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Social factors contributing to criminal behavior
Crime and deviance social construction
Crime and deviance social construction
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In an article named Social construction of crime by Stuart Henry(2009) state that deviance and crime is defined through the social meanings collectively applied to the people’s behaviour conditions and is rooted in interaction. Society created rules to differentiate what is right and wrong in a certain society. People that violates the rules will be labelled as criminal and might get punished. Molesting is example of criminal act that violate rules and social norms. There is numerous cases for molesting has been reported all around the world and majority of the cases was about a child get molested by adults. Durkheim(1938) said that crime is normal because it can be found in all societies. Crime unconsciously have unite society in share indignation
Much of society mistakenly interchanges the two concepts of crime and deviance, assuming that they are one in the same. "A crime is what the law proclaims it to be, and is an act punishable by law" (Winterdyk 9). Deviance, on the other hand, is a contested concept; it can be defined as differing from a norm or accepted standard of society (dictionary.com). Deviance involves acts that fluctuate from social norms; although such actions can be, they are not necessarily against the law (Winterdyk 9).
The causes of crime are complex, Collectivists believe that acceptable ways to reduce crime, is to address the social conditions in which the conditions for crime are created, things such as, a more equal society, improved work opportunities and effective housing will make crime less of an attraction. If people are in a stable job, providing for their family and are content with life, they could be less motivated to break the law. Individualists focus on individual values’ or absence of as the motive why people commit crimes. In the long run, if someone chooses to commit a crime, they are accountable for their own actions. If they are caught, they should face the consequences.
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.
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.
Several individuals within society typically follow social guidelines that they are unaware of performing. Social guidelines such as stopping at a red light or saying thank you when someone has done something for you. These social guidelines or norms give society a script to follow regarding their behavior and actions. Although norms are the acceptable actions and behaviors that society is taught to perform, there are occurrences where individuals stay away from those in which they are now enacting deviance. To act deviant is considered to break away or do something different of a social norm. There are several forms of deviance that occur frequently within society that violate social norms and hinder society’s overall function.
Social deviancy is the violation of social norms. A deviant is someone who rejects folkways and mores. Any action that violates the values or rules of a social group is deviant behavior. In order to actually be characterized as a deviant, the individual must be detected committing a deviant act and be stigmatized by society. A stigma is a mark of social disgrace, setting the deviant apart from the group. Criminality is healthy for society. Deviance affirms our cultural values and norms. Responding to deviance clarifies moral boundaries and brings people together. There will always be people who break society’s rules and that’s important.
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
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.
From a young age, children in are taught to behave in a way that satisfies their society's standards of behavior. Each society has its own standards of behavior, also known as norms. One set of norms may be similar to those of another society, or one society's own set of norms can be the complete opposite of those of another society. But no matter how different or similar, norms are a part a society's core for they are the guidelines to how members are expected to act, and draws a line between what is acceptable and unacceptable. Despite efforts to enforce norms through social control, there are many people who deviate from these norms. Deviance is behavior that violates the standards of a group or society (Witt, 2013, p. 135). The act of deviance comes in many forms that range from harmless acts like a girl shaving her head, or it might be an action that is more extreme like committing murder.
Crime analysis is the systematic study of crime and disorder problems as well as other police related issues including sociodemographic, spatial, and temporal factors to assist the police in criminal apprehension, crime and disorder reduction, crime prevention, and evaluation (Santos). Crime analysts, sometimes called intelligence analysts, use three primary types of crime analysis. Tactical crime analysis is used to identify immediate crime threats determine patterns (i.e. location, suspect descriptive), and disseminate that information to patrol officers and detectives. Strategic crime analysis involves gathering in interpreting crime data, then making recommendations as to where police resources are best concentrated. Finally, administrative
Sociologists have been examining crime and its causes for over 150 years, and through several researches, various explanations have been used to describe crime and deviance. Crime is a behaviour that goes against all formal written laws of a given society (Haralambos, Smith, O 'Gorman, & Heald, 1996). Laws in different societies differ, so do crimes i.e. what may be considered as a crime in one society may not be in another different society. For instance, while same-sex relationship is accepted in some countries like the United States, United Kingdom etc. it is illegal in countries like Nigeria, and most Arabic countries. Other examples of general crimes are theft/robbery, murder, kidnapping and others. Once a crime is committed, sanctions
Hills (1980) relates two different perspectives with regards to deviancy, and explains that deviancy is determined not by the deviant but by the observer. In order to understand sexual deviance, we must first understand the rule makers and the people who consider a specific sexual encounter as deviant. If a thirty year old man is arrested for statutory rape because he is having a sexual relationship with a fourteen year old girl, the absolutist is outraged and citing the man as a sexual deviant--a predator--without ever considering the man could be from Mexico where girls are married at fourteen and beginning families. Cultural perspective isn’t even considered because the absolutist has an elevated moral compass, and the way they see things is, well, absolute (Hills, 1980). From the relativist perspective, the above case-study reveals a cultural problem, not a sexual perversion or deviance (Hills, 1980). We assign the deviant status based on our own concepts and value system; rather than seeing the situation from the parties involved who have been enculterated in a system who allows that specific behavior they are now being sanctioned
3. Marmeladov is wise in his own right, but is a drunkard. Though he helps Raskolnikov a lot, he is a breaker of moral standards as well.
What is this world coming to? Our society is losing its authority. The syllable of the syllable Why is there so much crime in society? There is so much because there are so many people that never consider the other person that they are stealing from or causing harm to. All of these people are self-centered and never think who they could be.
Crime exists within the broad category of behaviour that sociologists call deviance, according to sociologist William Graham Sumner ‘deviance is a violation of established contextual, cultural, or social norms, whether codified by laws or not.’ and crime is behaviour that breaks a law requiring a legal sanction. Deviance, although comes with a negative connotation, it can also be positive, for instance, when Rosa Parks decided to sit on the wrong section of the bus, she challenged