Tipping Point Questions

Question 1) What is the story of Bernie Goetz? Is Bernie Goetz a cold-blooded murderer or a heroic vigilante? The story of Bernie Goetz is that on day he walked onto the back of a subway and shot 4 African Americans youths. His defense was that he thought they were going to hurt and mug him. The odd part about this was that it appeared that Goretz was a fairly normal guy who just one day snapped. This is were the question or power of context comes into play; questioning weather the subway setting had anything to do with his rampage. In addition people at the time were giving Goetz praise, saying that he was just cleaning up the subway by taking down the muggers. This praise and overall recognition is what people made him a hero, but I tend to disagree and see him as a cold-blooded murderer. In my mind there is no reason to kill an individual just based on appearance or assumptions. If this were true and we could justify are reason for killing someone on the assumption that they scared you; then we all would kill someone to feel safer. Basically, in my eyes he knew what he was doing because he had to plan it out to a point to have a gun on him. Therefore, I believe that Bernie has no other reason than to be classified as a cold- blooded murderer.

Question 3) The Broken Window Theory argues that crime is the inevitable result of disorder. It suggest that crime is contagious. Do you agree or do you think this risks excusing a criminal's culpability? I believe that the broken window theory is only true for minor crimes and even then it still depends on the individual. Another words I feel that when a person sees a broken window or graffiti, yes it does affect their feel for the overall safeness and cleanliness of that environment. However, I feel that this does not suddenly make a "normal" individual want to kill or commit a larger crime that could get them the death sentence. It may spark their interest in possible less sever crimes such as graffiti, but even then I feel it still depends on the individual and his/her decision to due such an act. I believe that the individual is in control of their actions and the environment can not simply make them commit crime. If this were true the story of Bernie Goetz would be justified, which I believe is not a true justification for his outrage. Therefore, although the broken window may hold some truth I feel that a criminal is dependent on the individual, not the environment.