Summarize a recent anti-gang piece of legislation or policy that you are familiar with. Evaluate this piece of legislation: To what extent does the policy imply some of the key myths about gangs? How would you strengthen this legislation to more accurately address the reality of gangs and gang activities?
What will be an ideal response?
Students should first identify a public policy directed at suppressing gang activity, such as the CRASH unit in Los Angeles, which involved the raiding and arresting of nearly 1,500 suspected gang members in a street sweeping operation. This program was based on a number of gang myths, primarily the myth that a sole reliance on law enforcement efforts will help ameliorate gang problem. The CRASH unit also implied a number of other myths about gangs, such as the myth that gangs, drugs, and violence are inexorably linked, and that gang members spend the preponderance of their time planning on committing crimes. It appears that this program was not based on research indicating wholly aggressive intervention efforts do not work in wiping out gang activity, and that treatment goals should be set instead that focus on preventing gang membership and the commission of serious crimes, since so few of the individuals arrested in the CRASH sweeps were ever prosecuted.
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The National Prison Association that convened in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1870 was subsequently transformed into the:
A) American Correctional Association. B) American Society of Criminology. C) American Jail Association. D) American Probation and Parole Association.
What is the constructivist paradigm? What does it emphasize?
What will be an ideal response?
Using the Internet, e-mail, or other electronic communication to harass or pursue another person is called:
A) ?cyberbullying. B) ?cyber tracking. C) ?cyberstalking. D) ?cyber trailing. E) ?trolling.
Which of the following theorists is likely to assert that criminal behavior is learned primarily in interpersonal groups?
a. general strain theorist b. labeling theorist c. differential association theorist d. social control theoris