...position on what you believe is the root cause of crime today in society. We know there can be numerous causes; however you as the learner must decide, based on theories we covered in class, which theory in your opinion best describes the root causes of crime in society. So, ensure your paper addresses the following: What you believe is the root cause of crime in America and why? Select a theory the correlates to the cause of crime Argue why the theory you selected is the most applicable theory Discuss why critics would not accept your theory and what theory they might suggest is the root cause of crime in America. I believe the root cause of crime in society today is hard determinism and soft determinism. Hard determinism is the belief that crime results from forces beyond the control of the individual. Soft determinism is the belief that human behavior is the result of choices and decisions made within a context of situational constraints and opportunities. Soft determinism is because most criminals are a product of their environment. The criminal groups are the ones up around a lot of crime and illegal acts. The criminal grows up into that type of environment and accept the criminal way of life. Either the people turn to being a career criminal to survive financially or a gang related criminal to feel loved and like they belong to something. Then society that the criminal is in, they have lots of opportunity to commit crimes that are very tempting. Also the have situational...
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...Nowadays, many people are worried about crimes increasing. Some people think that the government should use strong measures and serious punishments to prevent people who commit crime. Those people believe that in taking these precautions, crime can be stopped. However, in my opinion there is no way to prevent crimes. I do not believe that if we use stronger force and more serious measures that we will solve the cause. If we do this, we will only solve the effect. So, I think that if we want to reduce and prevent crimes from happening, we should do so by looking into what exactly is causing the crimes. We then can find precautions that we can take and perhaps over time these problems that seem so detrimental today, will soon subside over time. Crime is not something that can be stopped. Today, it has almost become part of a norm to break a law. Whether that be something as simple as speeding or littering, to even the most extreme; theft or murder. Common deviance such as these have now become a part of todays everyday living. There is no way to stop crime completely, however there are some ways that society can help prevent crime. First and foremost, it is undeniable that most people commit negative activities due to dire need of money to sustain their everyday lives. Todays lifestyle is expensive and not every one can afford necessities. Examples of offenses include being thieves, robbing, killing for money or out of aggression, etc. If only there was provided a proper job...
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...shoplifting is becoming a serious crime. Juveniles commit this crime for many different reasons. Social influence plays a big part in why most juvenile commit the crime of shoplifting or also knows as stealing. Influence from peers can become overwhelming to where a person feels as if they have to steal to feel accepted. Economic reasons can also cause a juvenile to shoplift. Families today are struggling and juveniles don’t understand that their parents just don’t have the money for the certain things that they want. This often leads them to shoplift so that they can have the items like their peers have. There are also psychological influences that play a part in juvenile shoplifting. There is a disorder called Kleptomania, which causes the juvenile to shoplift. Shoplifting can become an addiction and this causes the person to commit the crime more often so that they can receive the rush. There are many factors why juveniles commit the crime of shoplifting. Juvenile Shoplifting Juveniles today are under more pressure than ever. The pressure to fit in and to be accepted among their peers is very important. This causes many juveniles to commit the crime of shoplifting. What are the common reasons that juveniles shoplift? Social influence can cause a juvenile to shoplift so that they feel accepted or to get attention from their family and friends. Negative influence from peers is a major part of why juveniles commit this crime. When a person hits the adolescent...
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...ILLITERACY A CHALLENGING PROBLEM IN OUR SOCIETY TODAY. CHE DIVINE AFOH STRAYER UNIVERSITY PROFFESSOR; AUDREY. L. VAUGHAN AUGUST 16TH 2015. Even though we search how to solve the problems of illiteracy, illiteracy is a serious problem in pour society today because illiteracy causes high rate of unemployment, high crime rates, health issues and loss of talents inbuilt in our youths leading to low self-esteem. Illiteracy is a pressing concern especially for poor countries, it affects all other aspects of life and personal behavior of the uneducated one. There are several causes which may lead someone to be uneducated or to escape from school. In this essay I will discuss some causes of illiteracy and its effects on our society, and how we can treat it. Illiteracy is a global problem we are facing in our society today of which it greatly affects all our day to day life activities. I will first start with the problem unemployment in which one of the reasons for this is the high illiteracy level in our society. Unemployment is a situation where youths and the general population are unable to get jobs to meet up with their day to day responsibilities and bills. When people are not able to read and write...
