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Religion and crime in society
Weaknesses of fear of crime
Role of religion in crime and punishment
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Demonological or also known as spiritual explanations of a crime use other worldly powers, religious beliefs, and supernatural powers to explain why someone committed a crime. Such explanations can be used to explain the behavior of Tiequon Cox who with his gang members murdered four people in the morning on a Friday August 31, 1984. Cox is described very often as an evil, and a monster at the same time. His behavior to innocent people seems like something that a person from hell would only commit. They have to ask a question “How would someone commit such a violent crime?”. People who can not find a normal, psychological explanation for a crime, tend to use demonological explanation to give them the feeling of understanding or even a closure. …show more content…
In the same way how Charlie Manson was trying to make himself look like pure evil, Tiequon Cox made himself into looking as evil as possible. His emotionless appearance, and body build like a mountain of muscles can contribute to believe that he is form hell. Through out the book by Kermit Alexander we can find a lot of references that tie to the demonological theory. Horace Burns who is the other convicted killer that assisted Cox with the murder, stated while in custody that he wants to take his own life, but he is scared of hell so he wont do it. Being religious in my opinion shapes people in one way or another. Growing up with strong spirituality, and being taught values that religion can teach us, help to fight the urges that are so hard to resist. An example of that can be Kermit Alexander himself, being raised with strong religious values because his mother was passionate Catholic, and his grandfather was a pastor at the African Methodist church. Kermit knew what kind of decisions are good, and what decisions are bad for the future outcome of his actions. The book itself is named after a biblical psalm, which lets us to believe that Alexander was raised, and still is a religious person. Alexanders …show more content…
We try to make the decisions that are favorable to us. People who are left with a choice are always counting if the outcome of possible decision is worth getting in trouble for. Calculating is a process that Cox, Burns and Williams had to do when they decided to chose the thug life. Joining a gang is possibly the worst decision someone can make in their life, wasting their youth on drugs, violence, and hardcore life always will end bad. The convicted of killing the four innocent people, because they had a wrong address, was their own personal decision that turned bad for them. Even if those guys have hit the right house and killed the other gang members its still not worth of going to jail and being placed on death row for. Tiequon Cox when younger had a chance to turn his life around, he was good at sports, but his behavior eliminated him from “normal” teen life and opened him to the gang world. Classical theory explains that there is a availability for alternative choices, but as stated before, Cox had nobody to tell him better when he was growing
Born on February 2, 22, 1996, Charles Cullen is a famous serial killer from New Jersey (Jennifer Hash, 2006, p. 3). The Media named him “the Angel of Death,” an apt nickname for a serial killer that worked as a nurse. According to Brain D, Andresen (2005), an angel of death describes is a type of serial killer that often works as a caregiver in the medical field who intentionally kills patients (1). An angel of death has power over their victims and may try to play god by deciding the victim would be better off dead than to suffer from their illness. As a nurse, Cullen had access to drugs, which he used to kill his victims. He gave patients overdoses of the drug digoxin, a heart stimulant. Charles was given a way out of the death penalty if
As said by Governor George Ryan, “Since 1973, over 130 people have been released from death rows throughout the country due to evidence of their wrongful convictions.” With each of these wronged convictions, the victim who should rightfully be convicted was able to walk free and possibly continue to commit crimes. Many of these wronged convictions entail parts of conflict theory with them because the dominant group will view things that they believe are socially deviant as criminal. The example in class of the 1992 Chicago gang ordinance shows how the dominant group, the police force, viewed standing on a street corner as socially deviant and thus, labeled it criminal. In The Central Park Five, the five who were convicted were in Central Park late at night, which was socially deviant. Since there was crime that was committed that night, it was easy to take the socially deviant situation of the kids being in the park late at night, them being in the same place as the crime, and them all being non-white and the victim being white and turn the crime on them. At the start of the night, there were kids who were throwing rocks at cars and assaulting homeless people to the extent of smashing one with a beer bottle. Out of all of the kids who were in the park that night, when they all took off running, it didn’t matter which five were stopped and taken to the police station, as long as there were non-white and in the park that night they could have been one of the “central park five”. “Central park five” turns into a label knowing that regardless of who the kid was and their background, the officers involved were going to manipulate they into confessing to the crime and then end up being convicted. Crime today involves conflict theory and can
