We can divide realist approaches along political lines: - Right Realists - Share the New Right or neo-conservative political outlook. - Left Realists - Are socialists and favour quite different policies of reducing crime. Right Realism - They see crime, especially street crime, as a real and growing problem that destroys communities, undermines social cohesion and threatens society’s work ethic. - Right realist views on crime correspond closely with those of neo-conservative governments during the 1970s and 1980s. The Causes of Crime - Right realists reject the idea put forward by Marxists and others that structural or economic factors such as poverty and inequality are the cause for crime.
More significant is that cases of cases of youthful offenders are on the rise on among the young female compared to their male counterparts and this situation is raising an alarm (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 1999). Children who are at the risk of offending in the future are treated separately from the adults. This is given special attention reason being that they require rehabilitation to get back from the bad behavior unlike adults who require punishment. Intervention facilitates in changing the antisocial characteristics which, if not
The rewards can involve money or even a sense of gratification according to sociologist Jack Katz in the text book Criminal Justice in action when said “’rewards’ of crime may be sensual as well as financial. The inherent Danger, according to Katz, increases the ‘rush’ a criminal experiences on successfully committing a crime” (pg32). Not all Crimes are fun and games. They do have their costs such as probation and jail time this is because it deters the thought process in doing right from wrong. This can be found in the text Criminal Justice in Action when stated “Because crime is seen as the end result of a series of rational choices, policy makers have reasoned that severe
Lastly at work they are controlled by their bosses, and if their bosses are men this could lead to sexual/ verbal harassment and decrease their chance of promotion opportunities. These explanation may explain the low crime rate from women to some extent however through recent years the rate of women’s crime has increased which may show the social control over women is breaking down. Denscombes research shows that young women are taking on the role of delinquency due to becoming more confident which outlines that there may be a change throughout society if this continues to rise. Lombroso and Ferrero alleged that the diverse crimes committed by men and women are a result of their physical difference. This methodology has been used by different writers
Criminal Procedure Policy Paper CJA/ 364 Criminal Procedure May 29, 2012 Criminal Procedure Policy Paper The role the criminal justice system plays in society is expansive. Criminal justice is designed to keep the public safe, to stop wrongdoing, to punish wrongdoers, and to provide order to society. Given this broad role there will be times when criminal justice will not perform all roles well. This means, of course, that criminal justice will often fail to meet public expectations. Ultimately, the needs people have for criminal justice mean that they believe the criminal justice system should be designed to pursue goals that fulfill
He believes the higher rates of crime in urban areas are due to a decline of family and social networks which are increasing the amount of young people that are involved in criminal. Bruce’s idea of societalisation can be applied to the causes of increased crime as the ‘death of close knit communities’ has led to more criminal activity among young people. On the other hand, Matza would argue that due to the fact we all share the same subterranean values young people cannot be the main reason for increased crime in urban areas, others just happen to use techniques of neutralisation in order to justify their
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.
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. They also think that the socialisation of the person leads to their tendency towards crime. They believe, like conservatives and new rightist, that the nuclear family is the best form of socialisation and avoiding crime.
The psychological assumption of crime suggests that negative expectations influence certain individuals to execute in a criminal way as their stereotypes change their social interactions. This theory is supported by Jahoda’s study of names. Jahoda have studied the Ashanti
People being labelled (negatively) will always be affected according to their label, and society plays an important role in the labelling process. In the next few paragraphs the contribution of Becker as an exponent of the labelling perspective will be discussed along with the process of labelling and the typology of deviants. Labelling as a cause of crime According to the Study Guide (The explanation of crime), Becker shortly discussed the way different sets of rules affect the theory of labelling as a cause of crime while developing his theory. This labelling theory, also known as the societal reaction theory does not only define deviants, it can also make them. When someone is labelled an offender they are forced by society to live according to this label which could minimise their chances of being law abiding citizens and limit their chances of finding decent jobs.