[originaltext] It’s generally agreed that serious, violent crime has reached

It’s generally agreed that serious, violent crime has reached alarming laroportions in the United States. A survey by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration found that 61% of all women feel unsafe in their own neighborhoods at night; that 45 % of the population is afraid to walk alone at night near their own homes; and that 47% own guns, large for self-protection.
    Those arrested for crimes and disproportionately likely to be male, young, a member of a racial minority, and a city resident. Males are arrested about four times as often as females. Only in juvenile runaway cases and  prostitution are females more often arrested. One is the sex role stereotyping which encourages males to be more aggressive and daring, while females are encouraged to be more passive and conforming to the rules and norms. The second reason is the tendency of police officers and the courts to deal more kindly with female offenders. However, it should be noted, in the past decade, crime among females has been increasing at much faster rate than among males, a negative side effect which has been attributed to women challenging the traditional sex role of passivity and conformity.
    Young people appear to commit far more than their share of crime, including the crimes that are classified by the FBI as most serious-rape, murder, robbery, arson, burglary, aggravated assault, auto theft. In 1985, 31% of all arrests were of person under the age of 21, and 50% of all arrests were of persons under 25.