Sociological Theories Of Crime Essay

Throughout the years, there have been several theories developed, in the field of criminology, seeking to explain crime and delinquency. Criminology is constantly evolving due to the political and economic views of society. Throughout this change,many theories were created, while other theories are proven to no longer be valid. Each theory whether valid or invalid, takes a different approach in its explanation of crime and delinquency. The question that many have tried to answer is, which theory has the most empirical validity and can best explain why individuals choose to engage in delinquent and criminal activity? According to the writer, the theory that best explains crime and delinquency is, Robert Agnew's General Strain Theory. The purpose

Chapter seven and eight discusses the effects of labeling criminals, and factors that leads to deviant behaviors. To begin, we look at the early days of crime, and how people were cast out as criminals. These individuals were subjected to harsh punishment, and throwing into dungeons. However, as time went on, criminologist begin to study crime. What is crime, why does it occur, and how can it cease? For years, various criminologist concluded ways in which he or she believed was the source of the problem. In fact, theorists like Albert Reiss and E. Ivan Niye, “tended to suggest that crime and delinquency could be expected in conditions where controls were not effective”. For example, disorganized cultures that have little social control, crime

Perhaps African American incarcerations is a major issue in the United States? To some magnitude prison systems are not solving original mission. Originally prison systems in the 1930’s were invented to protect the society and confine offender in a controlled environment. Yet, the mission in the 21st century for the prison system is to enforce the law and protect the welfares of the United States. The society is incapable to control crimes, and depend on higher authorities to take responsibility of controlling crimes. Higher authorities administer laws, and regulate laws making the United States a harmless environment.

Stephen J. Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky are consistent criminals. Hayes has spent most of his life traveling into and out of prison on charges of robbery. He specializes in stealing cars, often breaking into them at the park and snatching small items, though occasionally the entire vehicle. Komisarjevsky is also a career criminal, except his specialty is breaking into houses, a talent he developed at a young age. The men get high on marijuana, cocaine, and crystal methamphetamine, which is what led to their fateful meeting at a drug rehabilitation center. It was within a facility meant to help others that the men would ironically conspire to bring harm to the world. On July 23, 2007, the Petit family became the unfortunate victim of Komisarjevsky and Hayes’ partnership, savagely murdering three innocent women and leaving Dr. William A. Pitt hurt, injured, and alone. His wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and two daughters, Hayley (17) and Michaela (11), are brutally raped and massacred in a robbery gone wrong. Hayes and Komisarjevsky, who have been stalking Mrs. Hawke-Petit earlier that week, arrive at the Petit household at approximately 4:30 a.m. to discover Dr. Petit sleeping downstairs. They promptly beat Dr. Petit with a baseball bat and tie him up, dazed and confused, in the house’s basement. Hayes then drives Hawke-Petit to a bank and demands that she

Death Penalty is a very ominous punishment to discuss. It is probably the most controversial and feared form of punishment in the United States. Many are unaware, but 31 of the 52 states have the Death penalty passes as an acceptable punishment. In the following essay, I will agree and support Stephen Nathanson's statement that "Equality retributivism cannot justify the death penalty." In the reading, "An Eye for an Eye?", Nathanson gives objections to why equality retributivism is morally acceptable for the death penalty to be legal. The first objection is that the death penalty does not "provide a measure of moral desert" (Nathanson). For the second, Nathanson states "it does not provide an adequate criterion for determining appropriate levels of punishment." The main objection is an "eye for an eye", or Lex talionis, and I believe it fails to support equality retributivism and creates punishments that are morally unacceptable. There is no way that

The four basic philosophical reasons for sentencing are retribution, deterrence, incapacitation and rehabilitation. Retribution philosophy is defined as a philosophical that those who commit criminal acts should be punished based on the severity of the crime and that no other factors are to be considered during sentencing. Deterrence philosophy reason for sentencing is defined as a philosophy that crime can be prevented through the threat of punishment. Incapacitation philosophy is defined as a philosophy that crime can be prevented by detaining wrongdoers in prison thereby separating them from the community and reducing criminal opportunities. Finally rehabilitation philosophy is defined as the philosophy that society is best served when offenders are provided the resources to get rid of criminal activity from their daily behavior patterns. Retribution just holds the severity of the crime against the guilty and is aimed at pleasing the society as whole party rather than just the victim/s. Deterrence uses other criminals as examples for the community to be discouraged from crime. There are two types of deterrence, general deterrence is punishing one person that has committed a crime,

Theories help answer two very important questions; how and why. The purpose of a theory is to explain how and why certain things and/or events are connected to other things and/or events. Everything done in the criminal justice field is based on theory. In criminology, theories answer questions about criminal behavior that would have otherwise not been answered. Theories give clues to how and why people commit criminal acts. By providing the motives behind criminal activity, theories give criminologists a better understanding of crime (Bohm & Vogel, 2015). Theories of criminal behavior can relate to human nature, biological issues, psychological issues, sociological issues, economic issues, or a collaboration of two or more of these factors.

