Patrick F. Fagan in “Disintegration of the family is the real root cause of violent crime” addresses the main causes of violent crime in context of modern day affairs. Fagan’s approach to inform readers of his opinion is a strategic method of integrating examples of his research into his evidence supporting his position. He ensures to acknowledge major opposing theories and he is very well organized in stating his supporting proof. Although Fagan uses his expertise in marriage as a basis for argument, his open mindedness shows a deep understanding of his point that the underlying cause of violent crimes can be accredited to illegitimacy. Throughout his essay, Fagan revisits his idea of Illegitimacy being essential to creating a violent criminal. …show more content…
He uses an example of a young man who was born into a fatherless home; he has gone through the first 4 stages of becoming a violent criminal. This young man has arrived at the final step, Fagan describes it as “his 16-year-old girlfriend is pregnant”. His largest argument that he uses to tie the article up is a hypothetical example that he created to support his thesis. This is an extremely weak example as it comes with no validity for the reason that it’s imaginary. There is no doubt that Fagan would mold this example to perfectly fit his thesis which in turn creates an invaluable …show more content…
This direct relationship Fagan has with individuals affected by a broken family allow for him to have a better understanding of the causal factors that create criminals. Fagan’s deep understanding comes with the advantage that he is able to write an article that is easy to follow. He offers his arguments as “summarized in five basic stages” (Fagan). Which create distinct segments that isolate each section leading up to creating a violent criminal. By formatting his essay in such a manner, Fagan entices readers to continue to read as a simplistic approach often offers stronger arguments as they are clearly laid out rather than hidden by a complex format or excessive use of difficult
Athens, Lonnie H. The Creation of Dangerous Violent Criminals. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992. Print.
Peterson, R, Krivo, L, & Hagan, J. (2006). The many colors of crime. NY: New York University Press.
Eysenck, H.J., & Gudjonsson, G.H. (1989). The causes and cures of criminality. Contemporary Psychology, 36, 575-577.
Life is filled with many difficulties which affect us all in one way or another. However, we do not all face the same difficulties. If we are to survive we need to first understand what these difficulties or problems are, in order to learn how to deal with them. One such problem is, is domestic violence. It is necessary to determine whether the problem is personal one or due to society (social problems), so that the individuals involved can learn how to deal with their situation.
Violence in America’s society is definitely a major problem. This problem can be traced back as far as fetal development. It seems that in most cases of bad treatment, the families come from poverty or bad neighborhood areas. The whole main purpose of this speaker was to develop a good understanding on why most of the violent crimes occur in today’s hurting society. It is not rocket science to realize that most angry violent acts are due to a disturbed child or individual that lacked attention, love or care. Violence is not a new problem, scientists are just finding out new facts about how it starts and how it can be prevented.
Conflict criminology strives to locate the root cause of crime and tries to analyze how status and class inequality influences the justice system. The study of crime causation by radical criminologist increased between 1980s and 1990s as this led to the emergence of many radical theories such as Marxist criminology, feminist criminology, structural criminology, critical criminology, left realist criminology and peacemaking criminology (Rigakos, 1999). In spite of critical criminology encompassing many broad theories, some common themes are shared by radical research. The basic themes show how macro-level economic structures and crime are related, effects of power differentials, and political aspects in defining criminal acts.
Throughout this course multiple different sociological theories have been used to explain crime and deviance. The different theories and schools try to illuminate social factors that influence defiance. The range of crimes or delinquent behaviour these theories try to describe range from small petty thefts to sever violent criminal behaviour. Crime and deviance is a complex problem, and stems from multiple different factors, sociological theories contribute different concepts that make generalized assumptions about root causes of deviance. Just like lifestyle philosophies not aspect of a theory applies to every case and more than one theory can explain certain criminal tendencies. Although, Many of these theories can contribute to explain deviant behaviour or tendencies however in the case of Bob, the Social Learning theory and Institutional Anomie Theory do their best to explain his criminal tendencies and
On 06/19/2017, the hotline received a report concerning family violence threatens child involving Jaylen (C-V6) and Breonna (C-V 8). According to the report the mother and father were involve in a domestic dispute while the mother visit Jaylen and Breonna. According to the mother, the father hit Jaylen twice in the stomach, grabbed him by both arms, and pushed him up to the ceiling as a discipline. As a result, the mother struck the father and sustain two small scratches on the face.
