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Rick Bragg’s All Over but the Shoutin’ is an autobiography that dives right into both the depth of his destitute upbringing as well as his edgy career as a journalist. Having a neglectful father and a struggling single mother, Bragg and his family went through many hardships that can seem both unreal to some and commonplace to others. As he started to pursue his career as a journalist, he was a first hand witness to many atrocities, such as the riots in Miami in 1991. While reading through the text, it is astonishing how many references there are about different theoretical aspects of crime. There is no question that criminal activity proves to be a chronic issue in our society, but where the real question lies is not in how we can rid our society of crime altogether, but the roots it stems from. Throughout the years, many sociologists have developed a number of different theories concerning the origins of crime society, studies on the stratification of the justice system and how the two are both interdependent of one another.
In order to understand the nature of crime through the sociological perspective, one must first understand how they define it. In the most legal sense, crime is defined as only specific behaviors that violate particular laws (Nettler 1). Crime comes in many shapes and forms, and the “sociological perspective” consists of three major theories and is commonly used to address the issues of crime: functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interaction. Functionalists focus on just that: the innate function that crime serves in our society. They generally argue that crime is necessary to maintain structure and by singling criminals out as socially deviant reaffirms what is “good” or “normal.” Conf...
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...bition Revisited. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1963. Print.
Taking a different approach to my research, I decided to take a look the Prohibition movement of the 1920’s to see if I could find any similarities in the structure of crime back then and now. This book focuses heavily on the overall situation of the Prohibition movement, but you also get a good idea as to how crime during this period skyrocketed because of such a highly desirable market in alcohol open for anyone who wanted to get in on it. There are also implications on gang formation and some of its characteristics. I was also thinking about using the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre described in this book and compare/contrast it to the situation that Rick Bragg talked about when living and reporting in Miami.
Leonard, Eileen B. Women, Crime, & Society. New York: Longman Inc, 1982. Print.
“The Normality of Crime” in The Rules of Sociological Method
Paternoster, R., & Bachman, R., (2001). Explaining criminals and crime. Essays in contemporary criminological theory. New York City, N.Y.: Oxford University
The strength of this theory is that it clearly explains the cause of highest crime rates in inner slum areas. It points out factors that produce crime and provides solid explanation for high crime rates in poor neighborhoods. Shaw and McKay’s theory, however, fails to answer the questions of why the middle class commits crime, as well as why most of the lower class remains law-abiding.
McCarthy, B. (2002). NEW ECONOMICS OF SOCIOLOGICAL CRIMINOLOGY. Annual Review Of Sociology, 28(1), 417-442. doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.28.110601.140752
The author begins his ethnography by giving us insight of the crime rate in the 1990s. He described this subject as the “age of drive-by shootings, drug deals gone bad, crack cocaine, and gangsta rap” ( ) that dominated the talk of the time. This type of ideology led our society to believe that we should put massive
A highly debated topic concerns whether criminals commit crimes because of a social pressure or an individual urge. The strain theory supports crime as a social pressure because, as Frank Schmalleger suggests in Criminology Today 222, crime is an adaptive behavior that coincides with problems caused by frustration or unpleasant social surroundings. Also, culture conflict theory states the cause of delinquent behavior is because different social classes conflicting morals of what is appropriate or proper behavior, (Schmalleger 228). Other people believe blaming crime on the economy or where they grew up is making an excuse for criminals instead of making them take responsibility for their actions, as stated by CQ writer Peter Katel. These different views started with statistics taken on crime in the early 1800s. Andre Michel Guerry of France was one of the first examiners of “the moral health of nations” in the early 19th century, (Schmalleger 35). Another early crime statistician was Adolphe Quetelet of Belgium . Quetelet evaluated the crime rates between weather, sex, and age. His findings that climate contributes to high or low crime rate is a main factor in today’s fight against crime. It is doubtful this issue will ever be settled since there are too many pros and cons to each side. However, while specialists’ dispute this, crime is not stopping. There needs to be a way, or possibly several ways, to reduce criminal activity. It is doubtful criminal activity will ever be put to an end. The same is to be said about why people commit crime, but knowing if it is done socially or individually can help with the fight against it. In the end, individuals should take responsibility for their actions, but...
Rational Choice Theory is the belief that man is a reasonable actor who decides means and ends, costs and benefits, and makes rational choices. Routine activity theory provides a simple and powerful insight into the causes of crime problems. At its heart is the idea that in the absence of effective controls, offenders will prey upon attractive targets. Social Control Theory gives an explanation for how behavior conforms to that which is generally expected in society. Social disorganization theory explains the ecological differences in levels of crime based on structural and cultural factors shaping the nature of the social order across communities. This approach alters the sociological studies on which is any of two or more random variables exhibiting correlated variation of urban growth to examine the concentration and stability of rates of criminal behavior. Strain Theory. Conflict theory explains the belief that individuals choose to commit a crime, which many po...
Crime is an irrelevant concept as it is tied to the formal social control mechanism of the State; deviance is a concept that is owned by sociology thus our study should be the sociology of deviance, rather than criminology
Conscious efforts to critique existing approaches to questions of crime and justice, demystify concepts and issues that are laden with political and ideological baggage, situate debates about crime control within a socio-historical context, and facilitate the imagination and exploration of alternative ways of thinking and acting in relation to crime and justice. (p. 3).
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.
Shelden, R.G., Brown, W.B., Miller, K.S., & Fritzler, R.B. (2008). Crime and criminal justice in american society. Long Grove, Illinosis: Waveland Press, INC.
The two theoretical approaches I have chosen to compare to the study of crime are Functionalism and Marxism. I have done so, as I believe both theories are important/ significant to the study of crime and differentiate from each other. I will do this by writing a critique the advantages and disadvantages of both of the theories and thus, resulting in my own personal opinion in the conclusion.
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.
Criminology is the study of crime and criminals; a branch of sociology. More accurately, it is the study of crime as a social trend, and its overall origins, its many manifestations and its impact upon society as a whole. That makes it more a form of sociology than a law enforcement tool. But the trends it studies have a huge impact on the way the police do their jobs, the way society treats its criminals, and the way a given community goes about maintaining law and order. The writer will describe and give examples of the three perspectives of viewing crimes. The perspectives that will be highlighted are the consensus view, the conflict view or the interactionist view. Each perspective maintain its own interpretation of what constitutes criminal activities and what causes people to engage in criminal behaviors (Siegel, p.12).
MacDonald, H. (2010, January 4). A crime theory demolished. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870359090504574638024055735590.ht