...EXAMINING THEORY PAPER INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT Neil Holmes CJA/314 Criminology 06/05/14 Chris DeRicco In this paper, I hope to explain the reasons why people commit crimes and the many theories in the field of criminology. Social process theory is one such assumption and argues that criminal behavior is learned through interactions with others. There are four types of social process theories including: social learning theory, social control theory, social labeling theory, and dramaturgical perspective. This paper will analyze two of the theories and will discuss social process theory and the history of its development, also the theory’s importance to criminology, examples of the theory and any negatives or positives associated with the theory. Social learning theory is the process that occurs through observing the consequences of others and by determining if such behavior is worth replicating (Wallace, n.d.). To put in a nut shell, basically this theory advises that humans learn by watching other commit crimes. This theory was developed in the 1930s by theorists Edwin Sutherland, Robert Burgess, Ronald L. Akers...
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...Policy issues paper Brandon Quisano CJA314 September, 05, 2014 Oscar Diaz Policy issues paper In this paper, I hope to analyze and figure out what causes individuals to commit crimes and the many theories in criminology. Social process theory is one such assumption and argues that interaction and interacting with other individuals certain criminal behaviors are learned. There are four types of social process theories including: social learning theory, social control theory, social labeling theory, and dramaturgical perspective. The developmental process and background of social process theories will be discussed in this paper. Also the important parts of this theory to criminology and the pro’s and con’s that are a part of the theory. Social learning theory is when consequences are observed of others and thinking about copying a behavior is called social learning theory. To put in a nut shell, this thoery explains that human beings are educated by observing others. Identifying certain patterns in behavior of the criminal kind and the values that went along with them theorists such as Edwin Sutherland, Robert Burgess, and Ronald L. Akers developed in the 1930’sLearning theory. Other well known theorists Albert Bandura also helped in this theory and developed Recipricol determinism that emphasizes how a person’s behavior, enviroment and their personal qualities all intertwined with each other. (“Learning-Theories.com”,2012). Developed by Bandura are these steps number...
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...Firestone Com 4030 4 March 2012 Feminist Criminology, Aileen Wuornos, and the Future of Third Wave Feminism Crime committed by women is on the rise, especially in the area of violent crimes such as murder (Balfour’ 739). This has produced a new form of feminist studies in an area called feminist criminology. What hasn’t been studied as extensively is the question of why women kill. I argue that by using the individuality concept of third wave feminism and doing more research in the field of feminist criminology, patterns of criminal behavior may be established which may prevent severe female crime such as murder. This paper seeks to explain how advancing the study of feminist criminology is good for the U.S. legal system and could have changed the outcome for Aileen Wuornos. In this paper I will discuss what third wave feminism is, then I will discuss what feminist criminology is and how it applies to the Aileen Wuornos case, and lastly I will show that with advanced studies into the field of feminist criminology, odds of severe crimes committed by women could decrease. The third wave of feminism is not easily describable. However, it can be framed by saying that it is a movement that continues to advance the women’s rights agenda of the second wave (Zimmerman et al. 77). Unlike the second wave which was intended to give a voice to all women, the third wave tends to reflect more on the individual. By focusing on personal narratives, responsible choices, and by individual...
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...crime This paper focuses on the information about the crimes. Different theories about the criminology are described. Main focus will be on the criminology and its two theories. Criminology is the study of factors about the crimes that lead to its phenomena. This crime may be of individual or social nature. It includes making laws, breaking laws and attempts to break the laws. Criminology focuses on the social, cultural and individual causes of the illegal behavior. Criminology is directly related to sociology and psychology in all disciplines that deal with a group or individual behavior. However an act that is immoral or indecent can be criminal act unless it is not outlawed by the state. Criminology consists of our organized ways of thinking and talking about crime, criminals and crime control (Garland and Sparks, 2000, 192). Personal and neighborhood income are the strongest predictors of violent crime" (cited in "Wasting America's Future (Arloc Sherman, 1994, p88). Demonstrates that glaring social and economic inequalities in our society impose correspondingly high costs in the form of street crime. (John Hagan & Ruth D. Peterson, Crime and Inequality, 1995, Stanford U, p4) Causes of Crimes: Causes of crime may be environmental, hereditary or psychological. Environmental causes are ruled out as independent causes of crimes. But psychological conditions are said to be determinant of an individual’s reaction to persuasive environmental influence. Criminologist...
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...in his article titled “On Deterrence and the Death Penalty”[ Van Den Haag, Ernest (1969) On Deterrence and the Death Penalty. The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police Science, 60(2) ], Ernest Van Den Haag outlines his thoughts which support the use of the death penalty and how it might deter heinous crimes against society. The first section of this paper will give a summery of Van Den Haag’s thoughts, which he outlined in the article, including the main points and arguments made which support his view. Following this summary, an in depth analysis of how the article relates to my personal beliefs and understanding of the topic will take place. Summary In section one of the article, the author brings up the point that the purposes of the death penalty must always be understood as being one of two things: doing justice or deterring others. Van den Haag points out that any other aim of a justice system, such as rehabilitation, would not be met by this form of punishment. It is his belief that opponents contesting the use of the death penalty must show that that neither purpose is met in order to illustrate that it should be abolished[ Van Den Haag, Ernest (1969) On Deterrence and the Death Penalty. The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police Science, 60(2),pp.141]. He then outlines the purpose of his paper which is to challenge the claim that capital punishment is useless as a form of deterrence. Section...
