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Theories of causation of crime
Environmental factors which lead to juvenile delinquency
Family dynamics affect juvenile delinquency
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Recommended: Theories of causation of crime
There are many beliefs and theories in the world that try to explain why many people commit crimes and why they do. The theories of crime causation go as far back as the mid -1700s. Based from Sociological School of criminology one of the many reasons of crime causation is because an individual’s socioeconomic conditions and social interactions.
There are many theories why a young individual will commit criminal acts, but many reasons they will or might commit crimes is economic status and family interaction. At risk factors that will influence juveniles to commit crimes at young age is the family environment they are raised and grown into. Young individuals that notice aggressive behavior in the household wills sometimes grow up to be a criminal because of the family interaction around them. Once they have learned or seen crime being engaged they soon are reinforced for crime and will later create a desire to commit crimes. From my belief less fortunate individuals that do not receive the best parenting skills are more likely to commit criminal acts because they don’t receive the social interactions they need to move forward in life. When a parent is not present to teach their young from right from wrong the kid will more likely not get the discipline that is needed.
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Many of those individuals in seek of the American Dream will feel as if they will never be in reach of it because they will not have the belief to reach it. When individuals feel they won’t have the ability to reach the dream they will more likely commit crimes. People will then more likely to break the law because they are less fortunate and not have the upbringing as the well-established. The poor are more than likely to commit crimes or steal from their own kind instead from the
The purpose of the proposed study is to apply one of the many theories learned over the semester and apply it to a movie character to explain their criminality. In order to understand criminality we first must understand the definition of crime. “Crime is human conduct that violates the criminal laws of state, the federal government, or a local jurisdiction that has the power to make and enforce the laws” (Schmalleger 2). In the American crime drama film directed by Taylor Hackford Blood In Blood Out Bound by Honor follows the lives of three Hispanic relatives. They start out as members of a street gang called the Vatos Locos in East Los Angeles. After dramatic incidents occur in the young men lives honor and family ties are forever changed. In this study, the main focus point is going to be on one of the relatives Miklo “Milkweed” Velka who throughout his life was looking for acceptance from family and friends.
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...
Early English law had many influences on law enforcement in the United States of American during the 1600s-1800s. The riot act of 1714 which was an act of Parliament for Great Britain where the local authorities in that community would choose a group of people to keep order and call the military if a fight or riot got out of hand. “The government had no civil police force to deal with mob violence therefore the government had to call in the military using the riot act to control the situation.’ (Hess, 2013; p. 10). As the law enforcement evolved urbanization turned into commerce and industry. Meanwhile in the early system of the law the watch and ward system but eventually seemed to be non-effective.
One of the biggest issues in America today is crime. It is a large problem that continues to erode our country economically as well as morally. Because of the vastness of the problem, many have speculated what the cause for crime may be in hopes that a solution will be found. Many believe that a bad family life, location of residence, and poverty hold a few of the answers to why an individual becomes involved in criminal activity.
When the social, educational, financial and health needs of a person are not satisfied through the family then they may be inclined towards criminal activities. There are some other family related factors that affect the behavior of children and they might go for criminal activities. Some of these factors include adaptation of bad parenting practices and styles, neglecting the child, child abuse and trend of criminal behavior in the family which is then learned by the child. It also includes a family history with mental illness, teenage pregnancy, substance use, school dropout and interpersonal conflicts among the family members (Cassel & Bernstein, 2007).
Based on the facts provided, the type of a crime that was committed by Frensen is a white-collar crime. These types of crimes are often committed by individuals of very high social status who carry out their crimes within the context of their occupation. They include insider trading, stealing, tax evasion and other violations of income tax laws. In this case the crime was nonviolent and involved financial wrongdoing which is considered to be a white collar crime. To be specific, Erik Frensen committed the crime of tax evasion given that he failed to file his income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for a period of 9 years.
A teenager who do not get a good education from family and society , they are easy to make a mistake. “Children may test parents by stealing or committing small crimes to get things they want or for attention. If the parents do not try to stop this or tell them that if they continue to do this there will be punishments, their children might keep breaking the law and commit more serious crimes”. (How does the poor family environment affect youth crime) If a teenager live in violence family, they will learn from their parents. Also teenagers they commit the crime if the parents are overly
...ulture and beliefs. Another reason one might commit a crime, is when people fail to achieve society’s expectations through legal means such as hard work and delayed gratification, they may attempt to achieve success through crime. People also develop motivation and the skills to commit crime through the people they associate with. Some criminals commit crimes because of the controls that society places on a person through institutions such as schools, workplaces, churches, and families. Sometimes there are occasions where a persons actions goes against what society considers normal, and as a result it is instead considered a crime. Also some criminals continue their criminal acts because they have been shunned by their society because once a person is labeled a criminal, society takes away their opportunities, which in most cases leads to more criminal behavior.
Every time someone turns on their TV to the news channel, or goes to the news on their phone or computer they see a myriad of crimes that were committed during that week. Crime today is so popular that most of the conversations people start and end with have to do with a certain crime. I decided to do research on why youth crimes are so high today, and what we can do as citizens of this nation to prevent it from happening. So, what causes crime? What leads people to do such heinous things, like brutally murdering someone, stealing, and vandalizing? What causes a human being to act in such barbaric way? Statistics have shown that the leading cause of crime seems to be poverty. Along with poverty it can be said that having violent parents or single parents, and the addiction to violent video games can also lead to crime.
Crime deterrence is the decline of crime, because people fear getting arrested and convicted. According to Probation and Parole: Theory and Practice by Howard Abadinsky “the classical school argues that because humans tend toward hedonism- that is, they seek pleasure and avoid pain- they must be restrained, by fear of punishment, from pleasurable acts that are unlawful.” People make a rational decision not to commit a crime because of the fear of arrest and conviction are taken into consideration.
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.
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.
There are many theories and explanations as to why crime occurs or as to why some individuals become criminals while others do not, some theories or explanations focus on the individual and other theories focus more on the social elements that can cause and individual to engage in criminal activity. It is difficult to make a concrete conclusion on which theories or explanations are better or are more conniving than the others given the situational nature of crime. Through examination of psychological positivism, focused on the personality traits of the individual, and strain theory, it will become clear that all cases of crime are different and are decided by a number of different factors in regards to the individual meaning that no one theory or type of theory, whether it be social or individual, is more a more convincing theory compared to another.
What is street crime? According to McDonald and Balkin (1983) define street crime as “personal contact criminal victimization (p.419)”. As we read this article it argues from different viewpoint that street justice can be explained from different theoretical perspectives. There are three theoretical perspectives that examines the role of justice as a means of informal social control and as a reactionary process to dynamics of social strain and subcultural demands. This theoretical analysis is then applied to concepts of justice, including retributive, distributive, restorative, and procedural. The derived street justice paradigm incorporates these various forms of justice as they are linked with cultural imperatives associated with street culture and
Different schools of thought propose varying theoretical models of criminality. It is agreeable that criminal behaviour is deep rooted in societies and screams for attention. Biological, Social ecological and psychological model theories are key to helping researchers gain deeper comprehension of criminal behaviour and ways to avert them before they become a menace to society. All these theories put forward a multitude of factors on the outlooks on crime. All these theories have valid relevancy to continuous research on criminal behaviour.