Unnatural Causes, is Inequality Making us Sick? Is a documentary produced by California Newsreel, and directed by Lleewled M. Smith. Unnatural Cause analyses the factors which can influence the US population‘s health. The film illustrated several families in order to show how their health is influenced depend on different circumstances. The film is supported by the use of survey research which it is a sociological method to gather data. Additionally, the film gives proved sources showing that The US invests billions of dollars on health but still millions of people die every day. In fact, The USA is one of the richest countries in the world, but it is at the bottom of the list concerning life expectancy. An important question that professionals
Unearthed skulls dating back to 6500 BCE have been discovered by archeologists to have large holes drilled into the sides of them. (1) The purpose of the drilling was to release the demon spirits that ruled inside these unfortunate beings. (2) The thought at the time was that strange, disruptive, or unexplainable behaviors demonstrated by individuals was a direct consequence of demons controlling the persons soul. These behaviors were seen not as a medical condition of any kind, but primarily relating to bad morals. There are Biblical references that Jesus cast out devils in those demonstrating irrational or crazed behaviors. Of course there are also Biblical reference that describe maniacal behavior that Jesus also healed and those individual were thought to simply be ill.
First let's focus on the fact that gang related crime is one of the most dangerous challenges facing society and law enforcement today. They are younger, more brutal, unafraid of consequences and becoming increasingly more vicious. Gang members work together as cliques, they commit all sorts of violent crimes including murders, rapes, robberies and kidnappings. "They live in aimless and violent presents; have no sense of the past and no hope for the future; they commit unspeakably brutal crimes against other people often to gratify whatever urges of desires drive them at the moment and their utter lack of remorse is...
The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions by David Berlinski uses clever and unique critiques of militant atheism and its devotion to scientism. Ten in depth chapters shed light on the dogmatic stance of many of today’s popular “new atheists.” According to Berlinski new atheism poses itself as the sole holder of truth through science, “And like any militant church, this one places a familiar demand before all others: Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (10). Berlinski (a secular Jew) approaches ideas with his own mixture of intelligence and thought filled logic; exploring the world as well as important philosophical questions pertaining to “new atheism”. Thus providing the information needed to explore the sides for both and existence and nonexistence of God.
Prior to open practice of Satanism, the Roman Catholic church used Satanism as a label for individuals and groups who held views or ideologies that conflicted with those of the church. This was an attempt to delegitimize their opponents and to strengthen the Church’s following. While these accusations were initially harmless and limited to heretics, they became increasingly frequent and extreme. These wild accusations spread to rumors of violent rituals claimed to be performed by Satanists which built up to widespread fear and panic. Ultimately, this would result in events like the Salem Witch Trials where innocent people were put to death due to false suspicion of individuals performing witchcraft and becoming possessed by the Devil. Ironically, while the church merely intended to bolster both its image and following with these accusations, the widespread panic that resulted put Satanism on the map, and “several scholars identify fundamentalist Christianity as one of the major influences shaping and driving the” onset of the Satanist movement (Underwager and Wakefield, 281). This sheds light on the true relationship between the conflicting belief systems of Christianity and Satanism. Although the two are at odds on even the most basic levels, their relationship is largely codependent. Christianity uses the fear surrounding Satanism and the
...nto carrying out the orders. When other nurses were asked to discuss what they would do in a similar situation (i.e. a control group), 21 out of 22 said they would not comply with the order. Hofling concludes that people are very unwilling to question supposed ‘authority’, even when they might have good reason to as well as are willing to follow authority blindly even against their better judgment and rules in place (Mcleod 2008).
