). With many of the crimes that are being commit they are involving young people, last year one of the biggest shooting involved victims from the age of 23 to 36 (Hurdle and Kilgannon 2019). This is trouble because most people over the age of 25 stop getting involved in crime due to maturity and learning experiences. One of the main focuses of the city of Trenton and New Jersey State Police are reducing the number of shootings and murders in urban areas and will support the city with senseless shootings and murders.

Trenton, New Jersey deals with a hand full of senseless crimes or crimes are committed without a motive. A few reasons for the high crime rate are “Trenton is the 11th poorest of 607 U.S. cities with populations of 65,000 or more, according to U.S. government statistics” (Mensah 2019). This should be a concern among all the citizen with the median age of citizens being in the low 30s which means the young population either has nothing to do or is not working which cause low funding for the city. Trenton has tried to bring more money into the city with a music festival to help with businesses but that only lead to more crime, in 2018 a music festival lead to a mass shooting which lead 22 people injured and 1 dead (Ferré-sadurní and Zaveri 2018). Trenton plans an overhaul which will change the city for the better, “The city’s recreation budget has gone from $300,000 last year to $2,000,000 this year, a $150 million high school featuring vocational-education courses is set to open in the fall, and plans are in the works to tear down abandoned houses and clean up neglected neighborhoods”(Mensah 2019). This is extremely important when talking about lower a crime rate, a recreation program can provide a safe haven for kids to get physical activity or a place to go. The new high school will provide much needed upgrades in equipment and allow students to learn better to improve education which will help with jobs opportunities and further schooling. Trenton plans on combatting with rely on intelligence and analysis to identify and prosecute violent offenders including drug dealers, gang members, and serial offenders (Mensah, 2019). This is a good first step for Trenton on breaking their crime cycle is the children and kids getting a better opportunity in school and recreational programs rather than spending time with gangs and other bad influences.

Trenton faces the war against guns on a daily basis and is not getting any federal support. “We will continue to push and identify the most aggressive actions, but without a federal solution, it’s extraordinarily challenging” (Catalini 2019). This is extremely important to helping reduce the crime rate, because without federal funding additional help or equipment cannot be brought because nothing is free and stopping crime is expensive. New jersey as a state is trying to improve its juvenile court process and offer better representation for minors. The current law for the state any person under the age of 21 is eligible for representation by a public defender upon the courts review of financial resources of parent or guardians (Parmley 2020). The new law would apply to any person under the age of 18 who is arrested or charged with an indictable offense or act of delinquency. That person would automatically be eligible, at no expense to him or her, for representation by the Office of Public Defender (OPD). This is a step in the right direction for juveniles to get a fair trial and not end up in the system or in any debt which will keep them in the same trend as the rest of the city.

Theory

Strain theory has provided a lens through which to investigate the distribution of crime in the United States. “The theory has not yet been able to convincingly address perhaps the most consistent and troubling aspect of crime trends in America: males’ significantly higher rates of property and violent crime compared to females” (Fontaine 2019). This is significantly troubling because this is how stereotypes begin and males will become subjected to unfair treatment and possibly wrongful convictions and charges. This works well for Trenton, New Jersey because the median age of citizens is roughly 33 years old and could help explain the crime rates in Trenton. “Agnew argues that strains, particularly conflictual social relationships, engender negative affective states (e.g., anger, fear, frustration) that create internal pressure for corrective action” (Aseltine, Gore, and Gordon 2000). These actions have a chance to become deviant or criminal if youths want to try and use these as a way to get what they want, or as a way to escape negative emotions. The youth may use this as means of relieving stress from home or school, where they may not have a positive figure in their life to teach them right from wrong or school where they may be under achieving.

They observe that males more often report financial problems and show more emotions when they experience financial and work stress or problems, along with experiencing more financial strain, males are believed to experience more problems with peers (Fontaine 2019). This relates impressively with Trenton with being more males than females and the median income around 30,000 dollar per household will lead to fair amount of strain and stress within a household. The males that are supposed to be the leader and provide for their families may resort to stealing or violence to relieve stress or provide for their family. “Many of these factors have been examined in the empirical literature, including coping skills, self-esteem, self-efficacy, family attachment, moral beliefs, and association with delinquent peers” (Agnew, Brezina, Cullen, and Wright 2002). Strain theory will be a great way of helping explain why the crime rate is the way it is in Trenton, making it one of the most dangerous cities in the country.

Many approaches can be taken to reduce the level of strain a person is under which includes parent-training classes, anti-bullying programs, and additional education classes, and other coping classes such as anger management and social support like big brother/big sisters (De Angelis 2007). These classes are key to help reduce the crime rate in Trenton, the city says it will be using a grant from the state to help bring more funding to the city’s recreation department to help young children find a path. According to strain theory and social-psychological depictions of this process, strain can lead to maladaptive behaviors like delinquency among adolescents who will point blame to others for their adversary (Hoffmann and Spence 2010). This could help explain why some crimes happen in Trenton but look at the impact of not having programs in place for children and young adults to spend time or get influenced by a successful adult.

