AN ANALYSIS OF SERIOUS VIOLENT CRIME POLICY

Running head: CRIMINOLOGY IN POLICY AND PRACTICE
CRIMINOLOGY IN POLICY AND PRACTICE: AN ANALYSIS OF SERIOUS
VIOLENT CRIME POLICY
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1CRIMINOLOGY IN POLICY AND PRACTICE
As stated by Walsh (2018), criminology is the branch of study which is associated with
the scientific study of the different kinds of crimes, criminals, the factors which motivate the
individuals to undertake criminal activities and other related aspects of the same. Matters and
Done (2017) are of the viewpoint that the discipline of criminology is important since over the
years it had helped the law enforcement authorities to adequately understand the behavior of the
different criminals and thereby to take effective steps for the prevention of various kinds of
crimes. The discipline of criminology is of great importance from the perspective of the
contemporary society or for that matter the modern world because of the ever-increasing number
of crimes which are being committed by the individuals (Freestone, Ullrich and Coid 2017).
More importantly, it had been seen that the large number of crimes which are being committed in
the present times while taking a toll on the lives of the different people also causes a significant
amount of property damage as well. This in turn had made it important for the law enforcement
department and also the national government of the different nations to take the help of adequate
measures for tackling the concerned issue (Carr, Slothower and Parkinson 2017). In addition to
these, it had been seen that the national government of the different nations of the world had
formulated various policies for the resolution of this particular issue. The “Serious Violent Crime
Strategy” (2018) of the nation of UK for tackling serious violent crimes in the concerned nation
is an important one in this regard. The purpose of this paper is to undertake a critical analysis of
the “Serious Violent Crime Strategy” of the nation of UK taking into account the strengths and
the limitations of the same and also to make suitable recommendations through which the
concerned policy can be improved.
Crocker et al. (2019) are of the viewpoint that the number of serious violent crimes
committed within the nation of UK had increased in an exponential manner in the last two

2CRIMINOLOGY IN POLICY AND PRACTICE
decades which in turn had it an important issue which the law enforcement department of the
concerned nation is presently facing. According to Bbc.com (2020), in the last years itself the
number of violent serious crimes committed within the nation of UK had increased by more than
19% which in turn poses a major security threat to the stability of the society of the concerned
nation. As a matter of fact, in the year 2018 alone the total number of violent crimes which were
committed in the nation of UK were 5,723,182 and these are just the incidents which were
brought to the light of the law enforcement department of the concerned nation (Cps.gov.uk
2020). More importantly, it had been seen that there are various cases in which the victims of the
negative media attention, the legal complications and others do not feel comfortable to report the
concerned incidents to the law enforcement department (Freestone, Ullrich and Coid 2017). In
this regard, the statement of John Apter, chairman of the Police Federation wherein he said that
“Society just isn't as safe as it once was, and although the police service is doing everything
within its power, we are swimming against the tide and it is the public who are being let down”
is important to note (Bbc.com 2020). An interesting trend seen within the different violent crime
incidents is the fact that the majority of these crimes are being committed by the juveniles,
teenagers and also by the individuals who are below the age of 35 years of age (Carr, Slothower
and Parkinson 2017). This is in complete contradiction to the trend which was seen in the earlier
times wherein the majority of the crimes were being committed by the individuals who were
over the year of 35 years of age (González et al. 2016).
Coleman, Almond and McManus (2018) are of the viewpoint that there are various
factors which have directly contributed towards the exponential increase in the number of serious
violent crimes that are being committed within the nation of UK presently. Adding to this,
Dandawate et al. (2019) have noted that an important which had directly contributed towards the

3CRIMINOLOGY IN POLICY AND PRACTICE
increase in the number of serious violent crimes is the increasing amount of social depravity that
the individuals from middle-class background and the lower middle-class backgrounds had to
face within the societal structure of the concerned nation. For instance, the gulf between the
different economic classes of the nation of UK had increased in an exponential manner and the
resultant effect of this is that the people from the middle-class background and the lower middle-
class backgrounds do not get adequate economic, employment, educational and other kinds of
opportunities within the concerned nation (Rahman 2019). This in turn had lead to the ineffective
fulfillment of the basic psychosocial needs of the individuals which in turn had substantially
increased their discontent and thereby propelled them to indulge in various kinds of serious
violent crimes. Another important factor which had contributed towards the increase in the
serious violent crimes within the nation of UK can be attributed to the aspect of easy availability
of guns and other kinds of weapons which are being used by the individuals while undertaking
serious violent crimes (Coid et al. 2017). As a matter of fact, unlike the earlier almost every
alternate individual within the nation of UK presently owns a gun and even the teenagers have
the option to purchase guns from online websites at cheaper prices without having to undergo
any sort of verification for the same (Crocker et al. 2019). The different kinds of violent movies,
television series and others which are being presently released within the nation of UK had
adversely affected the psychology of the teenagers (Dobash et al. 2018). This in turn had created
the mindset among the individuals that violent crimes are something cool and a common part of
the lives of the individuals which in turn propels them to undertake different kinds of serious
violent crimes. The limitations or for that matter the shortcomings of the different serious violent
crime prevention strategies or the policies used by the law enforcement department is another
important factor which had substantially contributed towards the increase in the number of