City and Rural Crime: What are the differences

Written by CWP in Public Service,Types of Crime

Why is Crime Higher in the Cities than in Rural Areas?

Cultural and financial differences are more visible which can lead to more crimes based on these differences. More people living together in a smaller area will creates more chances for conflict with neighbors. More opportunities presented to a person to commit crimes. This unfortunate condition has been persistent for centuries in many countries.

We must first remember that the news media does focus more on the big cities, so we will hear more about the crime there then in rural area. Cities are also much larger with many people living in close quarters which in itself can create a higher crime rate. Also add in the fact that more inter-city livers are poor or of low-income status.

There is always a reason behind a crime, and these reasons often evolve and change with time. Similarly, the punishments also vary.

The government of urban areas purposely tries to develop a system to fight against crime by establishing policies, social programs, and laws. Still, there are a few people who disagree with the politics, monetary appropriations, and strategies involved in social programs that offer combat against crime.

More Reasons Why People Commit Crime higher in Urban Areas

Not to say that these problems do not exist in rural areas also, but sometimes they are more prevalent in urban communities. If you start digging, you will discover a series of answers. Still, they all fit into some common yet unique categories, including:

  • Addiction to Alcohol and Drugs: When an individual is addicted to a form of ecstasy, they attempt to do something they wouldn’t have done without damaged judgment. As a result, they would have understood their actions and focused on being a better citizen.

A typical example of this kind of crime is the story of an abusive husband or father. He is in this state due to alcoholism. Other than that, many people are addicted to drugs. When they have no money to purchase the next batch, they hold a gun to an innocent bystander’s head or rob.

Furthermore, street vendors and powerful drug lords perform violent acts to keep the upper hand.

  • Homelessness and Poverty: An area with extreme poverty and homelessness gives birth to several criminals and unwanted crimes. We call it the strain theory. In this theory, individuals feel pressure and complex from society, which leads them to act out. Individuals who suffer from poverty have no legal means to achieve upward mobility, which is why they move towards criminology.

The strain theory of crime led to the creation of Welfare Programs in the 1960s. However, poverty is not something you refer to as a crime. Still, the kind of behavior it spreads to society is what leads to crimes. In clear words, criminal activities are more inclined to homelessness and poverty than any other reason.

  • Rotten Company: The primary cause of crime is from influence. People who are habitual of misconduct often commit crimes because that is what their environment teaches them.

They could be from a bad neighborhood. The only role models they have in life are the people who do nothing but commit crimes every day and have nothing positive to offer. They learn techniques for stealing, burglarizing, and mugging from the people that surround them. Additionally, their “bad mentors” encourage them to do more criminal acts.

Some innocent individuals fall prey to committing crimes because they have been hurt or attacked before. The only catharsis they opt for is to join a street gang.

  • Irrational Mental Health: As said above, there can be endless reasons behind crime, and each idea is diverse from the other. The saddest goal of becoming a criminal is the lack of control over emotions.

You may have seen many men whose wives or girlfriends want to leave them, and to assert dominance, men choose to assault them.

You are having a debate with someone one a controversial topic, and your tempers reach the sky. Before you know it, kicks and punches start to take over, and you have to call the ambulance.

Other than that, you often feel neglected or ignored at your workplace. When things go out of control, you start planning unhealthy ways to achieve attention. Similarly, when someone continuously harasses or bullies you, you become eager to take revenge. Instead of involving the law, you commit illegal activities.

Regardless of the cause, whether it leads to anger, pride, and emotional state, lack of control, hatred, impatience, ambition, or revenge – everything ends up in crime. Another crime in rural areas is rape. You don’t want anyone to take care of your sexual needs, so you find it better to force it on someone.

  • Unguided Choices: A reasonable amount of crimes committed by people who have no relation with abusive substances or lack of emotional control are the ones who make wrong moral choices.

However, making the wrong ethical decisions is closely linked to bad company. In this case, an individual has a conscience that tells them not to perform any illegal act, but eventually, they do it anyways.

  • Mental Disabilities: You can never tell how many crimes a person with mental disabilities can commit. It is not only difficult to control such individuals but sentencing them to prison is not ideal either.

We often listen to news about a person with mental illness who tries to murder someone. Additionally, the medicines they take can also have an impact on their health. However, the primary causes of mental illness are alcohol and drugs.

