How Crime Impacts Community

Emotions have been shown to impact legislative responses to crime. For instance, many of the Get-Tough crime policies were based on an emotional response than on scientific evidence about what actually works. Coincidentally, the emotional process has failed to serve as a critical component to our understanding of the criminal justice system’s response to the crime problem. From officer discretion to the desire of an employer to hire the formerly incarcerated, emotional positions on crime remain pervasive. For this Journal assignment, you will examine your own personal beliefs and assumptions about the impact of crime on/in your local community, and then reconcile them with what the research and data says.
Journal:
First, describe your beliefs about how crime impacts your community (from your own observations and interactions, etc.).
Then locate at least one source of data about how crime impacts your community (in terms of safety, occupancy/growth/decline, home values, social fabric, etc.) and briefly explain how the perspectives overlap.
Were your beliefs about the impact of crime on your community accurate? How do they align with the data?
Your journal entry should be 250–400 words.