Personal Reflection
I enrolled in the Introduction to Criminology course to help develop my understanding and perception of criminology. We are about a month into the course and I have learned a great deal about criminology. Firstly, some of my preconceptions have changed. I developed these preconceptions through various forms of interactions with the media, family, and friends. Secondly, I have learned that statistics do not portray crimes realistically, which causes some people and even myself to have stereotypes that are based on these statistics. Thirdly, I have learned that correlation does not equal causation. For example, just because a particular race commits more crimes, it does not mean all people of that race commit crimes. Finally, …show more content…
I was anxious to learn about criminology because criminology has sparked my interest ever since I was a child. The first concept that I discovered was the notion that society cannot function without a set of guidelines that people can live by. These guidelines are put in place based on a set of norms that people cannot violate. Subsequently, when people violate these guidelines they face some sort of consequence whether it is a fine, jail time, or community service depends on the severity of the crime. One of the preconceptions that I held before coming to this class was that people are brought to justice fairly by the criminal justice system; however, this preconception was rather not true. According to the crime funnel, only a small portion of crimes are reported due to various reasons and a fraction of the crimes reported are processed by the Canadian criminal justice system (Stevenson, 2015a, p. 3). I was exasperated because I thought that most …show more content…
One thing that annoys me now is when people are stereotypical. Sometimes we are stereotypical without even noticing. No one is perfect and I have been stereotypical on numerous occasions just by being humorous with my friends. However, I did not know that these stereotypes were supported by statistics. According to Stevenson, statistics show that aboriginal and African Canadians are more likely to commit crimes (Stevenson, 2015c, p. 4). However, we should not use these statistics to be stereotypical or biased towards a race; with this in mind, we should use these statistics to find out what is causing the problem. Once we know the cause we can try to theorize a solution. I try not to stereotype anyone because I know that crime does not have a race. In conclusion, I have learned that we should not be contributing to stereotypes
I enrolled in the Introduction to Criminology course to help develop my understanding and perception of criminology. We are about a month into the course and I have learned a great deal about criminology. Firstly, some of my preconceptions have changed. I developed these preconceptions through various forms of interactions with the media, family, and friends. Secondly, I have learned that statistics do not portray crimes realistically, which causes some people and even myself to have stereotypes that are based on these statistics. Thirdly, I have learned that correlation does not equal causation. For example, just because a particular race commits more crimes, it does not mean all people of that race commit crimes. Finally, …show more content…
I was anxious to learn about criminology because criminology has sparked my interest ever since I was a child. The first concept that I discovered was the notion that society cannot function without a set of guidelines that people can live by. These guidelines are put in place based on a set of norms that people cannot violate. Subsequently, when people violate these guidelines they face some sort of consequence whether it is a fine, jail time, or community service depends on the severity of the crime. One of the preconceptions that I held before coming to this class was that people are brought to justice fairly by the criminal justice system; however, this preconception was rather not true. According to the crime funnel, only a small portion of crimes are reported due to various reasons and a fraction of the crimes reported are processed by the Canadian criminal justice system (Stevenson, 2015a, p. 3). I was exasperated because I thought that most …show more content…
One thing that annoys me now is when people are stereotypical. Sometimes we are stereotypical without even noticing. No one is perfect and I have been stereotypical on numerous occasions just by being humorous with my friends. However, I did not know that these stereotypes were supported by statistics. According to Stevenson, statistics show that aboriginal and African Canadians are more likely to commit crimes (Stevenson, 2015c, p. 4). However, we should not use these statistics to be stereotypical or biased towards a race; with this in mind, we should use these statistics to find out what is causing the problem. Once we know the cause we can try to theorize a solution. I try not to stereotype anyone because I know that crime does not have a race. In conclusion, I have learned that we should not be contributing to stereotypes