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...Criminal Acts and Choices This paper will identify and describe choice theories and how they relate to crime, and will list and describe the common models in how society determines which acts are considered to be criminal and how it impacted by choice theories of crime. It is easy to understand why the entertainment industry and the media are targeted as the cause of criminal violence, many other explanations for crime are also viable, like genetic abnormalities or psychological differences in individuals. Various patterns of early socialization may cause a person to commit a crime (Schmalleger, 2009). Some types of criminology theories are classical and neoclassical, include the Free will theory, rational choice theory and routine activities theory. Crime is caused by exercise of free will. Prevention is possible with punishment that offsets any gains to be had through criminal behavior. The choice theory was developed in the 18th century by an Italian philosopher and politician. His theory explains the offender’s motivation to commit a crime is purposeful, with the intent of some sort of ego boosts or personal gain. The rational cause theory is when the offender makes the choice to commit the crime upon examining the consequences or benefits. The offender would then plan the crime and the location and the target of the crime. The offender would then execute the crime knowing that it is wrong but still chooses to commit it. The sociological theory is a study of social structures...
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...Philosophers and theorist have tried to explain the reasons for crime and why it exists for many years. They have taken apart the mental psycie of criminals and analyzed different theories to try and prove their points. There are scientific studies that exist today testing different variables that effect criminal activity on the psychological, social and biological realms of theories. The sociological theory focuses on the social factors that coax a person to fall into the life of crime and chaos. School of Positivism The school of Positivism saw criminal acts instead of people choosing to commit crimes they believed there were mitigating factors that existed. These factors were psychological, social, and biological and their behaviors were determinate upon these factors. There was a scientific explanation instead of the simple classicalist idea of good and evil, rational mind and free will that was believed to be possessed by all humans. The school of positivist suggests on the social side of this theory social structure is a mitigating factor in the commission of crimes. The criminal is one of weak mind and a follower. It is believed that Imation of a person superior to them and possibly idolize is the reason for many crimes. Crimes have been categorized as either fashion or more custom oriented. This means it is either something that is just hot for the minute or these were learned traits and actions that were instilled in them from a young age....
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...Juvenile crime issues in the criminal justice system can be just as complicated as dealing with adults, but the punishments are not as defining as it is for adults. Many individuals believe that when a juvenile goes to court and is punished for his delinquent acts, the people think that that is too harsh; but when the adults go to their court hearings and their punishments are set, people tend to think that that is too lenient. It always depends on the situation, regardless of where or when the act took place; they look at several key factors when deciding the punishment that is suitable for that particular crime. The criminal court system is basically the same, they attempt to better the individuals that have made mistakes in their past by sending them to institutions that will help teach them the difference between what is right and what is wrong. The difference between a juvenile court and an adult court consists of several different perspectives. One of the differences is the terminology used during the court cases, another is the leniency given to the juveniles rather than disciplining them by making an example out of them. Adult court relies on the retribution rather than “cutting them a break”. Juvenile crimes are not prosecuted but better known as “delinquent acts”, and if the crime is considered bad enough, they will try the juvenile as an adult; other times, they are fined, sentenced to a detention center, or sometimes both of the occasions. With juveniles, the cased...
