Research Conclusion

11. After sending out my survey, I was surprised with some of my results. More people than I expected knew what the "Three Strikes" Laws were, even though the majority did not.  I was also surprised that 29% of the people who took my survey did not agree with the laws. I was expecting 100% of people who took my survey to agree with it, considering I assumed them to lack background information. I was not surprised that most of the people to take my survey were unaware that California was most strict with the "Three Strikes" laws, because New Jersey and Texas both seem like stereotypically strict states.  Nearly 100% of people chose murder/rape as the worst crime in their opinion, which I agree with and expected. One theory of mine that I was trying to prove through my survey was a trace of gender separation.  For two of my questions, I asked about self defense for both males and females.  83% of people who took my survey felt sympathetic for the female who committed murder in order to protect herself, while 71% of people did not feel sympathetic toward a male who committed murder as an act of self defense.  I find it very fascinating that gender plays such a huge role in something like crime and jail.  It is amazing that two human beings that committed the same crime could be treated differently in their punishments based on gender.

Overall, I am very pleased with my results.  My theories were mostly proven and I learned a lot about my society's view on crime and what it takes for them to feel safe.  It is obvious that the people who took my survey were raised in good areas and offered a great education, but crime is still relevant to all of our lives.  People who tended to lack background knowledge on the three strikes laws agreed with it, while people who knew of it tended to disagree with it.  I personally agree with the "Three Strikes" Laws even though I have a lot of experience with the topic through my research and survey.  In my opinion, everyone needs something that will make them feel protected from the uncontrollable, crime.  Even if the "Three Strikes" Laws do not provide a fair case for criminals, they off a sense of safety and reassurance to the majority of the population.  The laws have the ability to ease the fear of everyday people, much like myself, who hear about murderous crimes on the news and do not want to live in fear of it happening to them.  My survey proved that the "Three Strikes" Laws need to be discussed more in school or even on television.  Also, it proved that there are many factors that could drive a person to commit a crime.  There are also many "exceptions" ordinary people tend to make for criminals.  These exceptions include being female, growing up in a bad area and self defense.  A murder is not always just a murder.

Violent crime is something that people from my society view as inexistent and unrealistic for our area.  It is horrifying to think that violence is happening everywhere, and people just like us are experiencing it.  Violence rates have gone up and crimes are becoming more relevant and reoccurring.  The "Three Strikes" Laws NEED to be discussed and people need to be warned about all different types of crimes and how to protect themselves.  Crime is not a myth, and we need to work together to stop it.

Update

10. So far I have created my survey for my Violent Crime Project.  It contains 10 questions about the "Three Strikes" laws and different crime related scenarios.  The person filling out my survey will be asked a series of factual questions about the "Three Strikes" laws and then read a small paragraph describing a situation in which someone committed a violent crime. By getting different answers and opinions from people through this survey, I will be able to see what makes violent crime "acceptable" in society.  The goal of this survey is to find out the opinion of the "Three Strikes" laws from the point of view of a noncriminal/normal person.

Strategy For Research

9. My topic is violent crimes and the goal of my research was originally to figure out a criminal's reasoning for committing a violent crime.  Now I am interested in the opinions of people who are not criminals.  How do they feel about punishing criminals?  Does putting them in jail or punishing them severely make normal people feel safer? In order to figure out how criminals feel when committing crimes, it is important to understand how people who would never commit crimes feel about it. So for my strategy I am going to use a survey to see people's opinions on the "Three Strikes" laws.  I plan on using an online survey to accomplish this.  At first I am going to ask if they know what it is and after that question I am going to give a brief description of it for the people who do not know.  I am going to then give the person a scenario involving a criminal and then ask a series of questions that follow the "Three Strikes Laws" to figure out if the person does agree or does not agree with "Three Strikes Laws".  After I finish surveying people, I am going to organize why people would agree with the law and for what reasons they do not.  The goal of this survey is ultimately to figure out what reasons would push a person into siding with severe punishment for criminals, or what reasons would turn a person against it.

Information Reflection

8. In the Introductory Post of my blog I asked the question of what was going on through a criminals mind before he/she committed a violent crime.  Through out my research I feel as though I can form a theory to the answer of this question.  In my research there appears to be a pattern.  Normally, people from bad areas or people who had troubled child hoods seem to be the majority of offenders in violent crimes.  Of course, there are exceptions such as the Columbine Shooting who involved two young boys who seemed to have friends and loving families.  In a way, I discovered that it is nearly impossible to know exactly what is going on through a person's head that causes them to commit violent crimes.  Sometimes people are able to convince themselves that committing a crime  is the right thing to do, while other times people are able to commit acts of violence without any remorse.  I wish I could find a simple explanation to my research question, but unfortunately the answer is too complex to understand.