Based upon the previous literature review, the following hypothesis were tested.

H1: There will be a statistically significant relationship between gender and the likelihood of committing a violent crime. (Tested with a chi square) 

H2: There will be a statistically significant relationship between education level and the likelihood of committing a violent crime. (Tested with a chi square). 

H3: There will be a statistically significant difference in property crimes committed between families with low and high incomes. (Tested with a T-Test) 

H4: There will be a statistically significant difference in property crimes committed between individuals with high and low levels of strain. (Tested with a T-Test) 

H5: There will be a statistically significant difference in the number of violent crimes committed between individuals who identify as Liberal, Moderate, or Conservative, depending on their level of strain. (Tested with Analysis of Variance)

H6: There will be a statistically significant direct correlation between level of strain and the number of property crimes committed. (Tested with a Correlation Coefficient) 

H7: There will be a statistically significant inverse correlation between age and number of violent crimes committed. (Tested with a Correlation Coefficient). 

Description of Respondents  

The sample used for the study was made with 32 participants. The study was mainly done with females at 62.5% and males at 37.5%. A majority of participants made it into high school or a year into college with it being 93.75%. The political views were near even across the sample for conservative, liberal, or moderate. Two thirds of the group reported feeling little to no strain at all. Most of the participants were under the age of 36 (75%) with only one person being over the age of 59. The wealth of the participants is somewhat spread out with all four income categories being at least 15%. The final characteristics of the sample are shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Characteristic of the Sample

References:

Agnew, Robert, Timothy Brezina, John Paul Wright, and Francis T. Cullen. 2002. “Strain, Personality Traits, and Delinquency: Extending General Strain Theory.” Retrieved March 8, 2020 (https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.franklinpierce.edu/central/docview/220714726/3C64FD41D9304885PQ/3?accountid=37705).

Aseltine, Robert H., Susan Gore, and Jennifer Gordon. 2000. “Life Stress, Anger and Anxiety, and Delinquency: An Empirical Test of General Strain Theory.” Retrieved March 8, 2020 (https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.franklinpierce.edu/central/docview/201653674/35445CA37ACD4531PQ/26?accountid=37705).

Agnew, Robert, Timothy Brezina, John Paul Wright, and Francis T. Cullen. 2002. “Strain, Personality Traits, and Delinquency: Extending General Strain Theory.” Retrieved March 8, 2020 (https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.franklinpierce.edu/central/docview/220714726/3C64FD41D9304885PQ/3?accountid=37705).

Catalini, Mike. 2019. “Shooting Shows New Jersey’s Gun Laws Aren’t Stopping Imports.” AP NEWS. Retrieved March 6, 2020 (https://apnews.com/ccc72b8426952b98438548e6d5d1b9cd).

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De Angelis, Joseph. 2007. “Pressured into Crime: An Overview of General Strain Theory.” Retrieved March 8, 2020 (https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.franklinpierce.edu/central/docview/223318558/2727A0EE9F074D09PQ/7?accountid=37705).

Dean, Mensah M. 2019. “16 People Were Shot in One Weekend in Trenton. Residents Blame Bad Schools, Poverty, Hopelessness.” Https://Www.inquirer.com. Retrieved March 6, 2020 (https://www.inquirer.com/news/trenton-violence-shootings-law-enforcement-partnership-20190603.html).

Ferré-sadurní, Luis and Mihir Zaveri. 2018. “Mass Shooting at New Jersey Arts Festival Leaves 22 Injured and 1 Dead.” The New York Times. Retrieved March 8, 2020 (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/17/nyregion/trenton-mass-shooting.html).

Fontaine, Amanda. 2019. “Integrating General Strain Theory and the Gender Role Strain Paradigm: Initial Considerations.” Retrieved March 8, 2020 (https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.franklinpierce.edu/central/docview/2350468844/6797D2E6561347E3PQ/1?accountid=37705).

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Hoffmann, John P. and Karen R. Spence 2010. “Who’s to Blame? Elaborating the role of attributions in General Strain Theory.” Retrieved (https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.franklinpierce.edu/central/docview/859121968/748E81D9A1294959PQ/18?accountid=37705).

Kilgannon, Corey and Jon Hurdle. 2019. “Trenton Shooting: 10 People Hit by Gunfire Outside Bar.” The New York Times. Retrieved March 8, 2020 (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/25/nyregion/trenton-shooting-bar.html).

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Parmley, Suzette. 2020. “Expansion of Public Defender Representation of Juveniles Gains Traction in Trenton.” New Jersey Law Journal. Retrieved March 5, 2020 (https://www.law.com/njlawjournal/2020/03/05/expansion-of-public-defender-representation-of-juveniles-gains-traction-in-trenton/?slreturn=20200205205238).

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