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...the right realist approach to crime and deviance. (21 marks) Right realists argue that crime today is a very real and growing problem. Right Realists argue that crime threatens society’s work ethic, social cohesion and destroys communities in society. Unlike other theories, Right realism focuses on the solutions for crime alongside the explanation of what causes crime in society, this approach also criticise labelling and criminology theories for being too sympathetic to the offender or too hostile to those in power. Right realists, Wilson and Herrnstein argue the idea that crime is a result of biological differences in people. Some people are suggested to be more inclined to commit crime than others. For example, those with higher traits of aggression may have the increasing tendency to commit crime. In support of the previous point, Wilson and Murray argue that low intelligence can lead to the causes of crime, this being a biological trait shows that crime is because of biological differences. In contrast, Lilly found that differences in intelligence only accounted for a 3% difference in offenders. This implies that it is very unlikely that the causes of crime are biological differences. Clarke, a right realist, came up with the rational choice theory, suggesting that crime is a matter of choice which is made by the criminal who weighs up the costs and benefits of committing crimes. In today’s society, the costs of committing petty crimes are rather low, whereas the rewards...
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... Instructor: Janice Bella Submitted on: 1 June 2015 In this paper, I will review the origins of the Corrections and how it helps us today with those who choose to commit crimes. I will also cover the basis of how Constitutional given rights are upheld within the prison system itself, and how the public is involved with the goings on within the prisons. According to the article Why State Prisons by W. David Ball, state prisons in 2012 held approximately 1.3 million people which is almost twice the amount of people in county jails and more than five times the federal prison populations. This number is only estimated to go up as the years go on if left unchecked. Also according to the article, California passed policy to reform their prison and jail population problems, their state prisons now only accept violent offenders and sexual predators rather than all types of felons, with the remaining criminal elements serving their time in local jails. The state prisons began to be overpopulated due to the government taking on more and more prisoners to use as labor (road crews, ditch digging, etc;) and granted the government a flow of surplus cash as a result. That helped the economies then but is irrelevant in todays’ life, as the belief that the professional and rehabilitative power has dwindled into near oblivion. With that said, there are many who wonder whether state prisons are needed anymore, or are they...
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...Where Violence Comes From Whether or not violent video games cause violence among people is a highly debated top-ic in society today. Do video games, such as “Grand Theft Auto”, “Saints Row”, “Call of Duty”, “Doom”, and many others, cause violence in society today? Yes, violent video games that are being freely released to just about everyone in the public are one main cause for violence in the world. Violent video games are causing people to commit violent crimes, have hostile behaviors, the games are showing people how to kill and get away with it, and lowers chances of people taking a nonviolent solution to a problem. Many people are addicted to video games in general; many people use video games as an escape from the “real world”. Social scientists have been studying and debating the effects of media violence on behavior since the 1950s, and video games in particular since the 1980s. (Carey Benedict) One wide spread occurrence is people who have committed violent crimes often have been found to have played in the past or are playing violent video games now. In Adam Lanza’s basement, he’s the person in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, law enforcement re-portedly discovered a “trove” of violent video games. (Ryan Jaslow) Apparently the 20 year old spent hours alone, playing with the windows blacked out, honing his computer skills. (Ryan Jaslow) Many researchers have found that, after a violent crime, these criminals and murders have played violent video games throughout...
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...frisk exists is fine but not how they attend to use it. Stop and Frisk gives authorities the rights to search a suspicious person of their choice whenever they want. They are trying to drop crime rates. Stop and Frisk is giving officers a lot of power. There are two sides to stop and frisk but on Joe's side he talks about stop and frisk only targeting colored people from the age of 18-35(Stringer, Scott). So therefor stop and frisk is just being added to something going off of your race.. Innocent people are dying today. Innocent people are dying today. Stop and Frisk is used commonly in New York. Although most people disagree with stop and frisk the causes are still intended for the same people....
