Social institutions are an important part of organized crime as well. Social institution determines the type of socialism within an organized crime group. This paper will discuss and explain social institution and how it applies to organized crime. As well as, which empirical and speculative theories are most applicable when applied to organized crime and criminal behavior. Social Institution and how it applies to organized crime A social institution is a social group that an individual lives in or grows up around (Lyman & Potter, 2007).
The Mafia appeals to all members of society making it trans class dimensional. This happens because the Mafia appeals to those at the bottom of society and offers them more opportunities in the illegal realm than they could have in the legal world. Both groups sought to bind themselves with politicians and influential members of the state through coercion, bribery and other illegal means such as exchanging votes for public resources and exemption of prosecution. Ironically, the financial and commercial world welcomes the Mafia due to the fact that they launder great amounts of illegal funds by investing them in legal activities. Some rituals practiced by both the Sicilian Mafia and American Mafia are the
In this essay we will assess the usefulness of these functionalist theories, and look at how it helps us explain crime. One functionalist who tried to explain crime is Merton and his strain theory, the strain theory argues that people engage in the deviant behaviour when they are unable to achieve socially approved goals by legitimate means. Merton explanation combines 2 elements; structural factors- society’s unequal opportunity structure, cultural factors- strong emphasis to achieve goals and weak emphasis on using legit means. Merton uses the strain theory to explain some patterns of crime in society, he argues a person’s positioning in society affects the way they adapt or respond to the strain to anomie. Merton gives 5 different types of adaption; Conformity- the individual accepts socially acceptable goal and achieves it through legitimate means, Innovation- Individual accepts the role of success and wealth but uses illegitimate means to achieve them, Ritualism- Individual give up on legitimate goals but still follow strictly to the rules, Retreatism- Individuals reject legitimate goals and means of achieving them e.g drug addicts, the final type is Rebellion- Individuals reject existing goals and means but replace them with new one in desire to bring about revolutionary change.
• Social Control theories attribute crime and delinquency to family structures, education, peer groups etc. • Theorists share a conviction that deviant behavior is expected. • “Why people obey rules” main thing trying to be proven • Critical component of all social control theories is their attempt to explain factors keeping people from committing crimes. Social Heritage • Cynicism of the United States because of Watergate • Conservatism enhanced popularity of control theories, theories themselves not inheritantly conservative. Intellectual Heritage • Connection with strain theories.
Differential associations do however provide an excellent basis and starting point to work from when doing individualistic case studies and work even better as an aid for police, detectives, and other government officials in their search to pinpoint future crimes with suspicion to a specific individual. Criminal acts occur for a wide variety of reasons, most of them spontaneous and unplanned and if social learning theory is to be applied, that would assume a discernible type of sociological algorithm, which cancels out the inartistic nature of everyday crime. In the case of gang crime though, it is clear the social learning theory is applicable, but perhaps not to individualistic, spontaneous crime. Social learning theory and differential association have proven to be empirically supported and are further emerging as one of the most efficient ways of determining new and better ways to approach contemporary crime over generations. More widely used by criminologists every day, social learning theories can be used to bring forth proven methods of rehabilitation and correctional treatments now that criminology myths and misrepresentative data is beginning to be disproven.
Which is the better explanation that elucidates the question: Are criminals born or made? Research has shown that criminal behaviour tends to run in families, it is likely that biological factors play a fundamental role in criminality. In order for psychologists to discover whether criminal behaviour results in the child’s genes or their surrounding environment, they need the information required by adoption studies. For example, if the criminal’s behaviour duplicates that of their adoptive parents then this could lead to the fact that the criminality is present in the environment. Mednick et al.
The social learning theory states that people learn from one another through observation, imitation and modelling. The theory has often been called a bridge between behaviourist and cognitive learning theories because it takes into mediating cognitive factors such as attention, memory, and motivation. In crime, the social learning theory plays an important role in explaining offending behaviour. It is explained through the differential association theory developed by Surtherland (1939). The theory claims that learning crime takes place through observing people (like peers, parents and so on), from there if the person if exposed to more pro-criminal attitudes than anti-criminal attitudes then they are more likely to offend.
Edwin H. Sutherland, a criminologist, theorized that criminal behavior is a learning mechanism; he first publicizes his theory called Differential Association, also known as Social Learning theory in 1939. Sutherland believes that criminal behavior is learned by the interaction with other individuals, such as the crowd with which they may associate in, who believes criminal behavior to be acceptable. He also says that whether or not a person will imitate the behavior of another is based on the amount of respect they have for them. He also says that this learning of criminal behavior includes learning how to commit crimes. For example, if that individual whom a person holds high regard for deems criminal behavior as favorable, than that person will imitate the same behavior.
Though hard to determine rather antisocial behavior and genetic makeup is linked to being inherited, or just a product of a learned behavior; criminologists have tested the effects of inheritance on crime [ (Siegel L. J., 2011) ]. One way that it has been tested is through adoption studies. This study suggests that if a child’s behavior is closely in line with his or her biological parents rather than the adoptive parents; the idea that criminality is genetic can strongly be supported. A study conducted by Barry Hutchings and
These concept explain crime at levels of the society, the individual, and the group. An individual’s potential for criminality depends on the competition between associations that treat criminal behavior positively and those who treat it negatively (Vandelay, 2010, p.1) The main points of Sutherland’s Differential Association Theory are the nine propositions which are one that criminal behavior is learned second which is similar to the first proposition is that criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other people in an attempt to communicate. The third main point or proposition is that the principal part of the learning of criminal behavior occurs within intimate personal groups. The fourth main point is that when criminal behavior is learned, the learning includes; the techniques of committing the crime which are sometimes complicated or very simple and the specific motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes. The fifth main point is the specific direction of motives and drive is learned from the definition of the legal codes whether it is favorable or unfavorable.