Overall, studying violent crimes and all different types of them was very interesting and fascinating to learn about.  I will never agree with any form of violence no matter the situation, but learning about it assisted in understanding why violence exists today.  I am lead to believe, based on my research, that violence in unexplainable.  Yes, there are factors such as where a person grew up and how they were raised that could be the explanation for violence, but other than that why do certain people snap randomly?

Gun's Contribution To Violent Crimes

7. In this post I want to discuss a topic that keeps occurring and is a constant problem everywhere: guns.  Some people claim that shootings occur because the person holding the gun is mentally unstable, while others say shootings would not be a problem if guns were illegal.  In my opinion both sides are correct. People who have the ability to pick up a gun and shoot are mentally unstable, but if they did not have access to the guns would these problems keep occurring? One of the most famous school shootings took place at Columbine High School in Colorado.  Two boys who seemed normal and happy did the unspeakable.  They brought guns into the high school and shot a total of 12 students and 1 teacher.  Some say that the two boys were deranged, which in my opinion anyone who can murder their peers is, while others argue that if they did not have access to guns the situation would not have occurred.

The image above is life footage of the boys in the school cafeteria holding guns while their classmates hide under the tables.  I have trouble looking at this picture because of how tragic this incident was.  Violence is not only for people who live in bad areas, had rough childhoods or are adults.  Anyone can commit acts of violence no matter their age or situation.  In my opinion guns should not be legal and in schools (middle schools, high schools, colleges, etc.) there should be more counseling and guidance meetings available to students.  If these two boys did not have access to guns and had the support of a guidance counselor or therapist that was offered by the school, maybe the tragedy at Columbine never would have happened.

In my opinion, guns go against peace and the ending of violence everywhere.  The estimated number of guns owned in the United States is 270,000,000 to 310,000,000.  It can be assumed that not all millions of people who own guns are owning them for good and innocent reasons.  As hard as it is to believe, people can be evil.  By having access to guns, evil people can easily commit violent crimes without much thought.  If guns were not accessible or legal, there would definitely be no school shootings occurring for sure.  With the amount of gun related violence occurring in the US today, I personally think that everyone should be against guns. People who support guns claim that guns don't kill people; people kill people, but without a gun I believe that the amount of violent crimes committed would be reduced intensely.

Does Media Violence Lead to Real Violence?

Does Media Violence Lead to the Real Thing?

6. The theory about whether or not people are influenced by violence in movies, television shows and even the news is very controversial and there is not much evidence to back up this theory. This article discusses if the theory is true or false.  Jim Carrey, the star of a movie that contained a lot of violence distanced himself from the film during the time of the Sandy Hook tragedy. He did not want to be associated with violence in film, while there was actual violence occurring outside of the media. People are finding it difficult to prove that there is a link between violence in film and violence in reality. This issue is not usually addressed because is could be fought with freedom of speech and constitutional rights.

In my opinion, media has nothing to do with the violence that takes place in our society. If it did, people would consider how the movies end for the people that behave violently. If anything, television shows like Law and Order, which I discussed earlier in my blog, should prevent people from committing crimes. In the end of the Law and Order episode that I posted, the criminal is given the death penalty for his actions, and if forced to give his life in return for what he did. Shows with endings like that should be a red flag for people saying that nothing good comes out of violence. Other people believe that by watching violence on television and on the news can influence a person to believe that being violent is okay and acceptable. I think that every human being is capable of violence, but they only act on it if they chose too, not if the media influenced them or not.

Violence In the Olympics

Tonya Harding vs. Nancy Kerrigan Documentary

5. Since it is the time of the 2014 Winter Olympics, I thought it would be interesting to research and see if there was ever any acts of violence between the Olympians. When I came across the Tonya Harding vs. Nancy Kerrigan documentary I was shocked. Violence between rivals from different countries during the Olympics is horrible enough, but violence between rivals from the same team is just unspeakable. Harding and Kerrigan were both figure skaters on the United States Olympic Team. They were always competitive about being the best female skater on the team even though they had completely different styles of skating. Apparently, Kerrigan was "clubbed in the knee" by a complete stranger who Harding had paid to injure Kerrigan. Unfortunately, Kerrigan's injuries were bad enough that she could not skate in the 1994 Olympic Games. This event is proof that crimes can be driven by intense jealousy or fear. Harding was obviously jealous of Kerrigan's skating abilities and was afraid that she would place higher than her in the Figure Skating portion of the Olympics. Harding felt she had no other choice than to end one of her teammates skating careers in order to stay on top.

The pressure of constantly being the best is placed upon people by society, family or friends. If too much pressure is placed on a person, that person will eventually crack. There is a lot of competitive energy and pressure in sports that could be enough to drive a person insane. Harding got away with her crime for a while, but was eventually caught and ended up pleading guilty. She avoided prison but was forced to perform community service, pay a fine, quit the U.S. Figure Skating Association and was striped of her title. Was injuring her teammate worth all of the consequences she faced? Definitely not. Violence occurs everywhere and can be done by anyone, even admired Olympians who seem to have everything.