DD121 An Introduction to the Social Sciences Richard Curtis TMA01: What forms of evidence have been used by social scientists in studies of crime? Essay Plan: Introduction: • What is crime? Act punishable by law/Evil or injurious act • Difference between – Social Scientific understanding & Individual understanding • Social scientific approach is just one way of looking at crime – most are based on an individual approach • What essay is about Main body: • Increase in recorded crime 1930 – 2000 • Were all crimes reported? Domestic violence/easier to report technology? • Quantitative evidence – recorded crime levels over time • Qualitative evidence – Interviews, observations & surveys • Increased reporting of crime (Maguire 1997) • Offenders as % population by gender & age • Area where we live – (Social Trends, 2002, pp.154-5).
What is the role of criminological research in theory building? · Criminology is defined as, An interdisciplinary profession built around the scientific study of crime and criminal behavior, including their manifestations, causes, legal aspects, and control. Criminology examines the causes of crime and seeks ways to prevent or control it. To explain and understand crime, criminologists have had to developed many theories. Theories attempt to provide us with explanatory power and help us understand the phenomenon under study.
This assignment will explore the social constructivist approach to defining and measuring of crime and deviance from a functionalist and interactionist perspective with a brief overview of the Marxist perception. It will also consider the statistical approach to measuring crime. In terms of Crime and deviance they are extremely diverse. Crime is defined as any act which breaks the law and is therefore punishable. Most, if not all, acts of crime are categorized as deviant behaviour, for example, murder.
Social institutions are an important part of organized crime as well. Social institution determines the type of socialism within an organized crime group. This paper will discuss and explain social institution and how it applies to organized crime. As well as, which empirical and speculative theories are most applicable when applied to organized crime and criminal behavior. Social Institution and how it applies to organized crime A social institution is a social group that an individual lives in or grows up around (Lyman & Potter, 2007).
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.
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. However, these statistics can prove to be misleading as not all crime is reported to or recorded by the police. This can be referred to as the ‘hidden figure’, and it differentiates between the official crime rate and the real rate. Despite this, they do prove to be worthwhile in the fact that they display trends and patterns of crime. Sociologists use three different methods to measure crime; each method provides us with particular information and as in all systems of data collecting, there are strengths and weaknesses to the method.
Theories on Crime Comparison Carl Boone AJS/542 July 25th 2013 Jeffrey Begley Theories on Crime Comparison To understand crime and the elements that help compare and contrast motives, influences, and patterns of criminal behavior; theories are developed under models of thought. This process is called criminology and it is the study of crime and criminal behavior with some focus on lawmaking as well (McShane, Williams, 2010). Criminology has continued to be one of the cornerstones of our judicial system. The scientific research that goes into understanding individuals and societies, along with the variables involved, help the criminal justice system better understand issues that relate to crime. Criminology was first born in the eighteenth century and although it was not initially concerned with the aspect of understanding crime and criminal behavior, “it gained its association with criminology through its focus on lawmaking” (McShane & Williams 2010, ch.2, p. 15).
Compare and contrast any TWO sociological theories and briefly evaluate them The nature of Crime and deviance, the breaking of social norms and the rejection of social values within society, is something that has fascinated various sociologists for many years. Renowned sociologists such as Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, Max Weber, to name but a few, have researched and developed theories touching on the exploration and understanding of criminal and deviant behaviour within society. This paper identifies and evaluates, a theory developed from a longitudinal study of young adolescent boys called the saints and roughnecks study, carried out by William Chambliss (1978) a conflict theorist and a labelling theory developed by Howard S. Becker an interactionist. What is crime and deviance? Deviance is behaviour that does not conform to the norms and expectations of society.
Personal Criminological Theory Taniqua S. Shepperson AJS542 Criminological Theory March 31, 2013 Angela Dudley Personal Criminological Theory Introduction Understanding the reasoning’s behind why a person commits a crime, violent or simple, requires an in-depth understanding of both the criminal justice system and theories associated with crime. The criminological theory offers many reasons for criminal behavior. These reasons vary from society to mental issues. These reasons, or theories, offer researched data that assists law makers in defining how crimes are punished and prevented. Some of those theories include: Social learning, rational choice, and labeling theory.
Policy issues paper CJA/314 February 19, 2014 Ashley Gehrig In this paper, I want to break down and make sense of what reasons people to carry out law violations and the numerous hypotheses in criminology. Social methodology hypothesis is one such presumption and contends that cooperation and interfacing with different people certain criminal practices are found out. There are four sorts of social methodology hypotheses including: social learning hypothesis, social control hypothesis, social marking hypothesis, and dramaturgical viewpoint. The formative process and foundation of social procedure speculations will be examined in this paper. Additionally the imperative parts of this hypothesis to criminology and the master's and con's that are a piece of the hypothesis.