When people have been living a life of crime, it may be difficult for them to discontinue the acts, or to stop the effects it had on their life. Most criminals would want to end up living a normal life, but there are many things holding them back. How far should a person go to attempt to live a normal life after running from the law, and how hard should a person go to prevent people from being exposed to this?
After you have begun a life of crime, the level of difficulty of returning to a normal life is very high, few people accomplish this task, and even fewer do this and live long healthy lives afterwards( ). Having known how difficult this would be, the person referred to in the article obviously made the decision because he knew it was the right thing for him to do, and he really wanted to change his life and to live to be a honorable person. Many people would not go through the trouble that he did to follow his dreams and quit his former life. This person knew exactly how far he wanted to go to live normally, and he made sure it happened. It is very obvious that this man would have gone to much greater lengths to make sure he could be like everyone else even after all that he did, but all he needed was to be put in jail for a short time.
Others who would not know what it is like to want to be stereotypically normal, would keep up this life of crime, for they think that this brings them joy and lots of money. These are the kinds of people that even after they have been caught, they cannot stop their behavior. In the movie Oceans 11, Danny Ocean is told by his ex wife “You could never love a women like you love danger”(Lewis Milestone 1960). Many people have this same feeling in that they could never calm down and live a normal...
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...use even before it starts because it is more difficult to get someone to stop something that they have been doing their whole live. It is better to persuade them early, before they are tempted, not to accept any form of drug. To be able to stand up for themselves, and to be able to live a normal life without the interference of drugs.
In conclusion, the men that are willing to work at being free from a lifelong bondage to drugs or crime should go as far as possible to achieve this goal, and many people around them will be willing to help them with this. The men that don’t want to discontinue will be a criminal for eternity. And the ones that haven’t yet been exposed, should be prevented from this and persuaded not to partake in this for as long as possible. People should work hard to stop this so others don’t start and then have to go through it just like the others.
A strong example of this would be the recent exploits at the Woodstock 99 music festival.
one of the most common ways that people break the law. When people break the law
Trait Theory suggests that the criminal behavior that one may partake in is related to personality traits inherited at birth. “Psychological traits are stable personality patterns that tend to endure throughout the life course and across social and cultural contexts.” (Schmalleger, 2016) This theory also suggests that these traits give criminals “predispositions to respond to a given situation in
He was the type of guy who, if he believed strongly enough, did not abandon his
In Chapters six and seven of Shared Beginnings, Divergent Lives by John Laub and Robert Sampson, the lives of numerous men are shared and analyzed. The authors use life history interviews as well as crime history to help explain their theory. They interviewed these men various times throughout their lives, from a very young age up until age seventy. In Chapter six, Laub and Sampson mention the lives of a few men who have turned to desistance, or stopping, in committing crime. There were two subgroups, “nonviolent desisters” and “violent desisters”. These men had tough upbringings, living in deteriorated homes in Boston. Their parents were not supportive and showed little interest in parenting. Throughout the chapter, the men mentioned various turning points that occurred in their lives in which turned them to becoming desistant to crime. The Glueck’s analyzed and interviewed three men. Leon, Henry, and Bruno were the men. Leon’s turning point for his desistance was his marriage. Henry’s turning point stemmed from his decision to enlist in the Marine Corps when he was eighteen. And for Bruno, he said that his turning point was attending The Lyman School for Boys. While the men stressed one specific turning point for them, all three mentioned how all three factors (marriage, the military, as
Individuals' personalities and overall quality of living are significantly influenced by several interrelated sources ranging from one's upbringing and quality of relationships to their own feelings of self-esteem and worth. Though this may seem relatively easy and un-complex, countless people today are engaged in persistent antisocial, criminal behavior, and seem unable to find an alternative, legal, means of living. While many have tried to explain such behavior through various theories, the causes of criminal activity remain to be satisfactorily clarified. Essentially, antisocial criminal activity has two aspects to it. Antisocial behavior is that in which one shuns society and others, while criminal activity is the act of performing a deed that violates an established law of the community. Obviously, such actions have serious consequences, which can range from community service and a fine to prison time. Even though there are several reasons that one may become an antisocial criminal, two theories of personality that provide reasonable explanations of this phenomenon, each in their own way, are the psychoanalytic and phenomenological theories.
far this time and knew that he had no other choice. Also he did not
to their future criminal behavior, they commit the crime because they have been associated by
As Laub and Sampson (2003) analyze crime over the life course, they highlight Terrie Moffitt’s theory and discuss the limitations of her developmental explanation. In Moffitt’s developmental taxonomy, she acknowledges two categories of offenders...
Eysenck, H.J., & Gudjonsson, G.H. (1989). The causes and cures of criminality. Contemporary Psychology, 36, 575-577.
in order to leave the life he led in the past. However, from the moment of introduction to the
... people who can’t seem to handle life’s challenges turn to crime just so they can go to prison because prison is an easy way out for them. You get free housing and free food for as long as you are there. Although this is not the case in many situations, there are some who would find this arrangement appealing.
learned all these lessons, and became a more complete person. He found who he truly
Sampson, R., & Laub, J. (1990). Crime and Deviance over the Life course: the salience of adult social bonds. American Sociological Review, 55(5), 609-627.
The reasons as to why individuals desist from crime can range from genetic, environmental, social, or psychophysiological. One belief focuses on the idea that criminals desist from crime through pro-social development and a worthwhile career path. In a study conducted by Aresti, Eatough and Gordon (2010), five ex-offenders participated in interviews about their lives as offenders, and their new found lives as productive members of society. Results show that four major themes emerged from the five men. First “being stuck” in their offending ways, second “defining moments” or moments of self-change, third “life in transition” or moments in the self-change process, and fourth “a new world” which encompasses the men’s new and reformed lives. The men in the study each had defining moments, typically the realization that they were going to be locked up for many years or losing out on time of their lives acted as this defining moment. This produced angst and made the men question their existence;