Over time society has regarded crime as being only the most severe, those which include violence or even death. Often bystanders may witness crime such as robbery, burglary, etc. and not do anything as they do not think it’s “actually” a crime or because its in broad daylight and other people are around. This behavior is a combination of the bystander effect, where people are less likely to aide in an emergency when other people are present, and the stigma society has placed on different crimes (Schneider, Gruman, and Coutts, 2012).
A couple of weeks ago I traveled down to the city of El Cajon for a race. Though I won first place for females overall and my age group, it turned out to be a not so celebratory event as I was robbed. Luckily, I was right across the street from a police station, at least that’s what I thought. When I went to the station, I spoke to an officer, asking for help because I’d never been robbed and didn’t know what to do. Seeing that I was in not imminent danger or hadn’t been shot or anything, he dismissed my fright, telling me I could go home and file a report online. Yes, ONLINE! After going to a random person who turned out to be the director of the race, who knew police officers, I was helped and took necessary steps in dealing with the situation.
Once I got home and reflected on the situation, I realized how outrageous it is to think that crimes with severe outcomes are the only ones that need attention. Society has put such an emphasis on different violent crimes as though those are the only crimes that affect people’s daily lives. I agree they do deserve a lot of attention, I do not think that, that means other crimes deserve no attention. That day when I actually got to speak to an officer to take my report, at the end I asked if they were going to act on trying to catch these individuals. They responded that I should get identity theft protection, turn off my bankcards, etc. Though we had significant details, time stamps on purchases they made with my cards, specific locations, etc., they said that they would try. Though no one was significantly hurt, it is still a crime to take other people’s items into your possession. Not much headway was made, though I shut off my cards, a few days ago these individuals were able to hack into my account online to reactivate the card they had, change the pin, and move the money from my savings into the checking account to be able to make more purchases. Crime is crime, even when shooting or violence is not involved.
The bias in crimes that are pursued is a result of societal shortcomings. All criminal deserved to be dealt with accordingly, despite the severity of their crime. One crime isn’t better than the other, no crime should go unpunished. Criminals are able to continue to nefarious activities so as long as they are not caught and handled appropriately.
References
Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2012). Applied Social Psychology (Second ed., pp. 135-163). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.