Strain Theory Definition

Positive criminology focuses on the criminal rather than the criminal law because the motivational and behavioural actions, especially springing from life situations, may explain criminal deviancy. The Positivist would argue, therefore, that the law and its implication would be secondary, if not irrelevant (Matza, 1964). Positivist theorists dispel the Classical theory of free will and use scientific determinism to study the criminal behaviour. Instead, positive criminology focuses on set of determinates and constraints that affect an individual and link them to criminal deviancy and behaviour. With free will, there is a improbable chance of totality, especially given that humans cannot control the sociological, neurological and environmental factors in their lives.

When policy and claimsmakers label crimes as social problems, they do not always account for all representations of crime. They neglect to realize that crime is a reality that filters through a series of human decisions running the full scale of the criminal justice system (Silver 265). Jeffery Reiman states within “A Crime by Any Other Name” that, “although there is a wide range of behaviors that the law defines as criminal, people tend to view crime as involving only certain kinds of acts committed by particular populations of individuals”. For example, the rhetoric presented within the War on Terror in the United States lead to moral panic which exaggerated and distorted perceived deviant behavior (Silver 330). Similarly, the rhetoric presented

Together with other renowned opponents of capitalism, Williams (2005) asserts that there is great danger in relying, exclusively, on self-regulating markets. In his view, relying exclusively on market system for organization of life is an ideological, mythical construct that could prove difficult to realize since it would undermine human existence foundations. As he explained it, “deprived of the cultural institutions’ protective coverage citizens of a nation would perish from the consequences of social exposure”. The expansion of capitalist markets in this regard has extensively resulted in commodification of crime. As a result, different studies have been conducted to investigate the significance of social institutions in explaining crime rate variation across diverse institutional

Perhaps you can be born with psychologically criminal instincts and then life events further your tendencies making you act in more criminalist. This paper will display how a criminal can be born but molded and persuaded by the society to cultivate the criminal mannerisms making them an actual criminal. While undeniable, what should only be seen as an inclination of crime rather than the actual cause of crime itself are the theories of genetic influences (Raine. A. 1993 pg 50).

One of the theories it speaks of is the Pyrrhic defeat theory. This theory states that the criminal justice system is created to function in a particular fashion in order to create an image of crime where crime is actually seen as the “threat from the poor”. (Reiman, 2010, p.5) “Reimans’s theory suggests that those who have power to change the system benefit from the way it operates: they can go on committing harms and accumulating wealth without punishment, while the country remains focused on street crime and poor minority criminals.”(Leighton 2010) In order to accomplish this “The system must actually fight crime-or at least some crime-but only enough to keep it from getting out of hand and to keep the struggle to substantially reduce or eliminate crime.”(Reiman, 2010, p.5) This means that by creating an image that our system is trying to fight crime, but at the same time allowing certain crimes to exist and scare society, it benefits the wealthy in several ways. First, it promotes that the wealthy population is

Why We Punish & Different Ways Criminals are Punished Why does the criminal justice system of America punish criminals? The answer lies in the words “justice.” The term justice can be interpreted in many ways. Criminals are punished to: make people abide the laws of their country and state, put an end to illegal activity that could be harmful to themselves or the community, protect the public from evil, prevent crime from rising in certain areas. These are just some of the reasons why criminals are punished. There are also different approaches to punishing criminals such as: sentences that fit the crime, community service, the death penalty, and rehabilitation.

The due process model is seen to focus on the suspect whereas the crime control model focuses on the society. This paper analyzes these two models and based on the rate of crime in the society, makes recommendations as to which is the best model in criminal justice. The principle in law that one is innocent until proven guilty has created much discourse. There are those who feel that the moment that one is arrested, there is reasonable belief that they committed the crime. However, there are those who feel that just as the principle states, one is, and should be taken as a victim and the outcome could be either way: guilty or not guilty.

PREVENTIVE THEORY Preventive philosophy of punishment is based on the preposition ‘not to avenge crime but to prevent crime’. It presupposes that need of punishment of crime arises simply out of social necessities. In punishing a criminal the community protects itself against anti- social act which endanger social order in general or person or property of its members. The real object of the penal law therefore, is to make the threat generally known rather than putting it occasionally into execution. It suggests that prisonisation is the best mode of crime prevention as it seeks to eliminate offenders from society thus disabling them for repeating crime.

Is it really possible that a killer will be more deterred by the risk of the death penalty than by having to spend the rest of his life in prison? The claim fails the test of common sense. Criminologists and police chiefs say the death penalty just doesn't influence murderers -- partly because its application is so haphazard. Although some people say the purpose of punishment is not only just to deter but also to retribute. However, this does not justify the idea that a person should be killed because of killing other just like a rapist should also be rapped.

It is assumed, that crime is having a purpose behavior designed to meet the offender’s common place needs for such things as money, status, sex and excitement, and that meeting these needs involves the making of decisions and choices, constrained as these are by limits, ability, and the availability of relevant information. In addition, (Alkers, R. 1990) rational choice literature takes a strong quantitative modeling approach derived from econometric modeling, which advances our ability to test complex models of criminal behavior and the criminal justice system, Rational choice also has inspired some empirical work on decision making in specific crime and crime events as well as in criminal justice policy, both of which were projects that might not otherwise have been

This is certainly a conflicting issue. While it is fair to value the welfare of law abiding citizens over the welfare of convicted felons, placing restricting on felons presents the issue of those felons lacking the ability to become a contributing member of society. Like you mentioned, that can provide the push needed for them to return to crime rather than working towards a steady life of their own. Further research into the costs and benefits of such restrictions is necessary to determine whether these types of restrictions actually do benefit society overall like they intend to.