Daily Archives: March 17, 2017

A crime is defined as any act that is contrary to legal code or laws. There are many different types of crimes, from crimes against persons to victimless crimes and violent crimes to white collar crimes. The study of crime and deviance is a large subfield within sociology, with much attention paid to who commits which types of crimes and why.

Crimes against persons, also called personal crimes, include murder, aggravated assault, rape, and robbery.

Personal crimes are unevenly distributed in the United States, with young, urban, poor, and racial minorities arrested for these crimes more than others.

Property crimes involve theft of property without bodily harm, such as burglary, larceny, auto theft, and arson. Like personal crimes, young, urban, poor, and racial minorities are arrested for these crimes more than others.

Hate crimes are crimes against persons or property that are committed while invoking prejudices ofrace, gender or gender identity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. The rate of hate crimes in the U.S. remains fairly constant from year to year, but there have been a few events that have caused surges in hate crimes. In 2016, the election of Donald Trump to president was followed by ten days of hate crimes.

Crimes against morality are also called victimless crimes because there is not complainant, or victim.

Prostitution, illegal gambling, and illegal drug use are all examples of victimless crimes.

White-collar crimes are crimes committed by people of high social status who commit their crimes in the context of their occupation. This includes embezzling (stealing money from ones employer), insider trading, tax evasion, and other violations of income tax laws.

White-collar crimes generally generate less concern in the public mind than other types of crime, however in terms of total dollars, white-collar crimes are even more consequential for society. For example, the Great Recession can be understood as in part the result of a variety of white-collar crimes committed within the home mortgage industry. Nonetheless, these crimes are generally the least investigated and least prosecuted because they are protected by a combination of privileges of race, class, and gender.

Organized crime is committed by structured groups typically involving the distribution and sale of illegal goods and services. Many people think of the Mafia when they think of organized crime, but the term can refer to any group that exercises control over large illegal enterprises (such as the drug trade, illegal gambling, prostitution, weapons smuggling, or money laundering).

A key sociological concept in the study or organized crime is that these industries are organized along the same lines as legitimate businesses and take on a corporate form. There are typically senior partners who control profits, employees who manage and work for the business, and clients who buy the goods and services that the organization provides.

Arrest data show a clear pattern of arrests in terms of race, gender, and class. For instance, as mentioned above, young, urban, poor, and racial minorities are arrested and convicted more than others for personal and property crimes. To sociologists, the question posed by this data is whether this reflects actual differences in committing crimes among different groups, or whether this reflects differential treatment by the criminal justice system.

Studies show that the answer is both. Certain groups are in fact more likely to commit crimes than others because crime, often looked to as a survival strategy, is linked to patterns of inequality in the United States. However, the process of prosecution in the criminal justice system is also significantly related to patterns of race, class, and gender inequality.

We see this in the official arrest statistics, in treatment by the police, in sentencing patterns, and in studies of imprisonment.

Updated by Nicki Lisa Cole, Ph.D.

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Types of Crimes - Overview and Discussion

West Virginia is trying to improve its grade on laws regarding human trafficking. According to the website, Shared Hope which provides grades of all 50 states relating to trafficking laws, West Virginia received a "D" in 2016.

Last week, however, the West Virginia Senate passed House Bill 2318, introduced by Delegate John Shott, R-Mercer, which creates felony offenses and penalties for using a person in forced labor, debt bondage and commercial sexual activity. It also creates a felony for patronizing a person to engage in commercial sexual activity and provides immunity from prosecution for minors who might otherwise be prosecuted for prostitution.

Shepherdstown Police Chief Mike King feels that stiffer penalties are appropriate to try to slow the problem.

"Does anybody think that things will change if we arrest a person for trafficking and he goes to court and gets a slap on the wrist and a fine? It's not going to change a thing. He's just going to pick up and move to a different location and open business again," said King.

In areas just outside of West Virginia, this problem is more common, but trafficking is on the rise, not only nationally, but globally as well.

Traffickers see this crime as low-risk, high reward due to the lack of prosecutions and even the low probability of being caught.

King admits that trafficking can be difficult to identify. "A problem with sex trafficking and prostitution is that the victims don't always see themselves as victims. They often refer to their trafficker as a 'boyfriend' and say that they are in a relationship." King continued, "It is coming to light, with the training that is happening now, that this is not a victimless crime. It was looked at as a victimless crime for many years. The law isn't blurry, but each case is.

King says that all of his officers have had training on identifying trafficking, and that the state now does require training. However, he's not sure prosecutions will see an increase just yet.

"Unfortunately, this is a crime right now that is relatively low on the list of things to do for investigative units because the drugs are so rampant right now with all of the overdoses we have. There's so much pressure for that kind of activity to be squashed," said King. "It's a pretty high probability that there are drugs involved wherever there is sex trafficking. "The drug problem is easier to identify and to make make arrests to shut it down."

With the spotlight on the opioid problem in our area and with budgetary constraints in the state, it remains to be seen if there will be dedicated investigators to address the issue of sex and labor trafficking in West Virginia. However, with awareness on the rise, law enforcement officials feel certain there will be more cases brought to light in the panhandle.

Sargent Will Garrett from the West Virginia State Police Crimes Against Children Division is one of three officers in that division who cover all seven counties in the panhandle.

Garrett said, "We are constantly getting cyber tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on a monthly basis for possible child solicitation on the internet and possible child prostitution. Every now and then, we might get something for an alleged human trafficking event, but that's few and far between right now."

Garrett continued, "What we do has an impact, but it's just the tip of the iceburg."

According to Garrett, statewide in 2016, the West Virginia Crimes Against Children Division had over 900 cases.