“Retribution” or “Retributive justice” can be defined as “a theory of justice that considers punishment, if proportionate, to be the best response to crime.” (Wikipedia, 2016)

Why do people commit crimes? What goes through their minds before they actually commit a crime? These are questions asked from society to criminologist every time one decides they want to commit a crime. Criminologists has given us different crime causations, theories, to explain the answer to these questions. A theory is a speculation about how phenomena, behavior, or process are caused and what takes place after the cause is determined (Anderson, 2015). There are numerous theories that have evolved over time to explain why crimes are committed. These theories include anomie, strained, social control, and rational choice theory. In this research paper I will be focusing on rational choice theory. Majority of these theories focus on a macro-level, which is the largest, meanwhile some focus on a micro-level, the smaller level, depending on the circumstances. The purpose of this paper is to synthesize how rational choice theory is integrate with different crimes. The crimes included are burglary, white collar crime, and murder.

Researchers have invested decades worth of time and data, attempting to answer the question of what causes crime. The study of criminological theory contains a great number of explanations, focused on discovering why exactly, crime occurs. Whether causations are biological, psychological, or sociological in nature, theory has lead us closer to answering the question of why crime happens. Perhaps causations are best explained using hybrid explanations that include a little bit of everything. A significant part of theory focuses on delinquency and the domino like effect of deviant behavior that results for children into adulthood. According to the United States government, 25-33% percent of school aged children are subject to the victimization

There are many phenomena that could cause or correlate with crime. In addition to this, there are many characteristics to these phenomena that cause/correlate with criminal behavior. Furthermore, these characteristics can be individual, sociological, or both that could have an effect on criminal behavior. This paper will take the educational avenue on crime. Also, there are numerous ways that education can correlate with crime. The first way of correlation is through an economic scope. This way will take a look at how education can have an effect on an individual’s wages that may deter them from crime. The second way education has an affect on crime is the principles that a school would teach to kids that could keep them from crime. In addition, this section will focus on some key sociological aspects. The next way that crime is correlated with education is that crime could be a barrier to education. Finally, some statistics to present the education and crime correlation. There is a correlation between education and crime that shows the more education an individual obtains, the more opportunity costs, which would reduce the risk of the individual participating in criminal behavior.

Social process theory depends on the interaction between individuals and society as an explanation and is also known as interactionist perspective. This theory assumes that everyone has the potential to violate the law and that criminality is not an innate human characteristic but is instead a belief that criminal behavior is learned by interaction with others (Schmalleger, 2012). Social process feels the socialization process that occurs because of group membership is the main way through which learning occurs (Schmalleger, 2012). Social process theory views criminality as people’s interactions with various organizations, institutions, and processes in society (Siegel, 2000). This theory feels that people from all areas have the potential

A crime is essentially an act forbidden by the law, and considered sufficiently grave to warrant providing penalties for its commission. It does not necessarily follow that such an act is either good or bad; punishment follows for the violation of the law and not necessarily for any moral contravention. Before 1968, most theories of crime were resulted from recommendations given by sociologists, psychologists, political scientists, and criminologists. These recommendations were hinged on concepts like depravity, abnormality and insanity. It was only in the late 1960’s, that economists turned their attention to the debate of criminology inspired by Becker’s (1968) seminal paper on Crime and Punishment.

There is a worldwide trend in the use of penal imprisonment for serious offenses as capital punishment has been renounced by an increasing number of countries. Harsh punishments include capital punishment, life imprisonment and long-term incarceration. These forms of punishments are usually used against serious crimes that are seen as unethical, such as murder, assault and robbery. Many people believe that harsher punishments are more effective as they deter would-be criminals and ensure justice is served. Opposition towards harsh punishments have argued that harsher punishments does not necessarily increase effectiveness because they do not have a deterrent effect, do not decrease recidivism rates and do not provide rehabilitation. In addition,

This essay will discuss crime as both a social problem and a sociological problem. Crime is seen as a typical function of society. Crime doesn’t happen without society. It is created and determined by the surrounding society. According to the CSO, the number of dangerous and negligent acts committed between the years of 2008 and 2012 rose from 238’000 in 2008 to 257’000 in 2012. This is an increase of nearly 20’000 recorded crimes in just 3 years. Note that these are only the recorded figures. Many more crimes go unreported. This may be because of intimidation, blackmail or embarrassment among many reasons.