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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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...Sociological Theories of Crime AIU Online April 9, 2016 There are many theories as to why one commits acts of crime. Some of the theories revolve around socialism. Others involve theoretical assertions based on socioeconomic status. And another has basis on personal attributes and rationale to thought in motive. There are also different thoughts to explaining criminal behaviors, one being classical school of thought and the other being a positivist school of thought. For the focus of this paper we will be looking at the four main theories: Social control theory, Strain theory, Differential Association Theory, and Neutralization theory. Social control theory is the theory that those who engage in socializing or social learning build self-control and lessens the likelihood of antisocial behavior. This theory also explains the conformity of behavior accepted in society. Anti-social behavior due to lack of social links within society lend strong indications to criminal behaviors. Travis Hirschi’s held this same theory of ‘‘social control’’ stating that if a man is not variously bound to society by some attachment, commitment, or involvement, he is, at risk criminally. (Muraven, 2006) One of the strengths in this theory is the recognition of wrongdoing by offenders. With the recognition of wrongdoing should come the accountability of action. Therein lies the weakness to this theory as accountability for one’s actions tends to be ignored in today’s society, easily dismissed...
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...Ethnography at the Edge “Dangerous Methods” “ABSTRACT” In this paper I explore the mysteries of the work of Ferrell and Hamm’s book Ethnography at the Edge, chapter titled “Dangerous Methods”. This book was created as research to answer some mind boggling questions such as “why do criminals do what they do?” These two criminologist put themselves into the same situations and live the lives of drug addicts, prostitutes and murders in order to understand their ways of thinking before committing these acts. What pushed them to this lifestyle, and what were their other options? Did they have any other options? This paper is a critique of their work, and approaches to criminology. We will compare a number of theories to include the ones used by Ferrell and Hamm, and dictate whether or not I felt this was the proper use of their research. I will also compare the technique of criminal verstehen with other techniques used to understand crime. (Word count 152) Introduction: Criminological behavior has been a mystery that criminologist have longed tried to unravel. Many theories have been developed in an attempt to understand deviant behavior. In my personal opinion none have made such an effort to establish an understanding than Jeff Ferrell and Mark Hamm. Jeff Ferrell is currently a professor of Sociology at Texas Christian University and a visiting professor at the University of Kent, UK. He has authored many books such as Crimes of Style, Tearing down the Streets...
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...International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory, Vol. 6, No. 4, December 2013, 228-234 Police Corruption in India ____________________________________________________________________ Ravikanth B. Lamani1 G. S. Venumadhava2 Abstract Police as a Law enforcing agency is an important institution of that social control which existed in some form or the other in all society in all ages. Police is an integral part of the present day society. A society in the present set up cannot live and progress without an effective, sincere and honest police force. The Indian police have its roots in the ancient period and the present day police are the outcome of an evolutionary process. The bad things which it has inherited from the old system include corruption among policemen today. Corruption exists in one form or the other in the police system. Corruption has infected every sphere of modern life. It has vitiated the moral values of the society and the police force cannot be an exception. In fact, corruption of police is not a new phenomenon, but the irony is that the issue has seldom been seized by the organization with a sense of seriousness. In this paper an attempt has been made to discuss the various aspects of police corruption in India. The author has tried to discuss the various factors responsible for police corruption and suggest some remedies to control the corruption among policemen. The main objective of the paper is to discuss the extent, causes and...
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...see Criminology (journal). For the Raekwon song, see Criminology (song). Criminology and penology Pentonvilleiso19.jpg Theory[show] Types of crime[show] Penology[show] v t e Sociology Social Network Diagram (segment).svg History Outline Portal Theory Positivism Antipositivism Functionalism Conflict theories Social constructionism Structuralism Interactionism Critical theory Structure and agency Actor-network theory Methods Quantitative Qualitative Historical Mathematical Computational Ethnography Ethnomethodology Network analysis Subfields Conflict Criminology Culture Development Deviance Demography Education Economic Environmental Family Gender Health Industrial Inequality Knowledge Law Literature Medical Military Organizational Political Race & ethnicity Religion Rural Science Social change Social movements Social psychology Stratification STS Technology Urban Browse Bibliography Index Journals Organizations People Timeline v t e Three women in the pillory, China, 1875 Criminology (from Latin crīmen, "accusation"; and Greek -λογία, -logia) is the scientific study of the nature, extent, management, causes, control, consequences, and prevention of criminal behavior, both on the individual and social levels. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioral and social sciences, drawing especially upon the research of sociologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, social anthropologists, as well as scholars of law. The term criminology was coined...