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...Evaluation of Criminal Theory The study relating to the causes of, and reasons for, crime has long been an interest to criminologist and psychologist. Since the mid 1800�s different aspects of the scientific community have explored the question of why people commit crime. This paper will discuss several theories that have developed over the years, how those theories have grown and changed and which theories seem to be the most prevalent today. The theories that will be discussed revolve around the biological and psychological study of crime, the strain and cultural deviance studies of crime and the social control aspects of crime. All of these studies and theories will be compared and examined to understand the standing of criminology today. The first study of why people commit crime revolved around the belief that criminal behavior resulted from a persons� abnormal psychology. These theories suggest that criminal behavior is caused by some underlying physical or mental condition. These conditions separate the societies criminals from the non- criminals (Adler et. al, 2007 p.116). The first people to study this rationale where called Positivist Criminologist and believed that; Human behavior is determined by forces beyond individual control and that is it possible to measure those forces�{They} view criminal behavior as stemming from biological, psychological and social factors. (Adler et. al, 2007 p.60) In the late 1870�s, Cesare Lombroso...
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...probable cause is the standard by which an officer or agent of the law has the grounds to make an arrest, to conduct a personal or property search, or to obtain a warrant for an arrest, when criminal charges are being considered. It is also refers to the standards which a grand jury believes that a crime has been committed. The term comes from the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. In the criminal arena probable cause is important in two respects. First, police must possess probable cause before they may search a person or a person’s property, and they must possess it before they may arrest a person. Second, in most criminal cases the court must find that probable cause exists to believe that the defendant committed the crime before the defendant may be prosecuted. There are some exceptions to these general rules. Police may briefly detain and conduct a limited search of a person in a public place if they have a reasonable suspicion that the person has committed a crime. Reasonable suspicion is a level of belief that is less than probable cause. The requirement of probable cause for a search and seizure can be found in the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Probable cause can exist even when there is some doubt as to the person’s guilt. Courts take care to review the actions of police in the context of everyday life, balancing the interests of law enforcement against the interest of personal liberty determining whether probable cause existed...
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...that follow each other; the police, the courts and corrections. The criminal justice system has the responsibility of obtaining law violators and giving out a reasonable punishment for crimes that are committed. The criminal justice system also has the duty of protecting the innocent and making sure those that are offenders are treated with fairness, not only by the law enforcement but by the courts and correctional institutions. According to (Schmallger, 2009, page7 of Criminal Justice Today) crime is defined as: the conduct in violation of the criminal laws of a state, the federal government, or local jurisdiction for which there is no legally acceptable justification or excuse. Justice is defined as: the principle of fairness; the ideal of moral equity. We can start of by saying crime is law’s wife, they go hand and hand know matter which way you put it. When a crime is committed it is a one hundred percent chance that a law has been broken. In the criminal justice system when a crime is committed the first component that has a part is the police. Law enforcement has the responsibility of the investigation and arrest. Majority of the time the crime has to be investigated, so that law enforcement has enough evidence and probable cause to charge the person in question. Sometimes when a crime is committed the police get there in enough time to catch the criminal before he or she can leave the scene. Once enough sufficient evidence has been gathered then the person in question...
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...Assess the usefulness of Marxist theories in explaining crime and deviance Marxists sociologists believe that we live in a capitalist society which is divided into classes. They argue that society is based on conflict over the inequality of wealth and power between the bourgeoisie; the ruling capitalist class who own the means of production and the proletariat; the working class who are exploited by the bourgeoisie in order for them to gain profit. This is known as capitalism. The Marxist view on crime is based on three main elements. The first element is criminogenic capitalism, this suggests that crime is inevitable due to the fact that capitalism breeds crime in society. This is the idea that the exploitation of the working class can cause a rise in crime rates. For example, people in poverty may resort to crime in order to survive as crime may be the only way they can obtain consumer goods by committing utilitarian crimes which are crimes concerning money such as theft, embezzlement etc. In addition to this, alienation may also be another way to cause working class people to commit crime as the lack of control they have over their lives may lead to frustration and aggression which can result in non-utilitarian crimes which are crimes that do not concern money such as murder, violence, vandalism. Gordon, a sociologist believes that crime is a rational response to the capitalist system and it is found in all social classes. The second element is the state and law making; this...
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