1.3
Ripple effect – The ripple effect is when the impact of a crime spreads further to other people
who may not even be involved such as family or loved ones. An example of this occurring would
be people who have been abused at a young age could grow up to be terrible people.
An example of this would be the infamous serial killer John Wayne Gacy, he had a rough
childhood and due to that he had most likely adapted to his evil behavior. Gacy had targeted
children on his murder rampage in the 60s and 70s.
Cultural – Cultural would-be crimes that are not illegal in certain countries such as FGM (female
genital mutilation). This could cause consequences when these crimes are committed abroad. A
case of this occurring would be the Kirsty Bamu case. Kirsty had been accused of witchcraft by
his sister and her lover. The boy had then been a victim of “exorcism”. He was tortured and
ultimately died in 2010 due to drowning in a bathtub.
Due to most cases being unreported, the social consequence of this would be that groups of
people (majority ethnic groups) would find it normal to commit those crimes.
Individually, the consequence would be that those who fall victims to these crimes may accept
it as tradition and will not report it to anyone.
Decriminalization – This occurs when laws are changed for certain reasons such as authorities
(e.g., police not dealing with issues effectively). Authorities will have to decriminalize a crime
(not making it legal, rather making punishments much lighter) This causes consequences as
people may be able to find a legal loophole. This can be evident in the Stephen Lawrence case
where his murderers had not been convicted the first time that they had been suspected as
they had been found not guilty, they couldn’t be convicted as due to them not being found
guilty in the first place they couldn’t be convicted a second time.
The social consequences of decriminalization may be that more issues may arise when
convicting a felon as if the crimes they had committed were once illegal, there wouldn’t be a
need to convict or sentence them, rather give them a small warning.
Police Prioritization – Police prioritization occurs when police take priority over another crime
than one being reported. This can occur to r victims when they report their crime to the police
only to not be taken seriously or the police may not want to waste efforts as it is too common.
The consequences to individuals make victims feel as if they are not being taken seriously and
fear reporting it if it were to happen again. This may make cases more common as perpetrators
didn’t get caught or in trouble when their victim had reported it.
Ripple effect – The ripple effect is when the impact of a crime spreads further to other people
who may not even be involved such as family or loved ones. An example of this occurring would
be people who have been abused at a young age could grow up to be terrible people.
An example of this would be the infamous serial killer John Wayne Gacy, he had a rough
childhood and due to that he had most likely adapted to his evil behavior. Gacy had targeted
children on his murder rampage in the 60s and 70s.
Cultural – Cultural would-be crimes that are not illegal in certain countries such as FGM (female
genital mutilation). This could cause consequences when these crimes are committed abroad. A
case of this occurring would be the Kirsty Bamu case. Kirsty had been accused of witchcraft by
his sister and her lover. The boy had then been a victim of “exorcism”. He was tortured and
ultimately died in 2010 due to drowning in a bathtub.
Due to most cases being unreported, the social consequence of this would be that groups of
people (majority ethnic groups) would find it normal to commit those crimes.
Individually, the consequence would be that those who fall victims to these crimes may accept
it as tradition and will not report it to anyone.
Decriminalization – This occurs when laws are changed for certain reasons such as authorities
(e.g., police not dealing with issues effectively). Authorities will have to decriminalize a crime
(not making it legal, rather making punishments much lighter) This causes consequences as
people may be able to find a legal loophole. This can be evident in the Stephen Lawrence case
where his murderers had not been convicted the first time that they had been suspected as
they had been found not guilty, they couldn’t be convicted as due to them not being found
guilty in the first place they couldn’t be convicted a second time.
The social consequences of decriminalization may be that more issues may arise when
convicting a felon as if the crimes they had committed were once illegal, there wouldn’t be a
need to convict or sentence them, rather give them a small warning.
Police Prioritization – Police prioritization occurs when police take priority over another crime
than one being reported. This can occur to r victims when they report their crime to the police
only to not be taken seriously or the police may not want to waste efforts as it is too common.
The consequences to individuals make victims feel as if they are not being taken seriously and
fear reporting it if it were to happen again. This may make cases more common as perpetrators
didn’t get caught or in trouble when their victim had reported it.
