...Placing restrictions on citizens with felony convictions may appear to be a solution to the increasing crime rates in cities across America; however, in the long run these programs are more hurtful than helpful to society overall. While such laws and policies are essentially designed to reduce the occurrence of crime, they ultimately lead to greater recidivism rates because those with prior convictions are prevented from forward after their time is served. As some criminological theories argue, many people make the decision to commit a crime based on their financial situation. If those individuals are released from jail and find themselves in a position where they are even less likely to obtain a job, receive financial assistance from the government,...
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...Personal Criminological Theory Review AJS/542 August 11, 2015 Introduction For many years, criminologist have studied criminal behavior and have developed theories that try to explain the causes for committing crimes. Our society is constantly changing where crime is becoming more recognized to the general public. This paper is a personal reflection of criminological theory. I will discuss my explanation of the occurrence of crime and why people commit crime, the different variables to consider, assumptions based on a theory and finally, what methodologies could be used to evaluate my theory. Explanation of Crime, Why People Commit Crime? While growing up in the city of Detroit, Michigan, I have witness more crime that I would ever care to see in a lifetime. This has also become my feelings for Baltimore, Maryland. I believe that the occurrence of crime is due to life choices of poverty and mental illness. This not only applies to the city of Detroit, but also many communities that have high crime rates. Baltimore is another city that has become torn over the fight between the police department and the struggling community. Crimes are committed by people who are in need of something. Some do it because they do not know any better, they have learned behaviors from their environments. While those who do not have education or jobs, the norm for these individuals is to take what they feel they are entitled to. On the other hand, some people may commit crimes because...
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...Personal Criminological Theory Meghan Killen AJS 542 14JAN13 University of Phoenix Personal Criminological Theory Criminology is the study of causes, nature, extend and control of criminal behavior in not only the individual but the society as well. It’s important that anyone working in the criminal justice system knows and understands the Criminology theories and the fact that they are important in understanding criminality. This holds all issues that are intertwined in law breaking, law making, and the reactions towards the process of breaking these laws. Criminology has also been defined as the process of studying the nature and extreme of the law breaking behaviors. Committing a crime requires a thought process, these criminals know what they are doing is wrong, yet they choose to ignore that fact. Criminals collect and organize information to come up with the crime, how it will be committed, and how they plan to not get caught. There are many factors that can lead people to committing crimes. If you look in the cities where gangs are in large numbers, there are some that must kill in order to be accepted into a gang. In this world, most times, it’s a kill or be killed situation. Other times there are people that just want the thrill of the crime such as stealing something. There are many different reasons for a person to commit a crime. Often, the person may feel that the crime itself is worth the punishment or the person thinks that they will outsmart the security...
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...Personal Criminological Theory Jacoby Whitacre AJS/542 - Criminological Theory September 2, 2013 Shaunita Grase Personal Criminological Theory Throughout the years Criminologists has conducted a great amount of research and through that research Criminologist has developed different theories in order to better understand and explain criminal behavior. Theories try to help make sense out of many observations that are conducted presenting the facts of the principal that connects and explains the theories. If good theory has been developed; then it becomes very valuable to Criminologist, because it shows the knowledge that is beyond the facts that has been presented; which will show Criminologist how to predict how others might behave. Occurrence of Crime and Why People Commit Crime There exist many theories that have been used to explain crime. First is the classical theory of Cesare Beccaria, which claims that crime happens when the benefits outweigh the costs or when individuals chase after self-interests in the absence of effective punishments. Thus crime is seen as a free-willed choice. “There are three main legs in which Beccaria’s theory rests. Those are that all individuals possess freewill, rational manner and manipulability. Beccaria, like all classical theorist, believe that all individuals have freewill and make choices on that freewill. The second leg, rational manner, means that all individuals rationally look out for their own personal satisfaction...
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... Personal Criminological Theory Social learning theory when an individual learns how; to do a various form of criminal activity within society. Like robbing banks or people, murders, kidnappings, selling drugs, assaulting with a deadly weapon in so forth. The criminal acts that people learn, from the people that he or she surround their selves with on a daily basis. That feels nothing wrong, with committing any of these forms of crimes. That the associates present stimuli according to their foundation place within the public as well as the economic location, gender, culture, class, also subculture. It the part of the theory where disparity reinforcement stress person has various social groups also situations present to him or her on a continuous basis, therefore, various relationship with different people then the learning with any conduct is a function of reinforcing stimuli also the possibility for reinforcement makes available from a person different social circumstances. (Pg.9- 183, Franklin P. Williams III, and Marilyn D. McShane, 2014).With social learning it connected, with cognitive learning theory, which says that learning controls the person mental dynamics. A behavioral theory that thinks that learning comes, from the reply from the environmental. With both of these theories and created four guidelines, it comes to learning that stated by Albert Bandura...
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...Movie Analysis Sociology 3620 (Criminology) Criminological Theories in "Empire" The movie "Empire" is a dramatization of the life in the shoes of one of four heroin dealers in the New York City area known as South Bronx. It is a story told by Victor Rosa, the main character referred to by many as Vic, as the viewer follows him around the city The movie begins by naming all the main drug dealers and their territories across the South Bronx region, Victor's territory noticeably bigger than the others. Out of the four competitors, we only see one that Victor has any trouble with later in the movie and that is the drug dealer known as Tito. Tito is another successful, Hispanic drug dealer who sells his product in the territory just south of Victor. Due to the location of these two territories it isn't uncommon to see a pedlar cross into another dealers area of sales. The first outbreak of violence between the two gangs erupts after Victor is informed by an appointed leader in his crew that one of Tito's men had been witnessed selling their product across the "invisible line". Usually these gang leaders wouldn't handle business themselves but when it comes to cutting into their profits, that is when the leader of the crew must make a statement by taking matters into their own hands. Victor and two of his men show up on the street corner where they find Tito's men continuing to push their product. The two members Victor arrived with proceed to raise their weapons at two...
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...Q1) Critical criminologists from the 1960’s and 1970’s found that traditional theories of crime were intellectually sterile, and even somewhat dangerous. The theories were found to be blind to the reality of capitalist society and its pervasive economic and racial inequality. (Bull, 2010) Critical criminologists used Marxist ideas to focus on primarily on class and the attention to race which lead to gender oppression beginning to emerge in the 1970’s. Q2) discipline vs security. Rather reform then place in prison, rehabilitation as an utilitarism approach, understand the rime and how to rehabilitate them, Q2) In the NSW Drug Court Foucault’s theories have been Q3) Q5) Restorative justice focuses on involving, offenders and communities...
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...Criminological Theories of Crime Causation: Biological, Sociological, and Psychological Carrie Siewert, CJ499 Kaplan University Author Note October 5, 2015 Criminological Theories of Crime Causation: Biological, Sociological, and Psychological For centuries, documentation of criminal cases filled the inboxes of the numerous police officers’, investigators’, and forensic laboratory analysists’ exceeding the limits of caseloads possible for any given criminal justice professional responsible for solving criminal cases. Each giving everything they have to catch the guilty and thus, providing justice to the victims who suffered because of someone’s criminal behaviors and actions. Each with the same or similar inquiries; why do people commit the crimes they commit? Why do they behave this way? What is their purpose? Were the born this way? What, if anything, happen to them to make them behave in such a heinous manner? Are they a victim of their own environment and/or social status? Of course, these inquiries cover only a minute number of possible indications as to answering the “Why?” people commit these criminal behaviors and actions. Criminology identifies ascertains three amalgamations of theories, each of which attempt to justify inquiries by working exuberantly to establish a high level of credibility and reliability; the following will address how these biological, sociological, and psychological theories of crime causation affect human behavior and/or actions. ...
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...Applying Criminological Theory to Policy Through much this class we having been studying theories and how they explain criminal behavior. Many of the theories that were study in this text book help spark and make policy’s in the criminal justice system. Classical School: Deterrence Theory Criminologists and theoreticians in the filed do not consider deterrence theory to reduce illegal activity (Tibbetts,2012). It has been noted that Classical School has dominated the criminal justice system and it seen in most policies using three major components law enforcement, courts and corrections (Tibbetts,2012). Deterrence theory of crime associated with the classical school, which proposes that individuals will make rational decisions regarding...
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...Criminological Relationships between Theory and Policy American Intercontinental University Julie Hurden Abstract This paper will discuss three policies within the criminological field and the theories that might have influenced them. The three policies and two theories that will be discussed in this paper are the death penalty, three strikes laws and expunging of records, the classical school of criminology and the labeling theory. This paper will discuss rulings by the Supreme Court concerning the “Three Strikes and You’re Out” laws and the death penalty policies. It will review the Eighth Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. Criminological Relationships between Theory and Policy Three Strikes and You’re out Law (TSAYO) The Three Strikes Laws are basically laws that order increased sentences for repeat criminals, this increased sentence is given after three felony crimes have been committed by an offender. Most state and federal laws in the United States require harsher punishment for repeat offenders but they are not as severe as the “Three Strikes and You’re Out” (TSAYO) laws. TSAYO was passed into law to help protect society from persons that are dangerous and have exhibited a pattern of criminal behavior, to break it down this law simply takes repeat offenders out of the game by putting them in prison and hopefully deter others from committing...
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...Who defines crime? According to Cullen, Agnew, and Wilcox (2014), Critical Criminology Theory states that the powerful and wealthy class define crime. Why can they define what is considered a crime and what is not? The powerful and the wealthy class are made up of a small percentage, yet, that percentage can determine what is considered a crime and what is not. They rule on such things to be able to control the other percentage. For example, Crack vs. Cocaine. Due to cocaine being expensive to buy, crack was developed as a cheap alternative to cocaine. Since crack was a cheap alternative, it became available to low-income minorities. As a result, it became viewed by society as a drug used by the poor and cocaine used by the wealthy. In late...
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...Answering the “why” is believed to be the premise of finding preventive measures for crime. Understanding how something works means that possible manipulation can occur with the ultimate goal being elimination of crime. Social responsibility theories and social problem theories are two different concepts to the same question. What makes criminals tick? In reference to the social responsibility theories they focus on the fact that crime derives its essence from the person, meaning that it is the individual actor that causes crime and not the factors of the environment. Choice theory is the first theory to discuss because it is the center basis for what I perceive as all other theories. It focuses on weighing the consequences and determining if the perceived punishment outweighs the possible reward of the crime. The perceived punishment varies from person to person and situation to situation. This is similar to classical theory in which it is surmised that people’s actions are predetermined on their thought processes. Free will is the key in this theory in...
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...The book is organized around three components to facilitate the integration of criminological knowledge: (1) how social context can be criminogenic, (2) how risk factors influence the individual development of criminal behavior; (3) mechanisms by which social context and individual development interact to explain crime. Because this is an edited book, the chapters are written by different authors who focus on specific questions. M. Bunge presents the limitations of holistic and individualist perspectives on crime and the benefits of a systemic (i.e. integrative) perspective. R. J. Sampson discusses whether there are contextual effects on individual development; and what causal mechanisms are involved in order to explain community variations in crime rates. P. O. H. Wikström emphasizes the importance of identifying what moves individuals to commit acts of crime when investigating explanations of individual differences in crime involvement, area and place variation in crimes rates, and changes over time in the crime rate of a geographical location. T. Moffitt and A. Caspi review studies using behavioral-genetic designs to address the interplay between measured environmental risks and genetic risks in the origins of antisocial behavior: evidence about gene-environment interactions suggests that environmental risks can affect some people more strongly in genetically vulnerable segments of the population. R. Loeber, N. W. Slot, and M. Stouthamer-Loeber uses unconventional three-dimensional...
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...Overview The article entitled “The Criminological Scale of Affectional Attachment (CSAA): A measure of Hirschi’s construct of Attachment in a variety of close interpersonal relationships as a source of social control” by Alison Marganiski exams a measure of affectional attachment as a criminological construct based on Hirschi’s (1969) theory of social control. Marganiski suggest a new standardised measure designed to assess affectional attachment in interpersonal relationships in a simple manner. In recognition of attachment as a dynamic concept which changes over persons and time, she composed a construct which considers several dimensions of attachment across multiple interpersonal relationships. It’s seeks to operationalise the concept in such a way that it examines the relative strength of attachment as perceived by the individual, and how it relates to the control of one’s natural criminal tendencies. The CSAA assesses four...
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...In the traditional study of crime, women have generally been perceived as disregarded and discriminated in the criminal justice system. Various stereotypes and assumptions about females in the criminal justice system, saw feminist perspectives challenge the theories, concepts and assumptions of those involved in the study of crime (Bryant, 2014). This essay begins by firstly providing a brief description and its origins, how feminist theories causes crime, how its theory defines crime, the multiple feminist perspectives within feminism and how feminist criminology attempts to combat crime. It will then discuss the relevance and how feminist theory influences the criminal justice system, such as women’s role as professionals, as well as women as offenders and victims (Schram & Tibbetts 2013, p. 285). Finally, this essay will examine the applicability to Australian society by exploring if the suggested causes of crime apply to Australian society. It will lastly draw on the criticisms of feminist criminology and how the different types of feminist perspectives lessons the relevance of this theory in Australian society. Outlining the theory Feminist criminology first developed in the 1960’s and 1970’s which was closely associated with the emergence of the Second Wave of Feminism (White, Haines & Asquith 2012, p. 143). The Second Wave of Feminism saw the advent of many issues such as social, political and material inequalities (White, Haines & Asquith 2012, p. 143). Because men...
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