Cracking the Code on Criminals

As young minds and leaders, we were constantly told "you are our future." When it comes to big issues such a climate change, we are the ones that will hopefully make a difference to save our planet. As the future of this world, there's a lot weighing on our shoulders. Can we be as brilliant as the young minds of the industrial revolution? As powerful as those of the Civil Rights era? Yes, my answer is yes.

If you've been keeping up with big news, you've definitely seen "#NeverAgain" or "#MarchforOurLives". These circulating hashtags are those of brave, strong, and incredible survivor students of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting in Parkland Florida. It's so sad to see another tragic school shooting take place in our country and we can only wish for peace and comfort in the friends and families of those we've lost.

Despite the tragedy, students have been working hard to create change. Their hashtags, campaigns, and events have created a spiral of support as well as action beginning with company withdrawal from the NRA as well as Trump's push for newer gun laws.  In just two weeks, these students have already made progress that we could not have imagined for our nation in such a short time. They are the prime example of just how powerful we young people can be.

While these students are pushing change for a better world, one without guns, others simply want justice. Isn't that what this country is all about? Yet, what is justice for a young man who has murdered 17 individuals? For supporters of the death penalty, that is justice. Considering that Florida is a state that would allow for such capital punishment, there is lots of debate circulating about whether or not this is justice.

As a student currently enrolled in a criminology course, we've touched a lot on this subject. It seems that humans are incapable of rationing such a violent crime as murder. Those who favor the death penalty simply feel that this would be sufficient punishment, and to see this been done would actually stimulate the reward pleasure center in the brain.

We want criminals off the streets and locked away so they could never harm or commit another crime again, which is why there has been an epidemic of mass incarceration in our country. We believe criminals to be such awful individuals. They are disturbed, heartless, and cold, but are they really?

Perhaps, we've been socialized to view these individuals in a light that is not reality. Don't get me wrong, I'm not justifying any crimes or defending murders. Instead, I'd like to share some of the knowledge I have gathered and provide a new perspective on crime and criminals. At the end of the day, criminals were once people of society like you and I, and the people in your life right now, could easily be a criminal one day.

Most crime is consequence of three things: money, sex, and dispute. Therefore, much crime falls on the smaller scale in contrast to murder. So why do we believe murder is such a big deal? I for one have always assumed that murder was a popular thing and thought the likelihood of being murdered was pretty high. However, that is simply a consequence of our media and the ways it seems to romanticize murder with shows such as cold cases files, how to get away with murder, and Dexter . If you don't believe me, check out this video of other myths about crime.


Going past crime itself, there are many theories that explain why people commit crime. I will explain only three: strain theory, rational-choice, and control theory.

Strain theory asserts the idea that people face problems that can create strain taking the form of stress, anger, or even depression. When this happens, individuals can be more vulnerable and inclined to commit crime as their logic goes out the window and this strain(emotions) takes over.

In contrast, rational choice views criminals as more calculated and in control. Crime takes place when the criminal sees an opportunity and weighs the benefits and costs to make a decision about whether or not they should commit this crime. If you leave your wallet in your unlocked car with little to no witnesses around, you've set the perfect opportunity for someone to cash in with little chance of being caught; you've made the perfect criminal.

Lastly, control theory considers that anyone of us could be criminals. In fact, we are very inclined to commit crime but it is a sense of control that holds us back. There are formal controls such as police, parents, and other authority figures as well as informal controls such as gossip, self-image, and investment in society. Without such controls, there would be little to stop anyone from committing a crime.

We are all criminals to some degree. Remember when you jaywalked across the street to get to your class, snuck in that candy bar as a young child, or went out for a night of drinking as a 18 year old. These are very minor crimes but that's where most serious criminals start. While we might feel an immense dissociation from those locked behind bars, some of them aren't much different from you and I.

Taking this course has really opened my eyes to a new perspective on crime and the individuals who commit crime. I find it to be very interesting and I hope you did too.

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When considering identity, some of the first associations that come to mind are race, class, gender, or even ethnicity. However, did it ever occur to you just how much who you choose to love, your sexual preference, or even sexual orientation could play such a large role in how you're viewed or treated? This is something the LGBTQA community has been struggling with for a long time.

Although the movement from the rights of LGBTQA community began in the late 1960's with the Stonewall riots, only years ago did we see big change with the legalization of marriage for this group of individuals.

A more recent issue that has been circulating for some time now deals with the push for gender neutral or unisex bathrooms in institutions and public places. This initiation would mean a lot to the LGBTQA community simply for the fact that allows for the opportunity for transgender people to use a bathroom in which they identify with rather than the one in which their sexual orientation suggests.

Like any other issue, this has a large base of resistance as well as support. Companies like Starbucks were quick to feature their own gender neutral bathrooms and last year, Yelp decided that as part of it's app features, it can provide you with the knowledge of whether or not your place of interest contained gender neutral bathrooms.



Last year, a transgender woman in Los Angeles was headed to the Pride festival and stopped in Walgreens. As she headed to the women's restroom, an employee redirected her to the men's room considering that she was dressed as a male. The store manager at this location also decided to back up her employee and redirected the woman to the men's room. This incident created a lot of buzz when the woman decides to released this video to YouTube in response. Now, just a week ago, Walgreens has implemented gender neutral bathroom policy after coming to the consensus that "all individuals have the right to use restroom facilities that correspond to the individuals gender identity, regardless of the individuals sex assigned at birth" back in November of 2017.

This has been a big issue for companies and institutions all over that have faced backlash from the LGBTQA community as well as its supporters about incidences in which they were denied the ability to use the bathroom that felt appropriate. To deny this community their own discretion of bathroom use is a from of discrimination and sadly, the fight for this issue continues.

Just yesterday, the U.S. Department of Education decided it would no longer consider complaints about the absence of gender neutral bathrooms. Although during the Obama administration, it was said that students should be allowed to use the bathroom they preferred to use, Trump has revoked this and felt that the decision should be left to the individual states.

In regard to education, implementing gender neutral bathrooms is crucial as many young transgender students who prefer using a bathroom that does not align with their birth sex are often targeted, bullied, and can face violence. With this, these students are also more susceptible to mental health issues as well as an increased likelihood of suicide. According to Jody Herman, a scholar of Williams Institute, "there are no accurate statistics about transgender youth and adults in the U.S," and so a study was done for students in the 9th, 10th, and 11th grade all over the state of Minnesota that found 62.1% of transgender youth report negative responses toward their health. This article also states that these youth are more likely to be "at an elevated risk for harassment and victimization' which can lead to depression, self-harm, post-traumatic stress, eating disorders, and suicidal thoughts."

It's upsetting to think about all the implication of denying something as small as gender neutral bathrooms and personal discretion for an entire community of people. It's no help that such powerful leaders like out president speak against a matter that not only reinforces discrimination but has adverse effects on youth. How can LGBTQA community win in their fight for gender neutral bathrooms when our government doesn't recognize this to be a matter of importance?