This paper will assess two questions: why do people obey the law and why do people break the law? First and foremost, the question of why people break the law can be answered with a complexity of factors. From a sociological perspective, people are deviant because they do not conform to social norms and therefore act out against the law. My theory would be that the underprivileged are the people who commit the most crimes due to economic and social conditions. Other explanations could include motives, for example, committing an offence out of anger, passion, or rejection of authority. Hate and violent crimes have been calculated to be rising and this connects to why people break the law because it demonstrates that the motive behind crime is …show more content…
When breaking the law, there are consequences, usually in the form of money. People today value their money greatly and most try to deter committing crimes solely because of the loss of funds. Deterrence plays a large role in why people obey the law because when people commit crimes, society performs increased conformity because of the collective outrage and unity that follows after a crime occurs. When members of society observe others receiving the consequences that follow a crime, people tend to make mental notes and remind themselves to be cautious around the law. Obeying the law can be sourced from the social contract, where people are expected to conform to these unwritten laws of society. The philosophical and religious perspective stems from the fundamental foundations of obeying a supreme being, or in current society, the government who sets out laws to keep society from chaos. The philosophy of law includes the assumption that without law, there is no peace and order, therefore, in the eyes of philosophers, there is a duty to follow the law for the greater good. Source #1 - Why do people break the …show more content…
There are many different explanations and reasons for why people break the law, including desperation, social pressures, moral convictions, and other variables. This highlights the need for comprehensive strategies to address and prevent criminal activity. Source #2 - Why Do People Obey The Law? The main explanations, directly from legal scholars, say that people try to avoid the consequences and sanctions of legal issues and that they see the government as a legitimate authority figure. According to Richard McAdams, who has been developing a theory at the University of Chicago Law School, it states that the law works “expressively” by allowing people to coordinate and by signalling new information. The signalling aspect of the theory means that people get signals from other people who are suffering legal consequences to update their behaviour. The coordinating half of the theory talks about the law acting as a coordinating people by working as a focal point to help avoid encouraging breaking the law. McAdams identifies public attitudes as having a great impact on why people obey the law, for morals and actions to be in
Shootings. Homicides. Bombings. It’s safe to say that crime is very abundant in today’s society, filling our news casts with daily reminders of the negative ora that is associated with criminal behavior. But why do people commit the crimes that they commit? Theologians have been studying crime for years, trying to determine the main reasons as to who commits crime and why. These theologians, such as Edwin Sutherland, Ronald Akers, and Robert Agnew, each take very unique view of criminal behavior, giving society many rationalities for these why people exhibit these behaviors.
Crime and the Community. New York: Sage. TYLER, T., R., 1990. Why People Obey the Law. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Law, ?a governmental social control? (Black 2), is a quantitative variable that changes in time and space and can be defined by style: penal, compensatory, therapeutic or conciliatory (Black 5). The brief description of law and its interrelation with social control and deviant behavior can be encapsulated in the following scheme. This concept of law put into the context of social life gives a framework of the behavior of law.
In addition to biological and psychological elements, there are the social factors that can influence people to engage in criminal activity. As a matter of fact, social and economic pressures play a major role in the cause of crime, since people are more likely to break the law when they have nothing else to lose. Therefore, the biological, psychological, and social factors should all be considered when trying to establish a reason for every crime. Word Count = 1,378
I don't think it's right to break the law, no matter what the circumstances are. Breaking the laws is wrong, and people shouldn't think that it's an okay thing to do. If you don't agree with the law, you should try to get in contact with someone high up in the government and explain to them your stance on the issue, and why you believe it needs to be changed, or removed altogether. The laws are in place for a reason, and that is to protect us. American citizens need to start respecting the laws more, and respect those who enforce them.
In every society around the world, the law is affecting everyone since it shapes the behavior and sense of right and wrong for every citizen in society. Laws are meant to control a society’s behavior by outlining the accepted forms of conduct. The law is designed as a neutral aspect existent to solve society’s problems, a system specially designed to provide people with peace and order. The legal system runs more efficiently when people understand the laws they are intended to follow along with their legal rights and responsibilities.
Crime exists everywhere. It is exists in our country, in the big cities, the small towns, schools, and even in homes. Crime is defined as “any action that is a violation of law”. These violations may be pending, but in order to at least lower the crime rate, an understanding of why the crimes are committed must first be sought. There are many theories that are able to explain crimes, but three very important ones are rational choice theory, social disorganization theory and strain theory.
