Sociological Criminology Case Study

In order to understand criminal behavior and the justice field, one must use sociological criminology. According to Barkan (2015), it is the intension of sociological criminology to expose and prove wrong incorrect claims about how effective and efficient one crime-control intervention is to others. In addition, sociological criminology should also be able to point out any injustices of criminal labels that were/are applied. We must start though by looking at the sociological perspective, which points out that people are shaped by how society shapes things like their behavior, attitudes, or even the chances in their life. Now this has sociologists looking at the social structure people come from in terms of their social aspects of life (relationships

Wright Mills (1959) suggested and Barkan (2015) mentioned that social structure lies within private troubles, which was simply saying if only a few people were suffering (example use of bath salts) it would be a private trouble; however, if a vast amount of individuals are affected, then it becomes a public issue (once someone on bath salts eats the face of a homeless man). Mills (1959) went further on to say that if we are to understand any structural or perhaps historical causes of personal troubles, we must look at sociological imagination in order to better see and understand the changes (socially) as it relates to their private troubles. Berger (1963) pointed out that research in sociology often works to expose any false claims and assumptions about the social life or even institutions—this is referred to as debunking

As Worrall and Moore (2014) pointed out and Balkan (2015) used in their writing, mala in se crimes are crimes which are considered to be “evil in themselves” which violate the norms and morals of the society. Crimes that would fall into mala in se would be violent and property crimes. Mala prohibita crimes would be the crimes that are simply prohibited by law and violate modern standards. Examples of mala prohibita would be drunk driving or white collar crimes. There is however another way to distinguish crimes—felonies and misdemeanors. A felony is a crime that would be punished by the sentencing of more than one year in a prison, whereas, a misdemeanor would be a crime that is punished by the sentencing of less than one year (often in the local jail) or could even just have to pay a fine. Criminal intent is also important to look at when considering crime and punishment. We have actus reus which is simply being accused of a criminal act, and then mens rea which is the guilty mindset of a defendant which can also be labeled as criminal intent. When on trial, the defendant can claim duress which says they committed a crime out of fear for their life or safety. In addition, self-defense is another common justification for breaking the law as the defendant had to act in order to prevent the harm to self or others. Lastly, how does one go about looking at how criminology is