Assess the usefulness of functionalist approaches in explaining crime The functionalist approach to analysing deviance and the causes of crime looks at society as a whole. It explains crime that the source of criminal behaviour lies in the nature of society itself rather than in psychology or biology. Functionalists such as Durkheim see deviance as an inevitable and necessary part of society and too little is unhealthy. Some also consider crime to have positive aspects for society. In this essay we will assess the usefulness of these functionalist theories, and look at how it helps us explain crime.
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.
Even though I think flogging is humiliating and painful, it is clearly a much easier and cheaper way of locking up a criminal rather than putting them in prison, and that we should consider bringing it back for non-violent crimes. In Jacoby’s article, "Bring Back Flogging," he talks to the readers about the flaws of today's criminal justice system and tries to persuade them to bring back flogging as a punishment for some crimes and other instances. Jacoby’s thesis is directly in his title “Bring Back Flogging”. His title is an attention grabber and it also makes the us think about his essay. He starts his essay with a knowledge on the puritans justice system, and how they dealt with criminals back in the old days.
His ambition and non-stereotypical attitude helped serve justice to the rightful murderer. This goes hand in hand with the fact that there is some bad law enforcement but also good ones. Gerard plays the role of a good cop whose fate intertwines with the fate of Sheridan’s. Rogue cops can be anywhere and work for any country. I feel as if the US needs to be more careful with their way of getting such law enforcement officers.
But in contrast there are very different at the same time. The crime control model is used in the criminal justice system for the prevention of crime. The crime control does not exclude that is possible to make a mistake, but based on the circumstances of the laws, the person is considered guilty until her or she is proven innocent. This model is based on old fashion laws which allow rapid and speedy convictions despite the mitigating factors of the case and the victim. The results, of the crime control model are wrongful convictions, being over-turned and this is a major downfall in the criminal justice system.
THE IMPACT OF THE BROKEN WINDOW THEORY BY JAMES Q. WILSON AND GEORGE L. KELLING, 1982 THE IMPACT OF THE BROKEN WINDOW THEORY BY JAMES Q. WILSON AND GEORGE L. KELLING, 1982 Student Name Instructor Name Date Student Name Instructor Name Date Introduction: In my opinion, The Broken Windows Theory has made major impact in society today. This theory has provided important insights and innovation to the field of policing. Minor crimes have been controlled by this policing approach. There have been some controversy with this theory. When the Broken windows is correctly understood we will have better communities and a decrease in crimes.
Final Project: Improving The Criminal Court System CJS220 By: Savannah N. Hayes Date: January 17, 2010 When it comes the criminal court system, there are many aspects that do what they should and then there are a few items of the criminal court system that needs to be reanalyzed and corrected so that the criminal court system can function to the best of its ability. Making society the safest it can be from those who committed criminal activities that have become the greatest burden of society over the past few years. The three aspects of the criminal court system that needs to be reanalyzed and corrected to make criminal courts more effective would be corruption, plea bargaining, and parole. Due to the fact that over the years we
Jasmin Finnie Sep 6, 2010 White Collar Crimes Professor . Kellam When it comes to criminal justice, the term "White Collar Crime" is brought up very often. What exactly is a White Collar Crime? White-collar crime is defined in terms of attitudes toward those who commit it. These crimes are punishable by law, however it is generally regarded by the courts and by sections of the general public as much less reprehensible than crimes usually punished by the courts.
I (1) In an ideal world of forensic science, human psychology, bias and subjectivity would not be issues of concern for analysts investigating crimes. As things are, however, the presence of the human element in forensic analysis can often introduce certain impediments to the integrity of an investigation, as well as raise questions as to the reliability of certain laboratory findings pertaining to crime cases as they are presented in the court of law. The “Context Effect” article discusses several such hindering psychological effects. The observer/context effect is one such perceptive error described as the context of a given situation having an effect on a person’s judgment in looking at the case. The observer effect ties in closely with context bias – in which an observer’s preconceived notions about a case will have an effect on its conclusion – and with the concept of expectancy.
Critically Analyse the Meaning of Official Statistics, Applying this Explanation to the Patterns of Crime by Factors such as Class, Race and Gender and Consider how the Media may Amplify such Deviancy A lthough crime is deviant not all deviance is criminal, for example spitting in public or swearing at a shop assistant are deviant acts, meaning that they go against social norms, but are not criminal. On the other hand, crime is also deviant, but is punishable by the laws of the land. In this way, there is social order and social control, this creates a consensus of what is acceptable behaviour. Since 1857 police crime figures have been recorded and published annually, and until fairly recently they were considered to be accurate, but not all crime is reported to the police and the police can only publish figures of the crimes that have been reported. Despite this, Positivists see official crime statistics as a reliable indicator of crime patterns.