To begin with, there are several theories and perspectives that can explain the causation of crime. Each perspective has its own opinion about why people commit crimes. It analyzes three different perspectives which are social, biological and classical. Let’s take a look at all three and determine which perspective would be best fitted with the two types of sentencing models which are called determinate and indeterminate. First, the indeterminate model is “a prison sentence that consists of a range of years” ("Indeterminate Sentence | Nolo 's Free Dictionary of Law Terms and Legal Definitions," n.d.). It can consist of a term of five to ten years, but the criminal may be eligible for parole. The purpose behind this model is to see if the criminal can be rehabilitated and let back out into the world. The determinate model is a prison sentence that is not subject to change. Once a criminal is sentenced to a determinate term, he or she will do every day determined by the judge without the possibility of getting out early or getting paroled. …show more content…
Some researchers feel that criminal trait stems from early childhood and if it can be detected early, then it may be possible to prevent someone from committing crimes as adults. As technology and medicine continues to grow, researchers feel criminals can be diagnosed and treated prior to ever becoming a criminal. The trait perspective focuses on detection through probes, psychosocial evaluations, and education intervention. One of the sentencing model I feel would be more effective for the trait perspective is the indeterminate
There are many views on crime and deviance and many theories to why they occur.
Trait theory views criminality as a product of abnormal biological or psychological traits. It is based on a mix between biological factors and environmental factors. Certain traits alone cannot determine criminality. We are born with certain traits and these traits along with certain environmental factors can cause criminality (Siegel, 2013). According to (Siegel, 2013), the study of sociobiology sparked interest in biological or genetic makeup as an explanation for crime and delinquency. The thought is that biological or genetic makeup controls human behavior, and if this is true, then it should also be responsible for determining whether a person chooses crime or conventional behavior. This theory is referred to as trait theory (Siegel, 2013). According to Siegel (2013), due to the fact that offenders are different, one cannot pinpoint causality to crime to just a single biological or psychological attribute. Trait theorist looks at personal traits like intelligence, personality, and chemical and genetic makeup; and environmental factors, such as family life, educational attainment, economic factors, and neighborhood conditions (Siegel, 2013). There are the Biosocial Trait theories an...
Indeterminate sentencing involves the judge handing down the sentence, specifying what the maximum and the minimum sentence is. However, the actual length of time served is determined by the parole board. Determinate sentencing involves prisoners being released early for good behavior. In other words, these inmates are given credits for good behavior or for participation in projects, experiments or educational programs (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2011). The credits, in turn, reduce the sentencing.
One sentence that is handed down is the indeterminate sentence. This sentence permits early release from a correctional institution after the offender has served a required minimum portion of his or her sentence ("Indeterminate vs Determinate Prison Sentences Explained | Criminal Law", n.d.). This may be a good type of sentence for someone that may be a first time offender or maybe one that the judge may feel has a good chance at being rehabilitated. One problem with...
People are uniquely different and because of this reason, they do have different behaviors. Crime is one kind of behavior that an individual can engage in. They are punishable by the law and may be prosecuted by the state (Helfgott, 2008). There are different theories existing that try to explain the actions of criminals. They deeply explain what causes an individual to commit a criminal activity. This paper discusses some examples of the biological theories, social theories and psychological theories of crime.
...ifferent crime patterns and thought processes of criminals. The reasons can only come from these theories and will help the justice systems become more prepared to react towards different crimes. However, with adding some enhancements, projects and experiments these two theories have the potential to change the criminology realm forever.
Crime causation is looking at why people commit crimes. There are many theories that have been developed to explain this. The theories can be grouped into eight general categories of which one is the Classical theory (Schmallegar, 2011, p. 79). A subset of this theory, rational choice theory, will be specifically looked at to explain the crime of burglary. Just as no one causation theory explains all crimes committed, the rational choice theory itself does not completely explain why all burglars commit their crimes. Therefore, the pros and cons of the rational choice theory will be discussed in relation to the crime topic of burglary.
For thousands of years researchers have developed theories in an attempt to understand why people commit crime. Although, many theories have been created to establish a link between man and criminology many researchers suspect different factors lead man to criminal behavior. Furthermore, we will analyze the following theories, which include positivist theory, biological theory, and psychology theory to correlate their relationship to crime and identify the differences among them beginning with the positivist theory.
An integrated theory is a combination of 2 or 3 theories that offers many explanations on why crime is occurring, compared to a traditional criminal theory that just focus on one type of aspect (Lilly et al.2010). The purpose of integrated theories is to help explain many aspects into what causes criminal behavior and why one becomes delinquent. From this an argument arises can integrated theories be used to explain all criminal behavior. Integrated theories are successful in explaining certain aspects of crime on what causes one to become deviant; however one theory alone cannot explain why an individual engages in crime. This paper will examine three integrated theories and look in-depth how these theories can explain different aspects on why criminal behavior occurs and the weakness of each theory. The three integrated theories that will be discussed in this paper are Cloward and Ohlin Differential Opportunity theory, Robert Agnew General Strain theory, and lastly Travis Hirschi’s Social Bond theory.
Deterrence theory of crime is a method in which punishment is used to dissuade people from committing crimes. There are two types of deterrence: general and specific. General deterrence is punishment to an individual to stop the society as a whole from committing crimes. In other word, it is using the punishment as an example to “scare” society from precipitating in criminal acts. Under general deterrence, publicity is a major part of deterrence. Crime and their punishments being showing in the media or being told person to person can be used to deter crime. Specific deterrence is punishment to the individual to stop that individual from committing other crimes in the future. This type of deterrence is used to teach the individual a lesson whatever action that participated in. Specific deterrence is founded on a principle called hedonistic calculus meaning, “an assumption that human nature leads people to pursue pleasure and avoid pain” (Brown, Esbensen, & Geis, 2010, p 155).
In order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the criminal behavior theories, the word theory needs to be defined. “A theory is an explanation. It tells why or how things are related to each other. A theory of crime explains why or how a certain thing or certain things are related to criminal behavior.” (Bohn and Vogel)
Every single one of these theories have their faults. The issue with all of these theories is that each one doesn’t fit every criminal out there; everybody is different. There are some criminals who wouldn’t mind another twenty years in prison, some who want out as soon as possible and will do anything to do it, and some who wished they never did the crime. So, how exactly is society supposed to judge them?
Throughout history a lot of expects have tried to understand why some people feel the need to commit crimes, even though there have been harsh laws inforced for thouse who commit crimes. These people have come up with theories as to why people commit crimes. in order to understand these theories we have to understand what a crime is and also understand the definition of theories.
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.
The general theory of crime I would pick is the neoclassical school of theory. Neoclassical focuses on the importance of character and the dynamics of character development, as well as the rational choices that people make when faced with opportunities for crime (Schmalleger, 2012). This theory is practically what is used in law enforcement today. The neoclassical theory focuses on punishment as being a deterrent for future crimes. Unfortunately, it is becoming more evident is the criminal justice system, criminals are being punished lightly or the charge is downgraded. More often than not, this is not helping the situation, but is allowing for the criminal to continue to commit crimes. Punishment has been established as an effective means