Television/Film
This issue is going to be difficult to resolve when practically every television show and film glamorizes guns and violence to attract viewers. However, our children are watching these violent films and television shows, such as cartoons, sitcom shows, and after school programs. Cops, NCIS, talk shows, the news, and numerous other television shows are also overloaded with violence. We want our children to be up-to-date on current events, which is great, but these children are watching violence on the evening news. Television without violence would not be interesting at all ( Michael Moore, 2002). Afterall, how many people can honestly say that they would go watch a film or watch a television show that does not have any violent content? Countries, such as Canada watch violent films and television shows, however, their crime rate is lower than ours (Michael Moore, 2002). Race
It has been found that numerous individuals who have been victimized, blame the black population for the crimes. However, the Bureau of Justice Statistics gives the following statistics: 69.2 % of whites/Hispanics were arrested in the U.S. in 2008 and 28.3 % of blacks were arrested in the U.S. in 2008 (Bureau of Justice Statistics). People are stereotyping blacks on television shows by accusing blacks of the crimes (Michael Moore, 2002). Another opposing view is that Canada has a lot of diversity in their country, but Canada has a lower crime rate than the U.S. (Michael Moore, 2002).
Poverty/Location
We could blame poverty for the violent acts that are occurring in the U.S. However, crime is occurring more in suburbia than in inner city areas (Michael Moore, 2002). Furthermore, poverty is an issue in Canada; however, low income housing in Canada appears to be more posh in comparison to the U.S. Canada still remains less violent than the U.S. (Michael Moore, 2002).
Crime can occur anywhere, there is not safe place (Michael Moore, 2002). I found this to be true after speaking to my brother recently about a break-in that occurred to him in New York. He stated that these individuals were brave enough to walk into his apartment while he was still home. He believed that they were searching for drug money. I also spoke to my ex- husband who stated that there were several robberies occurring in his neighborhood when he was younger. The neighborhood he resided in (Louisville, Ky) he felt was safe and had never had any problems before. Neither my brother nor ex-husband lived in poorer neighborhoods, but they lived in bigger cities.
Music
Parents want to blame music for violent acts, but other countries listen to violent music and they are not nearly as violent as the U.S. Many people in Littleton, Colorado accused the predators in the Columbine shootings of being violent because of the music they listened to. They all listened to Marylin Manson. Canada listens to violent music and they still have lower crime rate than we do here in the U.S. (Michael Moore, 2002). Therefore, music can not be the reason that the U.S. is more violent than other countries.
Breakdown of the Family Unit
More divorces are occurring in the U.S., more singles are adopting children and more singles are having children, however, is this the reason that violence has increased in the U.S.? Personally speaking, I am a single parent and I have a son who will soon be 13 years old. He is not violent at all. On the other hand, numerous children are staying at home alone for an extensive amount of time until their parent(s) get home. This could possibly become an issue because this gives children more free time and there is less discipline. For instance, An unsupervised 6 year old boy found a gun in his parents bedroom. He took this gun to his school the following day. He shot another 6 year old with the gun and killed her (Michael Moore, 2002).
Conclusion
There are so many reasons why violence is a major issue in the U.S. more so than any other country. Whether the UCR wants to recognize violence as an issue or not, violence is becoming more prevalent in the U.S. The UCR may not be addressing this issue due to the fact that police enforcement does not report all data to the UCR, such as victimization surveys and Bureau of Justice Statistics (Wikipedia). We also need to take into account that the UCR data may be different this year due to the recession that is taking place in the U.S. For instance, there may be more robberies occurring since the U.S. in the mist of a recession. Furthermore, people may feel the need to commit robberies to provide for thier families. People may also become more hostile when it comes to being laid off at a job because they will have to draw unemployment or live without an income. Unfortunately, unemployment does not provide enough income for some individuals to provide for their families.
The only real solution for this issue is to identify and advocate preventative measures that can help prevent violence. Some preventative measures to consider could be: provide more education classes for youth, create more after school programs for youth, enforce stricter laws to prevent violence, mandate for youth to participate in charity and volunteer work after school, address how we socialize our children, not be so harsh about winning every game of sports, and mandatory psychological exams for college applicants, and altering the Constitutional Rights. If the government will not alter the Constitutional rights, such as Amendment 2, then they should reinforce that parents keep their guns lock up so that young people do not have easy access to them. All of these preventative measures are going to take money, time , patience and community action. Otherwise, this issue is going to prevail and increasingly become more dangerous for us all.
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