Throughout history, the idea of crime has developed worldwide. What someone 100 years ago thought of as crime is very different from what we consider crime today. When we think of a criminal, we have the image of a convict in stripes to entertain us. Over time, our experiences and the example of others influence our definition of crime and our mental profile of a criminal. As a result, the definition of crime and the mental profile of a criminal change drastically as time goes slowly by.
The invention of the television and other electronics that connect human beings across the world is a large reason why these images change so drastically. Before news shows that reported every awful thing to happen in the world that day, everyday life was relatively peaceful, and most people were very trusting. When newscasters began unearthing the seedy acts that take place everywhere, we began to develop a mental image of a criminal and to define the word crime.
[...] Towards the end of World War Two, crime was determined by its relationship to the Reich and its interests. Throughout history, the idea of crime has developed worldwide, and will continue to change as we do. Works Cited Hanser, Richard. A Noble Treason: The Story of Sophie Scholl and the White Rose Revolt Against Hitler. New York, G.P. Putnam's Sons Google Books Feb 2013 http://books.google.com/books?id=hbGGOQ7ykXoC&printsec=frontcover#v=one page&q&f=false Herzog, Todd. Crime Stories: Criminalistic Fantasy and the Culture of Crisis in Weimar Germany. [...]
[...] Yet there was still no image of a criminal. Anyone who chose to break the law was a criminal. There were no set patterns in place because no one was aware (to the scale that we are) when a crime was committed. Once television came into the picture, we had a glaring sense of the amount of crime in our country. We immediately became aware of every moderate to major crime that was committed in the nation. The definition of crime remained the same, but we began to see changes in the faces of our criminals. [...]
[...] The many smaller crimes in this film (like the underground men breaking into and destroying the office building) band together with the larger ones to represent the wide range of crimes that the Jews were being accused of. This premonition became even more ironic when the leading actor, Laszlo Löwenstein had to leave Germany just two years later in 1933. As we move to the later end of World War Two, we come to Sophie Scholl. Sophie was one of the few German citizens who were brave enough to stand up to Hitler. At this time period, anything negative about Hitler, the Nazi regime, or any of their actions was considered a crime against the state. [...]
[...] When his mother was asked what crime he had committed, she cried, “Nothing! Nothing at all! He refused to become a Nazi. He wouldn't conform. He couldn't bring himself to go along with them. That was his crime” (Hanser). After the war, that chaotic range of individuals sharply returned to form one image, Hitler's face. As we can see, the ideas of crime and criminals have evolved with us through time. We can see how our past experiences and current circumstances influence our thoughts and ideas. [...]
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