Most, if not all, acts of crime are categorized as deviant behaviour, for example, murder. Deviance is behaviour which drifts away from society’s established norms and values, but is not necessarily perceived as crime, such as queue jumping (Haralambos and Holborn 2009). The functionalist approach to crime and deviance is one of value consensus. They emphasise social stability and collective public values, a ‘collective conscience’. Functionalist define crime and deviance as functional and necessary to society as a whole, with just the right amount of crime to avoid anomie; normlessness.
Outline and evaluate functionalist explanations of crime and deviance Crime and deviance can be defined as behaviour which breaks the law or goes against society's norms and values. Downes and Rock defined deviance as behavior which may be considered as banned or controlled behavior which is likely to attract disapproval or punishment. Crime is harder to define, however Pease (2002) defined crime and deviance as an action that is deemed so disturbing by citizens or disruptive to society that state intervention is justified. The macro perspective of Functionalism sees society working like the human body, this is described through the organic analogy. The agents of socialization work together to form equilibrium within society.
Module 1 Homework Assignment CRJ100: Introduction to Justice Administration Timothy Sox Brian Danigole May 29 2012 1. What is an institution of social control? Explain how criminal justice is an institution of social control. Institution of social control: an organization that persuades people through subtle and not-so-subtle means to abide by the dominant values of society. Criminal justice is part of the institution of social control, because they persuade you to follow social values.
The first is instrumental, the state responds to crime to secure benifits of the wider society such as crime prevention & crime reduction. The second purpose of the Australia criminal justice system is non utilitarian, which means the state must redress imbalances caused by those people who take illegal advantage of another or diminish another’s human dignity. An example of informal control is the socialisation process. Socialisation is the general process by which individuals within a society learn & assimilate social norms & socially acceptable behaviour. This learned behaviour is a social inheritances, drawing on the information passed down from generation to generation, which is the basis of any societies
However, this is another way to show others potential law breakers the outcome if they were to commit the offense. Deterrence is a good way to bring awareness to others around the community about offenders that need to be known about. This idea also applies to others besides offenders. Deterrence can also humiliate others and can be very embarrassing for some if community service gets involved. In this situation there will no longer be any privacy or any sort of way to hide their personal business.
Control Theory Sherrie R. Muasau Department of Criminal Justice April 25, 2011 Introduction Control theories take the opposite approach from other theories in criminology. As their starting point, instead of asking “What drives people to commit crime?” they ask “Why do most people not commit crime?” Social control theories tend to demonstrate a view of human nature that reflects the beliefs of Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), a seventeenth-century English philosopher who was convinced that humans are basically evil. In Hobbes best-known work, Leviathan (1651), he argued that the desire for money and fame was part of human nature. The scholars who developed control theories see delinquency as a somewhat normal behavior emerging from unmet wants and needs (Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990). Their focus is on the control factors that prevent people from committing criminal or delinquent acts (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990; Hirschi, 1969; Nye, 1958; Reckless, 1967; Reiss, 1951; and Sykes & Matza, 1957).
Although theories like functionalism and Marxism focus on the causes of crime, realists also look at the ways we can prevent crime from happening. Realists trust official statistics and both left and right realists have come up with a variety of solutions to fight crime. Right realists think that situational crime prevention or SCP. They reason that intervening in the immediate situation where crime is taking place is the one of the best things to be done. Using materials like anti-climb paint or neighbourhood watch schemes they make the target harder to achieve, or more risky.
Offenders in this society know or at least thinks that they will only get a smack on the wrist if they were to commit a crime. This in turn doesn’t help to deter them from their criminal ways. The adolescents that are in similar circumstances uses the choice theory wisely. They effectively weigh their options and decide that it’s not worth the risk of being caught and being
Durkheim identified three positive aspects of crime which make it functional for society. These were ‘reaffirming the boundaries,’ ‘changing values’ and ‘social cohesion.’ The first, reaffirming the boundaries, refers to situations where crime has already occurred. When the criminal is taken to court, the public outcry which follows verifies the boundaries. This can be seen particularly in countries such as Saudi Arabia, where public hangings and executions take place. The second positive aspect of crime which makes it functional for society is changing values.
Prevailing Theories of Crime Control The prevailing theories of crime control are allowing police officers to have more authority and seek more help for the victim among the societies. The crime model itself states that if the police make an arrest and a prosecutor files criminal charges, then the accused individual should be presumed guilty because the fact-finding of police and prosecutors is highly reliable. With that being said crime is always going to be around. The crime model seeks more detention centers for suspects. The crime control model reflects conservative values to ensure that communities are safe and receive all the help necessary.