His unit conducted a successful sting operation in Berkeley County for the Eastern Panhandle in 2016 as well, the largest one to date for the West Virginia State Police.

"We ended up getting about seven individuals who traveled or attempted to travel to bring themselves withing the presence of a minor for the purposes of having some sort of sexual interaction," said Garrett.

According to statistics from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, one in six endangered runaways reported to NCMEC in 2016 were likely sex trafficking victims. A shocking 86 percent of these likely sex trafficking victims were in the care of social services or foster care when they went missing. Many of these children runaway to meet someone that they have engaged with online or are picked up, groomed for trafficking, then solicited.

"We are trying to make some headway," said King, "but we are starting down a long path that has no end in sight."

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West Virginia improving on legal penalties for trafficking - News ... - Shepherdstown Chronicle

Thirteen new pickleball courts were opened in Monument Valley Park after a ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday, August 26, 2014. Photo courtesy of Mike Hess

My husband and I play pickleball and appreciate the help the City Council provided to complete the 14 pickleball courts in Monument Valley Park. Like the U.S. Olympic Museum supporters, Pikes Peak Pickleball raised some of the money. Pickleball is a fast-growing nationwide sport. Tournaments will bring many tourist dollars into the local economy. It was part of the State Games last year.

Thank you, Colorado Springs City Council for your support. It was a good investment. Now, please extend that same wise support by giving LART funds for another very deserving group - The U.S. Olympic Museum. Our area and state will benefit 100 times over the investment of $500,000.

Janice E. Brewington

Colorado Springs

Misguided government policies

Lisa Butler's recent letter really resonated with me. From its contents, I am reasonably certain that we are close to the same generation, and assuredly of the same mindset. She perfectly and eloquently expressed the misgivings I am feeling. Our Congress must act strongly and swiftly to address the business of this country and put aside all thoughts of how their actions will affect their next campaign. The urgency to get the seeds of racism, misogyny, isolationism and violence weeded out of our society is now, and the desperate condition of our infrastructure calls for hard work and immediacy. It seems our recent leadership styles harken back to the days when "Nero fiddled while Rome burned."

Our children need and deserve every measure of education, health and protection we can give them or the future is lost. I do wonder how much money ICE spent arresting the two parents for deportation who recently made the news. Their victimless "crimes" don't begin to warrant their treatment - our law enforcement community should be using all their resources to track down, arrest and incarcerate or deport the vile criminals who do so much harm to our society with their drugs and murderous natures.

The children left behind in both instances are the true victims of the ICEs' misguided policy. I accept that the parents broke the law, but we should adjudicate with compassion instead of harshness, considering the impact these decisions make.

I used to identify myself as a Democrat but switched to the Republican Party midlife and now feel I have no choice at all. The absurdity of this administration and its fumbling, dishonest, self-serving behavior is absolutely beyond the pale and the last administration went too far in overreaching the powers given them, so I feel total antipathy for them both.

We, as citizens, have to shoulder the blame for the current state of affairs and do whatever is necessary to remedy it both at the ballot box and on the streets. Keep marching and protesting.

Carol Bishop

Colorado Springs

Just plain old hate speech

It took me a couple day's to gag down the diatribe that appeared on last Wednesday's OP/ED page, complements of Lisa Butler. It was kind of like that train wreck you don't really want to see, but can't help watching anyway.

The longer I thought about most of the assertions she made in her letter, it became clear to me that it was just plain old hate speech! Nothing more, nothing less! Our president is a "bigoted, misogynist who encourages discrimination?" "Thousands have taken his views as carte blanche to kill and burn places of worship?" "We now have over 100 recognized hate groups, up from 30 just a few years ago?" Unbelievable! All the civil rights, and gay rights talk really can't hide the fact that most of it was just hate speech. I wonder Ms. Butler's letter would have looked like had Hillary Clinton been elected?

Randy Pierce

Colorado Springs

Carrier passionate about his work

Several years ago we moved into the Kissing Camels neighborhood and I was introduced to a Gazette mail carrier by the name of Howard Pudder. After a short time, we found Howard to be a devoted and dedicated man who took pride in every aspect of his job. I witnessed over the years a man who through thick and thin quietly approached our home, got out of his vehicle and placed the paper against our front door.

I recall after moving into our home, having a concern that on many early morning flights my paper would not arrive before I had to leave to catch my plane. Howard quickly put that concern to rest as time and time again in the wee early morning hours I saw Howard's headlights coming up the drive. I never knew Howard personally, just an exchange of cards at Christmas time but I knew him as a man who was passionate about his work and someone who always did his very best at what he did. In a day and age where everyone fights over everything and seeks to gain an edge, I found Howard to be someone the rest of the world should try and emulate. Thank you for your dedicated service these last years and a job well done. Rest In Peace, Howard.

Ray McElhaney

Colorado Springs

Only time will tell

You may remember that I pointed out to you shortly after the last election that we had been snookered by 2C as the city was using road improvement funds to improve gutters and curbs (drainage improvements). While the city stopped displaying the signs touting how pleased they were that a particular improvement was part of 2C, they did in fact continue to misuse funds for drainage improvements, and to "blackwash" roads that needed no fixing at all, while totally ignoring the streets that truly needed fixing. Think of Pikes Peak between Union and downtown for instance.

At that time I also told you that I voted for keeping excess revenue and against new taxes. I have decided to again vote for the city to keep excess revenue. Had there been a tax increase request, I would have voted against it.

I want to believe that our most recent presidential election has impressed upon them the need to stop lying to us.

Only time will tell.

Kenneth Duncan

Colorado Springs

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LETTERS: Another good investment; only time will tell | Colorado ... - Colorado Springs Gazette