In order to avoid chaos and anarchy the society and the governments have created a set of rules and laws that guide the behavior of individuals in a civilized nation. Disorderly conduct is one of such laws that prevents people from acting recklessly and harmfully towards others in public. It covers a large scope of actions that can be classified as “unwanted” in the interests of preservation of peace. The statistics show that the amounts of arrest for different age groups as well as genders and ethnicity differ.
Disorderly conduct is an offence that includes many situations mostly related to the disturbance of peace and behavior generally not accepted by the public. Offences such as being extremely drunk in public and acting in a manner that disturbs others, acts of recklessness towards property and people, fighting or violence are all considered a disturbance of peace. When examining the arrests made in the US for year 2009 the juvenile arrests make up the following statistic: males 24%, female 32%, white 23%, black 32%. These statistics were taken from the U.S. Department of Justice. When comparing these statistics to England and Wales a different trend emerges: years 2009-2011 are approximately the same, with black arrests 8% and white 80%. Another factor in the crime rates is the age of the person. When looking at US crime rate percentage for year 2010, those aged 18 and older make up 87.4% and for those who are 20 years of age and older 4.7%. Judging by these statistics it is hard to establish a certain trend but it is clear that the kind of population and society plays some role. It is a known fact that in the past there was a lot of discrimination and certain groups like African-Americans and other minorities were marginalized. Today this is happening not as often as before because there are rules and laws that prevent any discrimination towards a person.
The public perception and the police calls that are made also play a role in the arrest rate. People tend to be suspicious of irregular behavior and consider it a responsibility to report anything that seems out of the ordinary. As younger males have a tendency to have a lifestyle dictated by freedom and absence of any major responsibility they act in a more curious and adventurous ways. This leads to them being out in the streets often in the late hours, spending time with their friends, attending bars or clubs and alcohol and/or drugs are sometimes involved. The fact that a person is under the influence of a substance leads to a more reckless and irresponsible behavior common in the younger population, which is experimenting with the states of mind. A member of a public who encounters any irregular behavior is most likely to feel panic and fear, which results in them calling the police. And when compared to older population, it is wiser and more educated through life experience and has no need to experiment with life, hence a decrease in the arrests. Even though discrimination is a known fact and steps are being taken to root it out there are still times when it is unavoidable because people tend to feel fear towards anything that is unknown to them and that is a big factor in the arrest statistics.
The goal of modern society is to completely exclude any behaviors that are not welcome by the public. There are policies and laws that are made for the sole purpose of this, as well as prevention of discriminatory views but the reality stays grim judging by the statistics and cases where the way someone looks is more important than what they do and stand for.