*+Guilty!+Guilty?

=Rich whites live in fear of crime committed by poor blacks= -at least that is the impression given by the media (TV news, TV series, films and newspapers).

This cartoon takes the cost of crime as the measure of the seriousness of crime and so comes up with a very different interpretation of the situation:

== = = =Sociologists also ask some hard and difficult questions about crime:=


 * What exactly is a 'crime' and who decides how serious it is, or isn't?
 * If you are detected committing a crime, are you necessarily prosecuted?
 * Is everyone treated the same by the criminal justice system?
 * Is crime and punishment 'useful' for society to fuction correctly?

There is a lot on the web to help you. A couple of sites in particular stand out:
1... 2... 3... 4... 5...

There are also some fabulous documentary series, including one from TV3 which looks at life inside prisons: