... CRJS105 –1103b-04 Theories of Crime Causation October 26, 2011 Abstract In this paper I will describe 4 different sociological theories in some depth while looking at how each of them in some cases overlap and strengthen one another, and at the same time many of them are in direct conflict with each other. These theories are Neutralization theory by Sykes and Matza where criminal behavior is justified ., Differential Association by Donald Sutherland where it talks about pressure that cause different types of behavior, Strain theory by Robert Agnew where the strain of outside factors are the cause of this abnormal behavior,. And finally the social control theory by Travis Hirschi along with many other who have over time helped to further this theory. Along with these theories I have also talked about a man convicted of theft by taking here in the Atlanta area and what I believe to be the best theory that would apply to him. In my conclusion I will Point the one true weakness in all the theories that I have covered in this paper. Routine Activity Theory”: I have chosen the “Routine Activity Theory” It shows a meaningful view on the causes of crime and the problems surrounding it. The basic point to this theory is that these offenders many times don’t have any effective controls and they will act out on targets that are very easy. One of the points of Routine Act ivy theory is that the offender and the target...
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...There are three perspectives of crime. To start, the conflict view derives from Karl Marx’s theory that the public’s “...disagreement on societal norms is reflected by their disparate positions based on their inequalities of wealth and power” (Barkan, 2006, p. 14). This means that crime occurs due to class conflict, or the division of the classes. According to the conflict theory, “ the law is an instrument that enables the wealthy to maintain their position of power and to control the behavior of those who oppose their ideas and values or who might rebel against the unequal distribution of wealth” (Siegel & Worrall, 2016, p. 42). In short, the laws are a social control (Siegel & Worrall, 2016). In the viewing of the popular films series, The Purge, there are multiple examples of crime being used as a...
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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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...Past Crime and Deviance Questions Sept 2008 Read Item A below and answer the question that follows. ------------------------------------------------- Item A ------------------------------------------------- Situational crime prevention (SCP) involves intervening in the immediate situations in which crime takes place to reduce its likelihood or seriousness. It often involves ‘designing crime out’ of products, services and environments, for example by use of anti-climb paint, CCTV and security guards in shops, better street lighting, metal detectors at airports, neighbourhood watch schemes and the re-designing of housing estates. ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- SCP does not rely on intervening in children’s socialisation to prevent them becoming criminals later, or on the threat of punishments to deter current criminals. Instead, it makes specific changes aimed at influencing the decision or ability of offenders to commit particular crimes in particular situations. Like rational choice theory, SCP sees criminals as acting rationally. By making certain crimes less rewarding, more risky or needing greater effort, SCP makes criminals less likely to choose to commit them. 02 Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the usefulness of conflict theories for an understanding of crime and deviance in contemporary society. (21 marks) Jan 2010 Read Item A below and answer the question that follows...
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...Version 1.0 General Certificate of Education January 2012 Sociology SCLY4 2191 Crime and Deviance with Theory and Methods; Stratification and Differentiation with Theory and Methods; Unit 4 Mark Scheme Mark schemes are prepared by the Principal Examiner and considered, together with the relevant questions, by a panel of subject teachers. This mark scheme includes any amendments made at the standardisation meeting attended by all examiners and is the scheme which was used by them in this examination. The standardisation meeting ensures that the mark scheme covers the students’ responses to questions and that every examiner understands and applies it in the same correct way. As preparation for the standardisation meeting each examiner analyses a number of students’ scripts: alternative answers not already covered by the mark scheme are discussed at the meeting and legislated for. If, after this meeting, examiners encounter unusual answers which have not been discussed at the meeting they are required to refer these to the Principal Examiner. It must be stressed that a mark scheme is a working document, in many cases further developed and expanded on the basis of students’ reactions to a particular paper. Assumptions about future mark schemes on the basis of one year’s document should be avoided; whilst the guiding principles of assessment remain constant, details will change, depending on the content of a particular examination paper. Further...
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...young and unwed. About 90% of neonaticide mothers are aged 25 or the pregnancy. (2-Neonaticide) Based on the Psychological Theory, crimes can result from a wide array of reasons most of which are: inappropriate learning or improper conditioning, a diseased mind, inappropriate, abnormal or dysfunctional mental processes within the personality, inappropriately conditioned behaviors. It is the personality that is the key motivational element in most people since it is the most common basis of drives and motives. (Schmallenger 89) With regard to the above captioned paragraph, it is thought the major reason for neonaticide mothers to commit this type of crime is because they are in denial of pregnancy. This type of denial is psychological and can be derived in a young woman with previous mental illness or no prior mental instability at all. The point is that a young woman in this particular “state of mind” is overwhelmed by fear of and shame of an unplanned pregnancy. It is their emotional immaturity and lack of resources that keeps these young women from understanding and coping with the repercussions of their pregnancies which is why most of them have the inability to show any remorse for killing their child. Furthermore, most of the young women cannot even recall being pregnant or even giving birth at all. (Meyer 53-54) Another psychological theory is based on the psychotic offender. Psychosis is a mental disorder. Psychotic people have been found to be out of touch with...
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...for crime and why it exists for many years. They have taken apart the mental psycie of criminals and analyzed different theories to try and prove their points. There are scientific studies that exist today testing different variables that effect criminal activity on the psychological, social and biological realms of theories. The sociological theory focuses on the social factors that coax a person to fall into the life of crime and chaos. School of Positivism The school of Positivism saw criminal acts instead of people choosing to commit crimes they believed there were mitigating factors that existed. These factors were psychological, social, and biological and their behaviors were determinate upon these factors. There was a scientific explanation instead of the simple classicalist idea of good and evil, rational mind and free will that was believed to be possessed by all humans. The school of positivist suggests on the social side of this theory social structure is a mitigating factor in the commission of crimes. The criminal is one of weak mind and a follower. It is believed that Imation of a person superior to them and possibly idolize is the reason for many crimes. Crimes have been categorized as either fashion or more custom oriented. This means it is either something that is just hot for the minute or these were learned traits and actions that were instilled in them from a young age. The personality of a criminal according to this theory is one...
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...Karl Marx, Alexis de Tocqueville, Henri De Saint-Simon, and Emile Durkheim are only the names of a few classical social theorists who set out to explore the role of an individual within society. These men believed that Reason, along with the application of a scientific approach, would be able to positively change the world and break through to a new form of power and authority. Although the ideas and theories of these men give rise to far greater advancement in sociological theory, there is a failure in intuition, and thus, a failure of the classical sociological element. The first section of this paper includes an explanation of classical sociology along with an overview of the theories associated with some of the greatest sociologists of this time. The next section of this paper explores reasons and explanations for the failure of classical social theory and interpretations to why before-mentioned theories were compromised. The final section of this paper summarizes some of the conclusions drawn about the failure of this particular ideology. I. Classical Sociology/Theories Explained Classical sociology includes the idea that people can change the course of history through developmental progress. The object of study was society itself. The development of modern, industrial, and capitalist societies was believed to have separated people from the traditional way of living. The...
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...to study crime and criminal behavior , and why do people engage in this area of study ? There are a variety of answers of these questions, built around many kinds of concerns , like the anxiety, anger , and fear that are common responses to crime of the future crimes . former victims of crimes may contribute of showing the importance of studying criminology by, transferring them experience and feeling of anxiety, anger, and fear which Generated from crimes to other persons . Then the need to study criminology become at the forefront of priorities , to predict and control crime; the hope of preventing crime through individual and social reform the wish to understand and explain crime and societal reactions to it; and the simple desire to learn more about crime and what it can tell us about our society . Criminologists disagree, sometimes violently, about which of these kinds of concerns are most legitimate and important . So Criminology was the composite result of the thinking and endeavors of many people, and them desire to the understanding the individual behavior and deviation and the structuring of the social order . The study of crime has engaged the interest of many academic disciplines. Building on centuries of philosophical debate, systematic attempts to explain crime emerged from the developing biological and social sciences in the late nineteenth century. Anthropologists, statisticians, and economists have contributed to the analysis of crime, but the...
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...Behavior Kaplan University July 17, 2011 Talking about crime and the role of a forensic psychologist in order to understand crime, and the various theoretical theories to describe, track, and understand the different criminal behaviors, we can forget some of the pioneers of the nineteenth-century, Charles Goring (1870-1919), Gabriel Tarde (1843-1904) and Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909), and their contribution to the development and studies of the Sociological, Biological, Psychological, and Social-Psychological theories. The Sociological theory studies social behavior and cultural factors, such as gender, race, socioeconomic status, moral values, friends, environmental, situational factors, poor education, and how these factors contribute to criminal behavior. The basis of the Sociological theories is that certain groups within society have fewer opportunities than others to achieve their goals. For example; Kids that are raised by a single parent, with financial limitations have a highly propensity to join gangs, and commit robbery than a kid that have been raised by both parents. Biological Theories are focused primarily in the study of physical and biological conditions that control human behavior. It was in this area where Cesare Lambroso focused his studies. His theory was based on the assumption that criminals have specific physical feature abnormalities. His theory implied that prisoners had common facial characteristics, such as the shape of...
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...The Cause of Aggressive Crime 1 RUNNING HEAD: The Cause of Aggressive Crime The Cause of Aggressive Crime Mark Maldonado Grantham University The Cause of Aggressive Crime 2 Being in Law Enforcement there is no doubt I have seen my share of crime that goes on in society. I would like to say that I do have a personal view on the cause of violent crime. For me I would say it would have to be the way you are raised, the people you associate with and if you are in a home that is associated with crime. When I say a home associated with crime, I mean is there drugs being sold from the home, is there drug us going on in the home, domestic violence etc. In my opinion I believe that one of the causes of crime is due to the environment that person is exposed to on a daily basis. If that person is always around that kind of environment I believe they will more than likely commit serious criminal acts. For example with these school shootings, I believe that they learned how to handle these weapons from somewhere and the fact that they committed these shootings, the idea had to have come from somewhere. So what I am saying is whether the cause is direct or indirect, I believe that something had to influence the individual to commit the crime. Whether that influence was television, music, a person in their life, what they seen growing up something had an influence...
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...material may be reproduced in any form by any means without permission in writing from the President, The Open University of Hong Kong. Sale of this material is prohibited. The Open University of Hong Kong Ho Man Tin, Kowloon Hong Kong This course material is printed on environmentally friendly paper. Contents Introduction 1 The focus of criminology 4 What is criminology? Why study crime? 4 6 Developing theory: the foundations of criminology 8 Theorizing about crime before criminology: the classical perspective Positivist criminology 8 10 Sociological criminology The Chicago School Strain and subcultural theories of crime Control theories The labelling perspective Critical criminology 14 15 17 21 23 27 Environmental criminology 30 Jane Jacobs and Oscar Newman Routine activity theory Rational choice theory 30 33 35 Summary 39 References 41 Feedback on activities 43 Readings Unit 2 Introduction The purpose of this unit is to introduce you to the different kinds of theorizing about crime that have constituted the discipline of criminology. Criminology as an academic discipline has existed for well over 100 years. During this time, a number of distinct approaches have emerged, and it is these different approaches that this unit seeks to capture,...
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...The term organized crime has become well known during recent years. Primarily through movies, television shows, and news reports. When a person hears the term organized crime, they think of the mob from movies like godfather, goodfellas, and scarface. However; those movies are just a glorified representation of what organized crime actually is and the reality of organized crime and its impact of society is much more disturbing than anything Hollywood or story writers can develop. The purpose of this paper is to define and discuss what organized crime is, why it develops and why members of society are drawn to engage in it. This paper will also discuss the problems related to organized crime’s impact on society and the limitations the government faces when trying to eradicate this type of criminal activity. In addition, the laws and tools law enforcement uses to combat organized criminal activity will be explored and how those laws and tools can be expanded on to offer a viable solution in controlling organized crime. Organized Crime Described The simplest definition of organized crime can be 1. Widespread criminal activities, such as prostitution, interstate theft, or illegal gambling, that occur within a centrally controlled formal structure. 2. The people and the groups involved in such criminal activities. (thefreedictionary.com). This definition is what makes the difference between criminal activity conducted by an individual and criminal activity conducted by a group...
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...To begin, crime is defined as an action by a person that is done illegally, or against the states. The concept of crime is just the idea that people have of crime, or the idea that it has become to be known as today. There a certain essentials for an act to be considered a crime, such as: the action has to be considered illegal to the law or commanded, a punishment given so that violation is prevented, and the person(s) who committed the crime must follow law given procedures before being punished. A crime consists both of a guilty mind, and a guilty act, which means that both mental and physical actions are involved within the doing of a crime. Altogether, there are four stages of a crime, including: the intention or wanting to commit a crime, the preparation or...
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...Assess the View that Crime is Functional, Inevitable and Normal. (21 marks) Within the sociological perspectives of crime and deviance, there is one particular approach which argues that crime is functional, inevitable and normal. This sociological perspective, of Functionalism, consists of Durkheim’s work on crime and deviance. His main argument was that ‘crime is normal’ and that it is ‘an integral part of all healthy societies’. This perspective views crime and deviance as an inevitable feature of all societies which is universal. However, Durkheim did argue that too much crime can lead to the destabilisation of society. Durkheim identified three positive aspects of crime which make it a functional component of society. He did this through magnifying the positive impacts it can have on social cohesion which refers to the invisible bonds which bring people together within a society. There were three main positive aspects which he accentuated as they made crime and deviance functional. These were ‘reaffirming the boundaries’, ‘changing values’ and ‘social cohesion.’ The first, reaffirming the boundaries, refers to situations where crime has already occurred. When the criminal is taken to court, the public outcry which follows verifies the boundaries. This can be seen particularly in countries such as Saudi Arabia, where public hangings and executions take place. The second positive aspect of crime which makes it functional for society is changing values. Durkheim stated that...
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