DISCUSS THE PROBLEMS IN MEASURING AND DEFINING CRIME AND DEVIANCE. INTRODUCTION This paper will discuss the problems faced whilst trying to define and measure crime and deviance whilst also explaining the differences and relationship between crime and deviance. Criminologists have created means of measuring crime which this paper will explore and identify problems which will occur during the recording of crime and will explore influences on crime and crime statistics. DEFINING CRIME AND DEVIANCE Defining crime or deviance is diverse amongst the many different cultures, history and from one social context to another (new texts pg 138) which causes a big problem whilst defining and measuring crime or deviance as what is believed to be criminal or deviant behaviour in one society may be seen as legal or normal behaviour by another society. There are many theories relating to deviance and crime with each theory illustrating a different aspect of the procedure by which people break rules and are classed as deviants or criminals.
My objective for this paper is to make use of criminologist theories to explain why these three individuals made the decisions to pursue a criminal career and what factors influenced them in following this path. Social Disorganization Theory Criminologists, look at many things when trying to negate what causes people to deviate from social and group norms with regards to their criminal behavior. It follows that sociologists have
Juveniles are robbing, stealing and even killing their neighbors behind stupidity. What are some of the reasoning behind this type of activity? Some researchers believe that the structural context of the neighborhoods impact individual participation in violence. (Crutchfield and Martinez, 2010). Living in areas that are disadvantaged causes juveniles to have low self control and bad tempers.
When law enforcement is not present in a community it gives the people in the community the thought that law enforcement does not care what happens to the people in their community. The people in the community that obey the law and are not committing crimes start to develop a sense that their community is not safe because law enforcement is not enforcing the law. Then the people that are involved in criminal activity in the community are able to take over the community because law enforcement does not have a regular presence in the community. In most areas like this when people that live in the community have a problem and they call law enforcement it takes long periods of time for them to get there to solve the problem. A lot of times by the time law enforcement arrive in these areas the perpetrator has already gotten away or the civilian has already taken matters into their own
Crime can only be a social problem if it breaks rules in the social system. The human societies often have different minds to what a social problem consists of. There are many known definitions of social problems throughout different societies and worldwide. Criminology in the narrow sense is concerned with the study of the phenomenon of crime, and of the factors or circumstances which may have influence on or be associated with the criminal behaviour and the state of crime in general. The understanding of criminology is to see social problems and cause of the crimes and how they have affect on people in society.
Edwin H. Sutherland’s differential association theory is believed that an individual’s criminal behaviors were learned from their social and differential group organizations. Sutherland adopted the view that prevailing conception of crime as having multiple causes, including mental deficiency, broken homes, minority status, age, class, inadequate socialization, alcoholic parents and the like (Matsueda, 2000, p. 125). Sutherland stated that the differential theory has a set of nine propositions. These propositions introduce three concepts; the normative conflict, differential association, and differential group organization. These concept explain crime at levels of the society, the individual, and the group.
Nevertheless, not always do people get influenced negatively into turning to gangs and making bad choices. Thinking about the gangster environment and about the people that have lived or live in such surroundings you may think that it’s not as bad as it looks or sounds like, but in most cases the people get dragged into situations that force them into joining gangs for protection; people have been impacted by the environment that they live in. They make their own choices, often leading them through several traumatizing events that might make them change. I believe that with a good education our youth will notice all the pointless violence and wasted futures that have been around; the more education one gets not only does it enrich the person who is devoting their life for education but it also enriches their families, communities, neighborhood’s future as well as it does for them. Environment has a lot to do with the choices that people make but thanks to knowledge people decide the path they want to take.
Sociology's emphasis in criminology uses complex sociological theories in order to analyze, explain and overall prevent criminal behavior within societies social structure, laws, processes, and actions. When it comes to the study of behavior there are a few theories that set out to understand the scientific study of law breaking we refer to as criminology. Serious attempts are made to define and describe the causes of criminal activity which has a core objective of analyzing crime as a social phenomenon . My first paper of this semester will contain and discuss how basic sociological theories such as functionalism, conflict and symbolic interactionism impact the sociological institution of criminology and the process of making laws, breaking laws, and reacting to the breaking of these laws. In addition to these theories there are as many as 10 other theories includig an array of approaches to the understanding of criminology through classical and strain theory as well as biological, psychological, feminist and labeling perspectives to name a few.
In it’s simplest definition, victimology is the study of the victim or victims of a particular offender (Wallace & Roberson 2011: 3). However, two other definitions expound deeper into victimology: (1) victimology is the study of crime victims and the psychological effects of being a victim (Def, Random House Dictionary, 2011), and (2) victimology is the study of the ways in which the behavior of crime victims may have or have not contributed to their victimization (Def, Merriam-Webster, 2011). The early works about victims were first written by criminologist, as early as the mid 1700’s. The term victimology was coined by Beniamin Mendelsohn in 1974 (Dussich, 2000). Several criminologist (Hentig, Mendelsohn and Ellenberger) examined victim-offender interactions and stressed reciprocal influences and role reversals.
This assignment will discuss the problems involved in measuring crime and defining crime and deviance. A crime consists of behaviour that breaks the law, e.g. Murder. Deviance is behaviour that differs from the norms and values of the wider society. Describing crime and deviance is varied across different cultures; history; social situations and place.