Rural Crime and Why it Matters

Urban areas indeed have a higher rate of crime than rural areas. Still, over the past years, rural crime has relatively increased, whereas serious crimes in large cities began from the 1960s and evolved in the 1990s, while the offense in rural areas kept its tone and rose.

Moreover, researchers and protesters have paid little attention to giving justice to rural areas. It is the fact that rural areas do not have a sufficient army or government to control the situation, crime is reaching the verge of being unstoppable.

National City and Rural crime

When national crime statistics are reported, they may mask important differences among geographic areas. The annual Crime in the United States relies on Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR) data and provides subnational statistical breakdowns for geographic areas by county type
(rural, suburban, and urban), city population size, or a combination of both.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics’ annual report Criminal Victimization relies on data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and provides subnational statistics for geographic areas by rural, suburban, and urban areas.

The UCR and NCVS use slightly different sets of definitions in their accountings by geographical area due to the manner in which the data are collected. The UCR data are generated from local and state police agencies.

As such, the crimes are known to law enforcement and are located based on where the crime actually occurred. The NCVS data are collected from crime victims and can include those incidents not reported to police, in addition to
reported crime. The NCVS crimes are located based on the victim’s residence rather than where the incident occurred. The different place definitions and data criteria may result in different statistics that can be difficult to compare.

This section provides crime statistics from both UCR and NCVS data sources. In general, statistics show that crime rates in metropolitan or urban areas, as well as the criminal justice response, differ from those in suburban areas, cities outside metropolitan areas, and non-metropolitan or rural areas.

The uneven distribution of crime has implications for responding to crime, supporting victims, and allocating criminal justice system resources. As Americans become more mobile, it becomes increasingly important to understand the impact of geographic differences on crime rates and the ability of local criminal justice systems to protect citizens.

Does Family Makeup have something to do with City Crime Rate?

Children have a habit of mimicking their parents’ behavior, which can be in both positive and negative ways. It is no wonder that 10% of families are accountable for creating two-thirds of criminals.

When teenagers reach a point in their lives when they choose a profession, they often pick the path their parents engraved for them. That said, most children consider becoming lawyers, begetting plumbers, doctors, or teachers.

According to the New York Times, research conducted in London and the United States proved that crime could often take roots from families.

There are many ways to prevent children from getting involved with the law. It is essential to understand why children consider crime in the first place.

Broken Families and City Crime

Scholarly evidence predicts that the primary cause of crime in America is the loss of mothers’ and fathers’ capacity to be responsible for nurturing for their children.

This loss of guidance and love at sensitive family and marriage levels incorporates several consequences for a wider community and children.

On the other hand, empirical evidence states that most young women and men from broken families have a weak connection with their parents, and their communities are prone to ruin their members to please their unmet desires or needs. As a result, this leads to the disintegration of families with violent crime and social chaos.

If the government has a plan to deal with these irrational roots of family crime, they must first take care of the increasing rate of illegitimacy.

Take a look at the following discoveries:

  • Neighborhoods with high-crime rates tend to have high concentrations of children abandoned by their fathers.
  • A criminal is always an individual who is rejected or neglected by other children in the early stages of school life.
  • Violent teenage crimes are mostly committed by those who are socially abandoned.
  • The kind of hospitality and aggression demonstrated by a future crime is often ignored.
  • Over the past five decades, families who pay no attention to their children have created criminal monsters.

Does Race have something to do with Crime?

It has been proven that more than a person’s race a person’s family and upbringing has more of an effect on a person’s Criminal life. If a higher percentage of a group of people are living below the poverty level and see no hope for the future, they are also more likely to lead a life of crime. You can also easily track family situation to bad crime neighborhoods regardless of race.

One of the worst forms of crime is a hate crime. These types of crimes are mostly related to religion or race. However, youth crime rates have decreased a notch since the 1990s. Still, political rhetoric and public fear on these issues have taken height.

When it comes to religious groups, these include a group of people who share the same religious beliefs, such as Christians, Muslims, and Hindus. Moreover, people who have no religious beliefs can also be a part of this group.

The Verdict

Our nation is so caught up in inventing new ways to make our daily chores easier that no one pays attention to the recurring rates of crime. Also, we need to spend as much attention on the crime in rural areas as big cities because one rotten egg can rot the whole world. CWP

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References

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