The possible interpretations for criminal behavior seem to be infinite and even someone who does not possess the skills or the intelligence, in order to get away with a crime develops new evil ways to do it. The human mind keeps evolving at the idea of how the crime has changed in the past 50 years and how it will be after 50 more. It’s just terrifying and may be far beyond logical reasoning for the human imagination. Τhe basic view of the definition of crime does not take into account that certain behaviours are considered punishable while others are not. What brings us to the social fabric of crime, is the idea created and
Criminologists have long tried to fight crime and they have developed many theories along the way as tools to help them understand criminals. In the process of doing so, criminologist have realized that in order to really understand why criminals are criminals, they had to first understand the interrelationship between the law and society. A clear and thorough understanding of how they relatively connect with criminal behavior is necessary. Therefore, they then created three analytical perspectives which would help them tie the dots between social order and law, the consensus, the pluralist and the conflict perspectives. Each provides a significantly different view of society as relative to the law. However, while they all aim to the same exact purpose which is to help us understand crimes from a social viewpoint, the consensus perspective is more effective as it presents a more radical and logical view of how society interacts with the law. For instance, the consensus view focuses more on norms, unification, and equality. At the same time, it questions individuals ‘self-control as causes of crime.
The sociological imagination lets us analyze how society's history might influence this abusive behavior. At the same time, drive away from blaming the victim and the abuser. As Mills (1959) said, “sociological imagination enables its possessor to understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external career of a variety of individual” (p. 5). In other words, the social imagination helps us broaden our perspectives on how to reflect on how we can influence to stop the continuation of domestic violence. In addition, when we make the connection between the history and the person, we can help the victim understand they should not blame themselves for the problem. Later this will help them to take the first step in removing themselves from the environment and seek for help. In all, Mills' ideas help us learn in what ways can be help to stop the
In today’s society, one will find that there are many different factors that go into the development of a criminal mind, and it is impossible to single out one particular cause of criminal behavior. Criminal behavior often stems from both biological and environmental factors. In many cases criminals share similar physical traits which the general population do not usually have. For example criminals have smaller brains than properly adjusted individuals. However biological reasons cannot solely be the cause of criminal behavior. Therefore, one must look to other sources as to how a criminal mind is developed. Social and environmental factors also are at fault for developing a person to the point at which they are lead to committing a criminal act. Often, someone who has committed a violent crime shows evidence of a poorly developed childhood, or the unsuitable current conditions in which the subject lives. In addition if one studies victimology which is the role that the victim plays in the crime, it is apparent that there are many different causes for criminal behavior. Through the examination of biological factors, in addition to the social and environmental factors which make up a criminal mind, one can conclude that a criminal often is born with traits common to those of criminals, it is the environment that exist around them that brings out the criminal within them to commit indecent acts of crime.
In summary, violent crime, the force or threat of force upon a person was once worse than it is today. Over a period of thousands of years, many transitional periods would occur on the road to less violent crime. These transitions of decline were The Process of Pacification, Civilizing Process, Humanitarian Revolution, The New Peace, and The Rights Revolutions. Today, television portrays violent crime much worse than reality, while other crimes much less in comparison to actual. Finally, police presence alone will not stop violent crime; however, a systematic approach at policing changes
Crime is sometimes blamed on the family, with poor parenting, lack of discipline and family breakdown often associated with youth crime. A recurrent theme in academic research has been to investigate the relationship between delinquency and a range of family related factors. Early studies explored child-rearing behaviour, parental discipline, the criminal histories of parents and family size and income. Popular theories in the 1950s and 1960s related juvenile delinquency to material deprivation, broken homes and to the growing number of ‘latch key’ children who were left unsupervised after school while their mothers went to work. All of these presaged current concerns with discipline and the role of single-parent families.
Criminals are born not made is the discussion of this essay, it will explore the theories that attempt to explain criminal behaviour. Psychologists have come up with various theories and reasons as to why individuals commit crimes. These theories represent part of the classic psychological debate, nature versus nurture. Are individuals predisposed to becoming a criminal or are they made through their environment.