Fallacies About Crime

• The dramatic fallacy: offenses in the media that are publicized are far more dramatic than those commonly found in real life= ex: shoot out, romantic murder
• The cops-and-courts fallacy: warns us against overrating the latter, except as a responsive set of agencies: ex: few convictions based on trials they are plea-bargained
• The not me fallacy: the illusion that I could never do a crime. It denies every illegal act I ever committed
• The innocent-youth fallacy: the belief that being young means innocent
• Ingenuity fallacy: the false image of the criminal derived from the media also creates this.
• Organized crime fallacy: the tendency to attribute much greater organization to crime conspiracies then they usually have. There are three basic principles of crime conspiracy:

–          act quickly to escape detection and minimize danger from other offenders

–          have direct contact with as few co-offenders as possible to avoid betrayal

–          work as little as possible to get a lot of money

• The juvenile gang fallacy: juvenile hangs have a remarkable image as cohesive, ruthless organized groups of alienated youths who dominate local crime and this has led the public to misunderstand the more common dangers
• the welfare state fallacy:  people making the mistake of assuming that crime is part of a larger set of social evils, such as unemployment, poverty, social injustice and human suffering
• The agenda fallacy: many people have a agenda and hope you will assist them. They want you to take advice, to vote a certain way, or to join their religious group. The basic moral sequence is supposed to be as follows:

–          teach and preach morality to people

–          they then do what’s right in practice

–          that prevents crime

• The whatever-you-think fallacy: allows criminologists to wriggle out of responsibility. Crime is subjective and its justice system manufacture crime y changing the definition. The law-in-action sequence helps explain how crime can be universal even if laws and enforcement vary:

–          societies have some general problems that need solutions

–          sometimes problems lead to written laws

–          written law are enforced

–          enforcement helps reduce the problem

–          legal action generates other problems