Research, Research, and More Research...

Okay, so I'm a little stuck.

Completely stuck would actually probably be more accurate. I have genuinely no clue what to do for this project. I guess it's mostly my own fault because hello, I can't quite go and park myself in Newark for a couple hours and see what I find. That's not really a thing that will work out too well for me, at least not that I think, anyway.

I also don't want to do just archival research. I spend a huge chunk of my time already reading up on things like this because violent crime is interesting beyond recognition, but this kind of feels like more of an opportunity to go and find something out, rather than just make connections through exciting things that other people have already done.

An experiment could totally be done with the effects of violent crime in the media... I could pick a violent movie, sit a few people down to watch it, then observe them afterwards- I could even throw in a bit of provocation, enlist a friend to be an annoyance on the street or something, but I think that all comes from me watching way too much "What Would You Do?". It might be a bit too complicated to actually go into, and with my luck I'd wind up completely throwing the results by not properly defining something, so I'll scratch that for now.

Maybe it's just my bias, but I don't think a survey would work here. Think about it, how many people would genuinely answer that they feel more violent after watching a violent film or something, or how many would answer honestly about that time they got into a fist fight while pissed out of their mind at a grad week party? Not too many, unless it was done anonymously, and even then I have my doubts.

I could do a case study, take a famous killer and see exactly how they've influenced current society and the media- like Jack The Ripper, for example. His (or her- they never found the culprit) case was one of the most influential of the time, and completely changed the way a lot of people tend to look at cases of serial killers. That seems like the most logical thing to do, at this point. I just have to decide on which killer to study, and what connections I'm going to make.

Hmmm. This could work.

Criminology

You know how people on cooking shows will be like "Oh, good, a desert challenge, this is my playground!". Well, I've been pretty excited for this section, because serial killers and criminology are kind of my playground.

Don't give me that look, we all want to study things we like, and things like this fascinates me and it's what I know best! I mean, that's not to say I've had close contact with killers or anything... at least as far as I know... but it's where my field of study lies. I've wanted to go into go into and research criminology and serial killers and behavioral analysis and victimology and things like that since before I can properly remember. Even as we speak, one of the tabs I have open is the course requirements for the criminology department of a school I'm applying to, another for the forensic psych program, where some of the courses overlap. It's interesting beyond measure to me, which explains my excitement about this section.

I don't have an article or video or anything, though I will tell you if you're interested in serial killers or other types of criminals  in mass media (i.e., crime shows), you should check out Criminal Minds, a show that runs on CBS on Wednesdays at nine, but I do have a question. For those of you who are interested in criminology and forensic psychology/sociology, what do you think the most common misconception is about crime/criminals/killers, etc.? I know it's a bit of a gory topic, but hey, I guess I can pass it off as it being close to Halloween, but I guess you guys'll all know the truth- that I genuinely like studying weird stuff.

Social Deviance: Why?

After a prolonged break, brought to you in part by the inconveniently timed Senior Retreat and our awful Laptops (Seriously, though, my Sys32 file deleted itself on Friday, so on Sunday I hunted down Mr. Hotz at the open house and interrupted him giving a tour to beg him to fix my laptop... Somewhere out there there's a prospective IHA girl whose family thinks our school is made up of hysterical, rude girls... they might be right.)

Anyway, moving right along. We've been talking about social deviance a whole lot in class lately, which fits into my topic nicely. Violent Crime, in itself, is a social deviance. You don't see people stabbing each other or robbing each other every day, because it's not a social norm. I found this article on Social Deviance, and how it relates to Crime, and why it relates to Crime, Biologically, Socially, etc.

You don't have to read the whole thing, as it's kind of wordy, but it's interesting. Why do you think people commit violent crimes? If it's a social deviancy, how do people learn it? Would criminals be considered a counter culture?

When we heard the word "criminal", we think of hardened criminals- murderers, robbers, rapists, etc. But on the other hand, what about something like that scene in Disney's Aladdin- "I steal only what I can't afford- but that's everything!"? Does that make people who are only trying to survive social deviants? People who commit crimes of "necessity"?

What do you think?