Blackmon 1 Leah Blackmon Sociology 201 Deborah Robinson 15 September 2010 Crime and Social Order There are many reasons why an individual may or may not become involved in crime. In his essay, Robert K. Merton writes on the causes of crime. Merton focuses on a pint that society's cultural goals may not be easily attained by everyone. Those who do not have the means to reach these goals, such as family support and a good education, may come up with their own means to reach society's material goals. That usually means reverting to street crimes.
Crime Statistics “Crime statistics is an attempt to provide statistical measures of the crime in societies.” Unfortunately, because some crime is secretive, some unknown because they are never reported, therefore the results become very inaccurate. There are several ways on how these statistics are received, such as, hospital of insurance records, household surveys, and reports for several law enforcement agencies. Many countries gather their statistical crime information and it becomes of interest to international organizations such as, Interpol and the United Nations. Places like the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Home Office in England & Whales, are the agencies that publish these crime statistics and compile the statistics based on the different crimes that have been reported. Statistics are usually collected on based on three categories: Offenses, the breach of law; Offenders, those who commit the offenses; and the victims, the ones who are offended against.
This paper will focus on the juvenile statistics gathered in 2008; the decrease in arrests, increase in narcotic offenses, simple assaults as well as the implications for juvenile females and minorities will be discussed and examined. Overall Decrease In comparison to the statistics gathered in the 90s, in 2008 there was an overall decrease in juvenile delinquent actions and arrests. Most likely in relation to the introduction of crack cocaine in the late 80s, throughout the 90s there was an extensive increase in violent offenses involving juvenile offenders; this is in relation to the increase in gang activity and extensive narcotic trade that took place. In 2008 16% of all violent crime arrests and 26% of all property crime arrests were committed by juveniles (Puzzanchera, 2009). “In 2008, law enforcement agencies in the United States made an estimated 2.11 million arrests of persons younger than age 18.
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. (New texts pg 138) which highlights the problems in defining crime or deviance. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CRIME AND DEVIANCE Many believe crime and deviance has developed on separate tracks over the years as criminologist serve only for legality, crime and crime-related phenomena. The study of deviance however serves for a wider range of behaviours that are not necessarily illegal for example suicide, alcoholism, homosexuality, mentally disordered behaviours. (Bader et al) The main difference between crime and deviance is deviant behaviour is when a social norm has been broken whereas a crime is where a formal and social norm is broken.
Victimology: A Study of Crime Victims 1 Victimology is an important element in the process of learning about crime victims, the needs of the victims, and even about the perpetrator of the crime. It identifies the victims, reveals their physical and mental state before and after the crime, their social interactions, and ideas as to why they were a victim. Victimology does not give the reasons why a particular person is chosen by an offender, however it will give general overview of victim selection (Petherick, “Victimology” 2010) The definitions of victimology vary in the use of words within the definition, such as victim, crime victim or behavior of crime victim. Victimology as an academic term containing two elements; the Latin word “victima” which translate into victim and the Greek word “logos” which means a system of knowledge (Dussich “Victimology ‘Past, Present and Future’”2000). In it’s simplest definition, victimology is the study of the victim or victims of a particular offender (Wallace & Roberson 2011: 3).
The British Crime Survey also includes crimes which are not reported to the police, therefore is an important alternative to police records and provides criminologists, the police, the courts, the media and anyone else who has an interest with the statistics, two different types of data: Firstly trends on crime over time chartered, Details are compiled from offenders who are eventually found guilty or cautioned; details gathered include sex and the age of the offender. Information is gathered on the “Known offender”, in this case the “Typical offender”, (Maguire 1997). Official crime
It is only through this broader understanding and exploration of the issues that an accurate understanding of the ‘crime problem’ can be obtained. The complexities and multiple perspectives on crime are not well understood by the public. This lack of understanding runs counter to the degree by which modern society is saturated by the subject of crime. It is almost impossible to live within our current society and not in someway be affected by it. We do not need to be an offender appearing in court or a victim of crime to feel its affects.
He changed the way criminology is viewed today. He believed that criminal behaviour came into effect from learning and communicating with others and not something inherited. He placed no emphasis on the media involvement. Definition Differential association studies the acts of a criminal as learned behaviour. It maintains that crime is the product of environmental influences on individuals who are otherwise psychologically as well as biologically normal (Joubert, S. J., Joubert, E., Ovens, M. 2009).
(Ferris, David, August 25, 2013) Hormones are not determined by the environment but instead biologically. Hormones can have a huge influence on emotions and this can impact criminal behavior. Hormonal imbalances can be a cause of aggression, which can turn into acts of violence or property damage. Crimes such as sexual abuse have also been linked to hormonal imbalances. Pedophiles are more commonly known for this type of behavior, according to a retired Detective, Pat Kehoe, who used to work for the New York Police Department in the Brooklyn sex crimes squad.
Task 1-Analysis Gun Crime Statistics for Newham East London I have selected statistics on gun crime in Newham East London from the official Metropolitan Police statistics, as the Borough of Newham has one of the highest recorded gun crime incident hot spots in London from September 2008 to September 2010 From the 12 months leading up to September 2009 there were 127 recorded incidents of guns being used this works out as an average of 10 incidents being reported a month. From 12 months leading up to September 2010 there were 200 recorded incidents of guns being used this works out as an average of 16 incidents being reported a month. In total this works out to be an increase of 57% from the previous year, this is a very significant increase in gun crime and must be addressed as if these statistics were to continue like this over the following years gun crime would be completely out of control. To draw further information from these statistics it would be very helpful to know such things as the size of the population of the Borough of Newham compared to the other Boroughs of London as this would give a better indication of the overall problem of gun crime in this area, also if there has been tensions between ethnic minorities there due to immigration of immigrants and also if the area is socially deprived and has a high unemployment rate and high levels of substance misuse leading to high levels of crime. Another problem could be gang related violence that has led to this increase in violence that would also have an effect on Newham’s neighbouring boroughs.