Research Paper on:
Social Expectations Significance and Criminal Activity

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
growing perception in modern society that criminal activity is directly affected by the degree of punishment which is doled out for a particular crime. Many believe that harsher sentences  actually reduce the rates of offending. While there is some truth to this perception, there is a complexity reasons behind criminal activity. The degree of sentencing which  might be rendered is only one of the factors which has an impact on criminal activity. Even then, however, this impact is not all-inclusive. A more important determinant  of criminal activity is societal expectation in terms of what is appropriate and what is inappropriate behavior. In todays environment we are witnessing a steady decline of societal expectation  in the U.S. We are suffering from rapidly plummeting morals and ethics and consequently crime rates are on the upswing. The contention  presented above, that criminal activity is not always necessarily deterred by the degree of punishment which is involved but rather to the societal expectations which are in place can be  demonstrated in a variety of ways. One of the most fruitful, however, is to compare the manner in which punishment is handled around the world. A comparison between  countries who boast of a low crime rate is particularly instructive. Japan is one of these countries. Although she is one of the most densely populated nations on  the earth yet their crime rate is phenomenally low in comparison to other equally developed countries. Homicides, rapes, and armed robberies alike are all just a small fraction of  what occur in the U.S. Even more astonishing is the fact that this lower crime rate is associated with almost none of the police corruption and brutality which is