This paper explores three criminological theories as to why Jeffrey Dahmer committed his crimes. Although these approaches vary in terms of defining the cause of crime, one thing is certain, there is no single cause of crime; the crime is rooted in a diversity of causes and takes a variety of forms depending on the situation in which the crimes occur. However, the published articles vary in their definitions and uses of Criminological Theory. Rawlins (2005) suggest that the criminal phenomenon is too complex to be explained by a single theory. Other theories suggest differently and; therefore, have varying explanations. This paper examines the Psychological, Biochemical, and Social Process theories to slightly explain Jeffrey Dahmer’s actions.
According to McCarthy's theory of RCT from 2002 people use the same thoughts and ideas when choosing to commit a crime that they use when choosing to do non-criminal activities.(Paternoster, Pogarsky, 2009, p. 107) According to this idea people choose to offend or not to offend based on their own preferences they weigh in risk factors, costs, and benefits always thinking about what happens if they get caught, if they do not get caught and if they decide ultimately to commit or not commit the crime. (Paternoster, Pogarsky, 2009, p.107) Criminals using the RCT would check out the types of crime available to them in their area then decide if the crime is worth the time. If robbing a bank and they know a possible murder is involved they may deter themselves away from the crime for fear of ...
These killers receive commands from voices, or communicate with gods or other beings who demand the offender commit murder. They almost always fall into the FBI’s 'disorganized ' category of serial killers because of the mental illness and impulsivity that drives their criminal offenses. They are not thoughtful planners like their 'organized ' counterparts… Moreover, visionary killers are said to be 'act focused ' because the act of killing itself is their immediate goal. Some visionary killers come to believe that they are someone else while others feel compelled to murder at the behest of entities such as the Devil or God. Both 'God mandated ' and 'demon mandated ' serial killers are fairly common and well documented (Bonn,
The battle between what is right and wrong is a classic struggle that has existed from the beginning of time. The most honorable people face the crossroad of choosing either the angel’s path or the devil’s; one path leads to an honest yet difficult life while the other is an easy and selfish one. Throughout history, women have been portrayed as the reason of Man’s downfall. The male dominated world has created stereotypes to blame females for their defeats due to ignorance. Leo Tolstoy’s “The Devil” explores the dichotomy of the objectification of women as the angel and the devil.
Functionalists believe religion is a conservative force that performs positive functions of promoting social integration and social solidarity through the reinforcement of value consensus. In this essay I will draw on ideas from Durkheim, Malinowski, Parsons and Bellah. I will then evaluate these theorists with Marxist, feminist and postmodernist perspectives in order to assess the extent functionalism helps us to understand religion today.
evil demon" problem takes a couple of forms in the article, but what it amounts
“Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.” According to Buddha, everyone needs some form of spirituality to define his or her life and existence. Webster Dictionary defines spiritualism as “a system of beliefs or religious practices based on supposed communication with the spirits of the dead, often times through mediums.” Though this is one general definition of spiritualism, this concept is one that does not hold a conclusive meaning. Each and every single person has the ability and right to create and practice their own idea of spiritualism. From ancient times to present day, the term and practice of spirituality has transformed, particularly from region to region. Despite the discrepancies in practices and overall understanding of this idea, spirituality has had an effect and impact upon all of humanity since the creation of time. This religion that is believed to have been established in the early eighteen hundreds, after two little girls claimed to have the ability to talk to spirits, sparked interest in this spiritual movement, allowing it to spread rather rapidly over many geographical locations. Aside from being recognized as a religion, spiritualism is also believed to be a form of philosophy and a science in which spiritualists believe that there is life after death and try to demonstrate this through the ability of attempting to communicate with those that have passed on. Spiritualism was socially different from other religions in existence at the time because it presented followers with a more tolerant belief system that assimilated the principles and facts from a selection the world's religions. Spiritualism also made it acceptable for women to play a disti...