‘Outline and explain ways in which data about crime is collected’ Crime can be defined as deviant activities that break the law in any particular society. Finding out how much crime takes place isn’t easy, and attempts to measure crime can prove misleading. This doesn’t mean that crime statistics aren’t affective, but it does mean that no single measure can be fully relied upon. Many sociologists see crime statistics as a social construction, as collecting crime data is a result of the cultural expectations of society, and by understanding who commits crime and what sorts of crimes are committed, we can get a clearer picture of why people commit crime in the first place. Different sociologists have presented different theories and concepts to explain what drives a person to commit a crime, and research and statistics give us an idea of the type of crimes committed and the places that they’re most likely to occur.
Background Research on Criminology Criminology is the scientific study of crime its causes and how to resolve it. One common theory of criminology is the psychological theory. This theory explains crime in the mind set of the criminal. The psychological theory of crime is basically that some people are born with a mind which is intended to do harm to others. In other cases some criminals are born with the lack of humility, which is the ability to put yourself in the situation of the person who you are doing harm to.
It does however explain why some people or actions are described as deviant, and can help in understanding crime and deviance. According to item A labelling has changed the theoretical base for the study of criminals. Becker emphasises the significance of crime being a social construct; an action only becomes criminal or deviant once society has labelled it so, and that crime can be argued to be a social construction. He introduced the concept of a master label, referring to the label which a person is given which overrides all other labels. When a person is labelled as negatively, society tends to tend them as such, and this master label often becomes internalised, and then a self-fulfilling prophecy occurs.
One example of this is that more police officers can go onto the police force, so that the young person sees them everywhere and believes that they mightcatch them. Specific deterrence says that if a single person is punished strongly for onecrime, then they will not commit this crime again out of fear of punishment. For example,a youth who commits a crime is put into a program. Crime prevention strategies that aresituational aim to tell young people that the benefits of crime are not worth the eventual punishment. This is to let people know that the punishment always far outweighs thecrime.
They both argue that ‘nothing works’ right realists are more concerned with solving crime rather than understanding the causes. As detailed in item a, right realism favours increasing the cost paid by those who commit crimes by for example giving harsher sentencing. Right realists such as James Wilson and Richard Herrnstien put forward a biosocial theory of crime. They believe that criminal behaviour is made up of biological and social factors. They believe that people may be biological more attracted to committing crime than others for example, they believe traits such as aggression and risk taking are inborn in the person and this causes them to commit crimes.
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.
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.
Strain theory is as sociologic theory that tries to explain why people commit crimes. It explains the likely hood of delinquency in two parts one is the addition of strain in a persons life and the second portion is the persons coping mechanisms to combat the strain that they experience. Another large part of strain theory explains how people measure the positive and negative things that will happen whenever they commit any crime or delinquent act. We know that juveniles are involved in more crime than adults and we can also use strain theory to help explain why this is happening. Being a juvenile comes with many different strains that most adults do not have to face as well as having far less consequence in many cases is they do something wrong or make a mistake.
Then it would be where the person itself would not be incarcerated but given help to change the outcomes of their thought so that the risk of them committing a crime is lowered. Which I somewhat agree with them; however I know some people can use that to their advantage to commit something and get away with it without the possibility of getting incarcerated. According to "Criminologist Believes Violent Behavior Is Biological" (2013), " if bad brains do cause bad behavior, if brain dysfunction raises the odds that somebody will become a criminal offender — a violent offender — and if the causes of the brain dysfunction come relatively early in life ... should we fully hold that adult individual responsible?” (para. 7). It was explained that there could be plenty of factors that go on when it comes to this kind of behavior which may include birth complications or things that someone was exposed to at a young age that could cause such a reaction to the mindset of
Past gang members tend to report the same level of antisocial behaviors and of those delinquents who never were involved in gangs, it is suggested that active gang participants worsen delinquency and aggression. In the article they stated that there is efforts trying to prevent gang involvement would have a dramatic impact on the frequency and severity of youth offensive. The second article touch on how adolescent delinquency is a large part of gang action more focused in the inner cities. The juvenile correctional institution was focused on adolescents committing crimes so that they were able to separate from