Bonge 1 Alyssa Bonge Eaker ENGL 1103 3 October 2012 Research Proposal My inquiry question relates to sociology and

questions why Americas society reacts the way it does to violence crimes. My inquiry question is as follows: does America turn a blind eye to violence crimes that can be prevented because we are too afraid of the consequences to save the victim? The reaction a victim usually receives during a violence crime is the blind eye; which means that society knows it is happening, but they choose to look the other way and ignore the situation at hand. I want to learn more about the reasons why America does not interfere when violence crimes are occurring in public places. I have formed a very vague opinion on this issue that states that America is afraid of the consequence; although I have not researched or decided on which consequences that might be. I believe that fear is a main issue when dealing with violence crimes, but I question whether there are other reasons as to why someone would not step in to help an innocent life. While I research, I plan to find other perspectives as to why Americas society reacts the way it does to violence crimes. I want to make sure I fully understand societys reasoning to reacting in these useless ways. My main reasoning to research this issue is to show Americans the lives they could save in the future. I also want to inform people of the incidents involving violence crimes that are not reported or hidden from society because of the lack of reports and lack of interference. I want to show people how much of an impact they could make on society and violence crimes as a whole. With the help of my research, society could make sense of why they should interfere in violence crimes. Many lives

Bonge 2 would be saved in this act of interfering, and society might even become closer as a whole because more trust would be given to the person standing next to you. Society as a whole will benefit from my research because anyone can be victim, but no one chooses to be a victim. The only thing I know about this issue before researching anything is what I have learned in my sociology class about society and how people are perceived and their actions towards risky situations. These reactions are defining who we are as people, not only as a whole, but as individuals as well. My prior knowledge of this issue relates to a video I watched in class about the Kitty Genovese murder and a hazing event that took a turn for the wrong. I just thought it was an interesting topic to research and discuss after watching this video in my sociology class because it left me wondering why. Fear, based off what I have witnessed through research, is the main reasoning for societys inability to interfere in violence crimes. I believe the fear is creating the idea that interfering is not an option when a violence crime occurs. I have no prior knowledge unless I am watching the news or if I have heard about a traumatic event that deals with violence crimes. I do believe though that there are more violence crimes than reported each year and I do not think that many citizens of America realize that. I was not raised to act a certain way towards violence crimes because I did not grow up in an area where violence crimes occurred often. My personal belief though would be that I would expect someone to step in and save me in a life or death situation; therefore, I would assume the rest of society would want the same. In school, students were taught to report bullying to prevent students emotional and physical distress and keep the community and school a happy, healthy place. I believe that the measures are the beginning of preventing violence crimes because if nothing is done about it at an early age it will only progressively get worse.

Bonge 3 I plan to look at all aspects of my question, positive and negative, to get a full understanding of the answer. Questions I am going to discuss throughout my paper will be: Is society aware that ignoring violence crimes only encourages them more? Does society feel that they are just as much to blame as the person committing the crime? Does society know how dangerous and secretive violence crimes have become? Who do Americans blame more the criminal or the by-standers who refuse to help? I want to understand more on whether or not society would benefit from more people interfering during a violence crime. With the information I find related to that question, I would like to research what measures can be taken to let society know what they can do and why they should do it. I need to research perspectives other than the one mentioned in my inquiry question to get a deeper understanding of my question as well as its answer. So far I have mainly found news reports and videos. I am researching violence crimes and the best way to find out information about todays society would be through the news. At least half of my sources are relate to one another, but they are very separate cases that all end tragically. I do not want to use random gang violence that is displayed as videos on Youtube.com because I feel that is repetitive and unnecessary when discussing my research because there is no storyline behind it; whereas, the reports I am basing my research off of have evidence and reasoning to the inability society has to interfere. Using the facts I gain through research, I will not determine a definite answer to my question, but I will choose a reasoning I believe is the main reason for this lack of interference. As far as obtaining research, I plan to use many different resources. I want to use more story-based articles because I believe it will show societys true colors when it comes to the lack of interference. I plan to use articles and magazines to help form an opinion about my question because they will have detailed stories about real people and real events. As of right now my

Bonge 4 research has a wide basis and does not just focus on the present. I have sources that date back to the 1900s just to show how America has not changed at all when it comes to violence crimes. I plane to find more past news stories to represent the fact that it is time for America to do something about this unrecognized issue. I also want to include some expert opinions; someone who can tell society what is wrong because they have the proper knowledge and education to inform people about violence crimes. I came about this question after watching a video in my Sociology class called The Human Behavior Experiment, and for my research, I will pull two scenarios from this video and discuss them in more detail. As well as discussing these two scenarios, I plan to find similar cases like the one in the video because the video ahs given me a basis for my research. I feel that my basis has helped me find information on my topic and it helps support my main reasoning, as well as other perspectives, for these interference related issues. The only issue I feel I may encounter will be finding a source that is a print because most of my resources so far have been based off of newspaper articles and news reports. With my topic, I do not think there is enough information to write a book about violence crimes, and I feel that first hand experience will help support my question better than opinions from a book. As I begin to do further research, I hope to form an opinion on which reason is to blame for societys valuable lives lost because of the inability to interfere. If I cannot narrow it down to one reason, I would like to find ways to relate each reason and use them as contributing factors to each other. I realize my research will not go any further than this class, but I hope to think one day that society will realize their responsibility and role in violence crimes. I would like to see society relying on each other instead of cowering in fear and letting innocent people die. I believe no American should stand-alone when fighting for their life, especially when the person next to them realizes and knows it is wrong to ignore the situation at hand. In conclusion, I think

Bonge 5 that America should compare the victims of these crimes to themselves and think what they would want someone else to do if it happened to them.

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Gado, Mark. "The Kitty Genovese Murder." A Cry in the Night. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2012. <http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/kitty_genovese/1.html>.

Korry, Elaine. "A Fraternity Hazing Gone Wrong." NPR. NPR, 14 Nov. 2005. Web. 21 Sept. 2012. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5012154>.

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Bonge 6 Schwontkowski, Donna. Reasons Why People Don't Report Crime. Million Dollar Memory for Names & Faces: Crime-stopping Techniques for Finding Missing Children, Criminals & Terrorists and for Remembering Life's Important Details. [United States]: Million Dollar Memory Publications, 2005. N. pag. Web. 22 Sept. 2012. <http:/www.milliondollarmemory.net/downloads/reportcrimes914.doc>

Wondertrashable. "The Human Behavior Experiments 2006." YouTube. YouTube, 02 Mar. 2012. Web. 05 Sept. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YUMxsj6rl4>.

Adams, Guy. "When Hazing Rituals Go Wrong: From 'butt Chugging' to Humiliation - World News, News - Belfasttelegraph.co.uk." When Hazing Rituals Go Wrong: From 'butt Chugging' to Humiliation - World News, News - Belfasttelegraph.co.uk. N.p., 06 Oct. 2012. Web. 19 Sept. 2012. <http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/whenhazing-rituals-go-wrong-from-butt-chugging-to-humiliation-16220710.html>.