Some criminologists and victimologists have been critical of the media’s influence on crime, or at least the citizen’s perception of crime, noting that crime actually decreased in some cities, while the media has shown a corresponding increase in crime stories (South University 2012). One specific criticism of the media is that it cannot be objective about crime because it actually profits from the populace’s fear of crime through increased ratings (South University 2012). Overall, the question remains “Who profits from crime?”
When it comes to actual or perceived increases in crime there are a lot of people who profit, in my opinion anyways. If the crime is actually rising the prisons and jails are going to profit. This is because the phone calls to inmate’s costs as well as for them to eat. Not to mention the fact that the inmates also have to pay a certain amount of money a day for being imprisoned in general. Federal prisons really profit because they have more items for people to purchase. Other people, who profit, in my opinion, would be priests, police officers, judges, and lawyers. The more people committing crimes means the more lawyers that will be hired, the more cases judges will have the handle, the more police who are meeting their quotas, and even the more priests and pastors who are visiting the jails. All of these people are having an increase in their paychecks for crime rates rising.
Then, another factor that we must consider is the fact that there are quite a few jobs out there that have been created due to crime. For example, think about people who work in forensics. Forensics is needed to further understand what took place in a crime. Then, there are the criminal psychologists. They are the ones who help the police understand things about the offenders. Third, there are the arson specialists. They are the ones who help analyze cases of arson. All of the jobs that have been mentioned are just a few of the jobs within the criminal justice field that have originated because of crime.
After looking at some of the jobs that have been created on account of crime we must now analyze which devices have been sold to help people get rid of their fears of crime. These devices can be broken up into four sections. First, there are the car security devices. This category will include things such as GPS and car alarms. Second, there is home security. This group consists of home alarms all of which are set to alert the police anytime they go off. Not to mention that during this day in time some people even have the cameras throughout their homes to compliment the alarms as well. Third, there is business security which also consists of alarms. Lastly, there is such as Tasers and pepper spray. All of the devices previously mentioned are available to the public in hopes to help make them feel safer by knowing that they are protected during the possibility of a crime being committed.
In some cases these items do reduce crime. However, since the generations are becoming more advanced technology wise the alarms are not doing so well. Criminals are learning how to deactivate them while keeping them from going off. However, when someone has these devices present and a criminal is unaware this is when they become really useful. Also, of course there are the criminals who are not up to date with technology so all they need to see is an alarm sign outside of a home or an alarm light flashing in a car and that is enough for them to avoid making the owner a victim of crime.
Overall, criminals are not the only ones that profit from crime. There are so many others that profit as well. Sometime, the victim’s profit, in which they are compensated for their loss. Other times the police officers profit because they may get a bonus or promotion for putting the criminals in jail. The prison system profits because they make money off the inmates and the list just goes on and on.