...ulture and beliefs. Another reason one might commit a crime, is when people fail to achieve society’s expectations through legal means such as hard work and delayed gratification, they may attempt to achieve success through crime. People also develop motivation and the skills to commit crime through the people they associate with. Some criminals commit crimes because of the controls that society places on a person through institutions such as schools, workplaces, churches, and families. Sometimes there are occasions where a persons actions goes against what society considers normal, and as a result it is instead considered a crime. Also some criminals continue their criminal acts because they have been shunned by their society because once a person is labeled a criminal, society takes away their opportunities, which in most cases leads to more criminal behavior.
As the act of criminality is a global phenomenon, there must therefore be some explanation as to why this is; some schools of thought strive to explicate this by means of genetics, whilst others take a more socially influenced approach. Although at the time, the micro-criminological theories of Lombroso and Sheldon may have appeared credible, modern research has attempted to refute such notions. In an epidemiological context, the act of crime is seen by some as a positive contribution to society, as noted by Durkheim (Kirby et al, 2000), although too much will lead to social instability, or anomie. In contrariety to Durkheim's beliefs, a Marxist perspective would consider the mere notion of capitalism as criminal; thus deeming the vast majority of global society to be in a constant state of anomie. However, there is still much dispute as to whether people are born, or made into criminals. This essay will discuss the arguments within this debate. To be ‘born’ criminal indicates a genetic heredity whereas if one is ‘made’; the environmental influences are the significant factor in creation of criminal behaviour.
The community have given police officers beyond substantial amounts of power over civilians, to ensure the safety of society and the prevention of crime. These entail the power to arrest and detain people, obtain information, carry out searches on you, your possessions or your vehicle, seize things, and obtain identifying information, such as DNA and fingerprints ("Under arrest and police powers | Legal Aid WA", 2018)(us et al., 2018). With these reigns the police have a wide range of freedom to utilise their judgement in regards to which laws to enforce, when and against whom ("Misuse of police powers: Police officer involved domestic violence | Abuse of power | Diane Wetendorf Inc", 2018). While there are certain protocols that they need
Sociologists have been examining crime and its causes for over 150 years, and through several researches, various explanations have been used to describe crime and deviance. Crime is a behaviour that goes against all formal written laws of a given society (Haralambos, Smith, O 'Gorman, & Heald, 1996). Laws in different societies differ, so do crimes i.e. what may be considered as a crime in one society may not be in another different society. For instance, while same-sex relationship is accepted in some countries like the United States, United Kingdom etc. it is illegal in countries like Nigeria, and most Arabic countries. Other examples of general crimes are theft/robbery, murder, kidnapping and others. Once a crime is committed, sanctions
Laws serve several purposes in the criminal justice system. The main purpose of criminal law is to protect, serve, and limit human actions and to help guide human conduct. Also, laws provide penalties and punishment against those who are guilty of committing crimes against property or persons. In the modern world, there are three choices in dealing with criminals’ namely criminal punishment, private action and executive control. Although both private action and executive control are advantageous in terms of costs and speed, they present big dangers that discourage their use unless in exceptional situations. The second purpose of criminal law is to punish the offender. Punishing the offender is the most important purpose of criminal law since by doing so; it discourages him from committing crime again while making him or her pay for their crimes. Retribution does not mean inflicting physical punishment by incarceration only, but it also may include things like rehabilitation and financial retribution among other things. The last purpose of criminal law is to protect the community from criminals. Criminal law acts as the means through which the society protects itself from those who are harmful or dangerous to it. This is achieved through sentences meant to act as a way of deterring the offender from repeating the same crime in the future.
“on the one hand, many of our values that we act upon in our day-to-day lives emerge from received opinions we have not thought much about.” (Bloom 341) People that break the law often feel like they did nothing wrong or did not deserve to be caught. Where if a law enforcement officer does one thing wrong they can lose a case that put some criminal behind bars. The people with more money are more likely to get away with stuff just because they have money. This should not matter, but it does multiple dangerous criminals have walked free because they have had the money to fight and find one minor thing wrong this is frustrating to a law enforcement.
The causes of crime seem to be indefinite and ever changing. In the 19th century, slum poverty was blamed; in the 20th century, a childhood without love was blamed (Adams 152). In the era going into the new millennium, most experts and theorists have given up all hope in trying to pinpoint one single aspect that causes crime. Many experts believe some people are natural born criminals who are born with criminal mindsets, and this is unchangeable. However, criminals are not a product of heredity. They are a product of their environment and how they react to it. This may seem like a bogus assumption, but is undoubtedly true.
Different schools of thought propose varying theoretical models of criminality. It is agreeable that criminal behaviour is deep rooted in societies and screams for attention. Biological, Social ecological and psychological model theories are key to helping researchers gain deeper comprehension of criminal behaviour and ways to avert them before they become a menace to society. All these theories put forward a multitude of factors on the outlooks on crime. All these theories have valid relevancy to continuous research on criminal behaviour.