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...The Labeling Theory The Labeling Theory is a Criminological theory that states those who engage in criminal behavior are not necessarily criminal, or criminal minded. The theory is the view of deviance according to which being labeled as a deviant leads a person to engage in deviant behavior. In the 1960’s, Howard Becker, explained the labeling theory as behavior clashing with social norms. The labeling theory is a valid criminological theory and can indeed lead an individual to criminal activity, merely by labeling an individual as deviant or criminal. History The pioneer who many consider the grandfather of the labeling theory is Frank Tannenbaum. According to author William O’Grady, Tannenbaum was the first to come up with an idea known as tagging (2011). This idea stated additional involvement in delinquent behaviors was mostly due to a negative tag or label. He was convinced that a person was more likely to identify with the label placed on them if there was more attention placed on that specific label. Oftentimes the individual would adopt the initial tagging as part of their identity. In evaluating Tannenbaum’s writings, Walter Gove states, “The process of making the criminal is a process of tagging, defining, identifying, segregating… The person becomes the thing he is described as being; the way out is through a refusal to dramatize the evil. The less said about it the better” (1975). It is evident Tannenbaum believed that ending the labeling process would be...
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...Dave Salzano November 29, 2011 Professor Barnes Criminology 11am Term Paper Part 2 In the beginning of the year I believed that criminals who committed the same type of crimes did so for similar reasons. While I still agree that there is a correlation, through the semester I have changed my view a bit. There are many different theories that can explain the possibilities of why two criminals who have committed the same crime have done so. There isn’t one theory that can explain the causation of any particular crime, but instead each crime and each criminal differs on a case by case basis. Without realizing it I believed heavily in the strain theory as the best explanation for the causation of crime, mainly the belief that people in poverty would overlook the consequences in order to attain what others in their community have. Now I see this was an extremely narrow view point and believe each crime and each criminal can be explained through a diverse and often multiple groups of theories. I underestimated the impact of biological issues that contribute to crime explained by trait theorists. They argue the individual is not the only one responsible for crime in society, but that we must look at their environment, neighborhood, economic opportunities, and family life. The focus is on how different biological factors like high testosterone levels and a person’s diet combined with their environment effects crime (Siegel, 2000). I would have agreed that higher testosterone...
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...jobs due to the existence of crime and these people work together to provide safety within our communities as well as retribution and treatment for different offenders and their individual needs. Crimes exist on a regular basis within our communities, which employs significant cost on the general public to cover the cost of maintaining inmates in correctional and local detention facilities. Crime has a broad range in occurrence, which ranges from simple traffic violations or part II crimes to more serious offenses such as part I crimes. Such crimes tend to lead to incarceration; therefore, there is a cost to tax payers to aid in keeping offenders off the streets of society. This paper will discuss types of offenders such as occasional offenders compared to career offenders; also, this paper will discuss different types of offenses leading to...
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...be withheld. 1. Essay Question: After more than a century of criminological theory, why does crime still exist? Illustrate your answer by drawing on at least two theories studied thus far in the semester and consider how they define crime and what policy ( rulem strategy, procedure) responses (replies) they advocate (support). What are the strengths and weaknesses of these theories and why related policy responses failed to rid society ( culture of crime? Use Australian or international examples to support your arguments. a. Thesis Statement: * Crime attributes an individual to a particularly undesirable group. It is based upon an event; some sort of wrong - doing or deviance from the norm which results in social, physical, mental, property or financial harm. * Theories come into play and provide a perspective and embody certain assumptions. * * There is no longer a singular definition of crime, there are multiple views and opinions yet non stand as a concrete definition. * Classical Theory * Positivism Of particular interest is the classical approach to crime and the idea of positivism nad individualist behaviour. b. tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion. c. is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper. d. directly answers the...
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...Individual Project 1 July 25, 2013 Abstract Within this paper a report is written for the California Chief Attorney in efforts to support a presentation to the County Commission. Key components of victimology, history of victimology, theories, and differences between criminology and victimology are discussed. The flagstaff of safe houses for abused women and children, along with our nation’s first rape crises center are highlighted. The contribution from our history’s civil rights movement and how it has played a part in the U.S. laws are explained, along with children’s rights groups and the problems child victims face in the criminal justice system. In the conclusion of this paper, readers will be given a path to take in regards to advocacy groups for victims. Before we begin to understand the concept of victimology I feel it is important to first understand the definition of a victim, and the history in which victimology stems from. To be a victim means that you are a person who individually or collectively, has suffered harm, including physical or mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss or substantial impairment of your fundamental rights, through acts or omissions that are in violation of criminal laws operative within member state, including those laws proscribing criminal abuse of power (UN Declaration 1985 on Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power). Victimology stems from criminology, which is the study of crime as a social phenomenon...
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