Crime is a serious issue in the United States. Research shows that crime is running rampant and its effects are felt in all socioeconomic levels. Each economic class has its own crime rates and types of crime. It is a mistake to think of crime as a lower class problem. Crime is a problem for all people. The lower classes commit crime for survival while the upper class commits crime to supplement capital and maintain control.
Research also highlight that middle class crime is the most popular while lower class neighborhoods are deteriorating. This paper will focus on “A General Theory of Crime” using classical theory (Schmalleger, 2001, p.96-98), such as the relationship between crime and socioeconomic class structure. The essential nature of crime and results of scientific and popular conceptions of crime. In reading the book, there is a broad perspective and comprehensive explanations of crime per se, as well as a breakdown of crime under capitalistic system of government. In doing this the authors explore the typical patterns of crime associated with specific classes and attempts by the state to regulate and control capitalist marketplace activities and working class life. An important theme also highlighted was dynamic and contradictory relationship between the structural reproduction of capitalism and capitalist methods of crime control.
The actual patterns of social relations are determined by the economy, institutionalized forms of the state or political power, and associated forms of culture and ideology (Gottfredson, 1998). Modes of behavior and their definition as criminal vary accordingly. Class structure gives rise to different types of criminality, which relate fundamentally to the needs of the dominant minority to control the laboring majority. Such a pattern ensures the continual production of social wealth, but it also ensures a continuation of economic exploitation and class struggle over the distribution of social surplus. Crime is simply one such expression of this class struggle, an endemic feature based upon the functional and dysfunctional characteristics of living in a class-based economic system.
There is no perfect way of measuring crime, and it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to know exactly how much crime is going on in any particular jurisdiction at any given time. To a certain extent, crime or criminality is ...
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...her and are recognized by many as central to any theoretical discussion of continuity in deviant behavior. Each of these theories implies processes and contingencies by which actors develop, maintain, and change sources of structural, personal, and moral commitment to deviance. More importantly, the commitment framework specifies potential factors that these theories either merely imply or fail to recognize”. (Ulmer 1994)
Reference
Gottfredson, M.R., Hirschi, T. (1998). A General Theory of Crime. Stanford University Press: Stanford California.83, 118, 158,159, 181, 195
Schmalleger, F. (2001). Criminal Justice Today: An Introductory Text For The Twenty-First Century, 7th Edition. Prentice Hall. 96-98, 116-117
Siegel, L. (2001) Criminology, Theories, Patterns, and Typologies-7th Edition. Wadsworth, a Division of Thomson Learning. 52, 227-228
Ulmer, Jeffery T. (1994). Sociological Quarterly, Summer2000, Vol. 41 Issue 3, p315, 22p, 1 chart. Academic Search Premier
Vazsonyi, Alexander T.; Pickering, Lloyd E.; Junger, Marianne; Hessing, Dick (2001). Journal of Research in Crime & Delinquency, May2001, Vol. 38 Issue 2, p91, 41p, 2 diagrams Academic Search Premier
Seigal, L. J., & Worrall, J. L. (2012). Introduction to criminal justice (13th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Reiman, J., & Paul, L. (2010). The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison: Ideology, class, and criminal justice (9th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
Crime exists everywhere. It is exists in our country, in the big cities, the small towns, schools, and even in homes. Crime is defined as “any action that is a violation of law”. These violations may be pending, but in order to at least lower the crime rate, an understanding of why the crimes are committed must first be sought. There are many theories that are able to explain crimes, but three very important ones are rational choice theory, social disorganization theory and strain theory.
Schmalleger, Frank, Criminal Justice A Brief Introduction, Upper Saddle River, NJ, Pearson Education Inc. , 2010, Page 387
Siegel, L. J., & Worrall, J. L. (2012). Issues in Policing. Introduction to Criminal Justice (13th ed., pp. 252-258). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Daly, Kathleen, Goldsmith, Andrew, and Israel, Mark. 2006, Crime and Justice: A guide to criminology, third addition, Thomson, Lawbook Co.
The four stages of sleep are REM (rapid eye movement sleep), NREM1 (non-rem), NREM2, and NREM3. During the REM stage “your heart rate rises, your breathing becomes rapid and irregular, and every half-minute or so your eyes dart around in momentary burst of activity behind closed lids” (Myers, 2014, p. 96).
Thompson, W. E. and Bynum J. E. (2010). Juvenile Delinquency: A sociological Approach Eighth Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Siegel, L. J. (2013). Trait theories. Criminology: theories, patterns, and typologies (11th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Drawing from tenets of Marxist theory, critical criminology believe that crime results from the mode of production by capitalist and the economic structures they have created. Social classes have been divided into two: those whose income is secured by property ownership; and those whose income is secured by their labor. The resultant class structure influences the opportunities of an individual to succeed in life and his propensity to engage in crime. Although it encompasses the macro-economic factors that are rarely included in micro-economic analysis of crime, it does not substitute those macro factors, like unemployment, to micro factors, like being jobless. However, it combines the macro and micro factors in analyzing how micro factors of crime are integrated into the macro structures.
Pratt, T. C., Gau, J. M., & Franklin, T. W. (2011). Key ideas in criminology and criminal justice. Los Angeles: SAGE.
Thompson, W. E. and Bynum J. E. (2010). Juvenile Delinquency: A sociological Approach Eighth Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Crime and criminalization are dependent on social inequality Social inequality there are four major forms of inequality, class gender race and age, all of which influence crime. In looking at social classes and relationship to crime, studies have shown that citizens of the lower class are more likely to commit crimes of property and violence than upper-class citizens: who generally commit political and economic crimes. In 2007 the National Crime Victimization Survey showed that families with an income of $15000 or less had a greater chance of being victimized; recalling that lower classes commit a majority of those crimes. We can conclude that crime generally happens within classes.
Throughout this report a variety of major issues will be discussed, including gender and age, association with antisocial/delinquent peers, family Issues, XYY chromosome, and media/people(s) perceptions. The research indicates that theses are the most influential factors leading to youth engaging in criminal activity. Some other major issues that I haven’t spoken about through this topic are low socioeconomic status, low academic/vocational achievement, truancy throughout schooling, unemployment and boredom.
From the statistics, one of the largest problems that are currently facing the contemporary society has been the increasing rates of crimes. It has been established that the high levels of crimes in any state normally will rob individuals the peace as well as the tranquility and it also raises concern regarding the safety and security of individuals generally. The obvious end result is normally the fact that it might have a psychological effect to the victimized and the non-victimized and in turn will deprive individuals of their property and to some extent can deprive lives. Even though crime is classified to be conducted for several reasons, statistics have confirmed that the impoverished are the ones that commit it at higher rate (Silberman, 1978). Normally, if a part of society will not be able to cater to the basic needs like housing...