Theories Of Criminology

Critical perspectives on discipline, social control, and punishment are studied within the field of critical criminology. It assumed that human beings are both determined and determining creatures (Bohm and Vogel, 2011). In the process, they create institutions that they are capable of changing the structure (Bohm and Vogel, 2011). Critical Criminology assumes that society is based on conflicts between competing interests groups. The root of criminology can be traced back to the mid-seventeenth century. It gives homage to Cesare Beccaria, an Italian jurist and author of On Crimes and Punishments, and Jeremy Bentham a conflict criminologist who wrote Theoretical Criminology. Bentham argued that crime is an outcome of political conflicts between

One of which is peacemaking criminology, it is a faith-based and holistic approach to addressing crime and justice. Peacemaking Criminology introduces and implicates the intersection of gender, race, and class. It regards crime as the product of a social structure that puts some groups at a disadvantage, sets individuals against one another and generates a desire for revenge or harmful behavior. Peacemaking criminology rejects the idea that predatory criminal violence can be reduced by repressive state violence. It suggests that the solution to social problems is the transformation of human beings, mutual dependents, reduction of hiearcheshy structure, creations of communities of caring individuals, and universal social-cultural (Bohm and Vogel, 2011). Peacemaking criminology strongly believes that crime is suffering and in order to reduce crime, suffering must be reduced (Bohm and Vogel, 2011). It advocates that human must go through an inner transformation and experience empathy with others. This rebirth of change must first come from an individual before changing the world. Peacemaking criminology has a long history grounded in social movements and restorative justice. It was executed by individuals such as Dorothy Day, Martin L. King Jr., Fred Hampton, Leo Tolstoy, Malcolm X, Mahatma Gandhi, and many other peace activists throughout history. However, peacemaking criminology has not been

It is concerned with language and the role it plays in creating an understanding of the world. It was developed following World War II and built on the postmodern social thought. The dominant structures in society influence the language that people use. Postmodern criminology has its greatest value in showing which ways of knowing are dominant in society and which were not. Postmodern theory questioned these assumptions and critiques racism, sexism, imperialism, and class exploitation that has arisen through modern science. It originated in the late 1960's as a rejection of scientific rationality as a root to knowledge and progress. Post-modern criminology emphasized three key issues; the centrality of language, partial knowledge and provisional truth and deconstruction, difference and possibility. Post-modern criminology also rejected the idea that there is only one true interpretation of the law. It believed that there is a plurality of interpretations and interpretations are dependent on the social context in which they arise. Post-modern criminology argued that law from a political view has a human author and a political agenda. It abandoned the usual notion of causation. Post-modern criminology believed that crime is the result of processes that make offenders feel they are not connected to other human beings. These processes place people into stereotypes, alienate them and