The killing of the two black American young men Amadou Diallo and Louima were separated by about two years but Amadou's killing happened just before the trial of Louima's case. Amadou's killing drew a lot of public interest that was focused on the conduct of the New York Police. It was the only such heated debate since the Knapp commission of the 70s which disclosed corruption in the police department. Amadou was from a middle class family that migrated from Guinea. They were engaged in simple trade activities including selling items on the streets. Amadou was shot 41 times in his apartment house in Bronx. His life was brought to an end by a special crimes unit of a group of four policemen operating under cover. It is a New York born strategy for combating aggressive crime (Harring & Ray, 1999). There is no doubt that a crime was indeed committed.The Theory of Criminal Behavior Related to the Selected Case
Crime, its practice and existence is perceived through the social construction of criminality and the factors that make it happen. According to the traditional theories in sociology, crime was caused by lack of norms. This was immersed in a feeling of lacking the desired social connectedness. The term anomie was commonly used to refer to this scenario. It was further popularized by Emile Durkhein (1897). He also used the term to describe suicide. Sociologists refined the definition of the term to refer to a state of lacking social conscience because one is disconnected. They also described it as criminality that possibly emanates from lack of hope to achieve one's aspirations. It is, therefore, safe and logical to say that criminality thrives on the premise that we have failed to socialize our children. It is also predominant because of lack of social opportunities for certain groups or sheer differences in the same. According to Durkheim, crime was a necessary evil in society. He advocated that crime should only be kept within reasonable boundaries (Seiken, 2016).
One outstanding feature of sociological theories is that crime is constructed by society. Society also holds some behavior as criminal in nature but they do not cause harm to anyone. Thus such behaviors are made criminal without sufficient supporting reasons. These crimes are commonly referred to as victimless crimes. Examples of such crimes include drug abuse, prostitution and the like. Therefore, according to this view, the entire society is engaged in the act of breaking the law at one point or another. One possible policy from sociological grounding would be to decriminalize the victimless crimes, if not drastically reducing their penalties (Schur, 1965).
The Biases and Assumptions that Influenced Participants in the Case Process
Investigators
There was a federal organized investigation launched to probe the tactics of the aggressive tactics applied by the...
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