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Factors that contribute to the strain theory
Factors that contribute to the strain theory
Factors that contribute to the strain theory
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Radical-critical criminology, a variant of Marxist criminology, states that what causes criminal behavior stems from social conditions that empower those who are wealthy and deprive those who aren’t as well off. Critical criminology alone focuses on current social and economic arrangements and the ways they correlate with crime. Radical criminology focuses on changes within political and economic systems that lead to higher levels of criminality. In this case, radical criminology states society essentially is only working in the interest of the wealthy instead of in the best interest of society as a whole. Critical criminology views criminal behavior as a product of oppression. “Morally and politically, critical criminology questions the status …show more content…
quo, officials versions of reality, and prevailing ideologies about the “solutions” in crime control” (Barak, Cotton, Leighton, p. 59). In essence, those who are less fortunate are more likely to experience and suffer from oppressive social relations thus leading them to commit crime. In contrast, strain theory sees criminal behavior as a coping mechanism that enables those to deal with the socioemotional problems that occur from negative social relations.
(Schmalleger, 2016, p. 110) Additionally, this theory states that the social expectations to reach certain goals that require resources that are unattainable to some, lead those individuals to commit crime.
These two theory’s share similarities in that they both consider negative social relations and the affects that these have on an individual and how it ultimately leads to criminal behavior. However, they differ in that radical-critical criminology considers that these negative social relations are created from the poor social conditions that empower those who are already well off and disregards the rest of society’s needs.
Overall, both theory’s offer great insight on what causes criminal behavior. However, in the case of which one explains criminality better, radical-critical criminology seems more fitting and applicable to society as a whole. Strain theory notes the inability for some individuals to reach socially set goals as a cause for criminal behavior from a lack of resources to achieve those goals. Therefore, one could argue that oppressive social relations, as brought forth in radical-critical criminology, are suffered because the lack of resources stem from less than ideal social conditions. Thus, radical-critical criminology would be more applicable to the majority of individuals committing crime because those who are less fortunate are more likely to have negative social relations, making criminality the only option in their
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To start of the first short essay I will start to compare and contrast the criminological theory that evaluates six differences between Radical and Orthodox. “Radical criminology is defined as a method that has been described of the meaning of the effects of the behavior of the individual that may or may not resolve in criminal behavior due to the effect of social identities”(Lynch &Michalowski,p.26). “Radical criminology has the various effects of economic influence that may possibly lead to an increase of crime such as property crimes due to the fact individuals are seeking to invest money”(Lynch & Michalowski, p.109).
Jock Young’s book “The Criminological Imagination” very clearly spells out the author’s feeling that orthodox criminology has lost its way and has been swallowed up into obscurification through bogus, post-modern positivism. Young postulates, the cost of this phenomena is the loss of critical thinking and objectivity in the field of criminology. Young contends criminology can be rescued from obscurity if returning to its orthodox beginnings by reducing the impact of neo-liberalism with critical imagination, and not simply succumbing to empirical data to try to explain everything. Young contends, doing so seems to simply cloud the view, thus giving rise to a host of incomplete and overly politicized theories.
Of the many theories about crime, one that sticks out is the conflict theory of crime. The conflict theory of crime basically states that people’s socioeconomic status leads to criminal activity (Kornblum and Julian 2012). For instance, it’s the situation of the haves (the people who have money for the things that they want) and have not (the people who want what the haves have). According to Kornblum and Julian, as disadvantaged individuals are labelled as criminals they begin to rebel against societies view of them. Over time they begin to embrace society’s view of them as criminals and they continue with their criminal behavior. As a result, lower socioeconomic status who don’t have (have not) result t...
The relationship between social harm and criminology has been discussed all around the world within different approaches. Some criminologists such as Hillyard and Tombs, believe to be a better alternative to the concept of crime, due to the fact that involves a lack of more harmful issues that go unpunished in our society, others disagree saying that, actions can only be penalized within communities if they are seen as a crime. However, crime is looked at differently within societies, social groups, and nation states, as a result of distinct cultures and beliefs.
An integrated theory is a combination of 2 or 3 theories that offers many explanations on why crime is occurring, compared to a traditional criminal theory that just focus on one type of aspect (Lilly et al.2010). The purpose of integrated theories is to help explain many aspects into what causes criminal behavior and why one becomes delinquent. From this an argument arises can integrated theories be used to explain all criminal behavior. Integrated theories are successful in explaining certain aspects of crime on what causes one to become deviant; however one theory alone cannot explain why an individual engages in crime. This paper will examine three integrated theories and look in-depth how these theories can explain different aspects on why criminal behavior occurs and the weakness of each theory. The three integrated theories that will be discussed in this paper are Cloward and Ohlin Differential Opportunity theory, Robert Agnew General Strain theory, and lastly Travis Hirschi’s Social Bond theory.
This theory however as some have argued has emerged from social disorganisation theory, which sees the causes of crime as a matter of macro level disadvantage. Macro level disadvantage are the following: low socioeconomic status, ethnic or racial heterogeneity, these things they believe are the reasons for crime due to the knock on effect these factors have on the community network and schools. Consequently, if th...
Criminology is the study of crime and criminals; a branch of sociology. More accurately, it is the study of crime as a social trend, and its overall origins, its many manifestations and its impact upon society as a whole. That makes it more a form of sociology than a law enforcement tool. But the trends it studies have a huge impact on the way the police do their jobs, the way society treats its criminals, and the way a given community goes about maintaining law and order. The writer will describe and give examples of the three perspectives of viewing crimes. The perspectives that will be highlighted are the consensus view, the conflict view or the interactionist view. Each perspective maintain its own interpretation of what constitutes criminal activities and what causes people to engage in criminal behaviors (Siegel, p.12).
Critical criminology, also known as radical criminology dates back to the concepts of Marxism. Despite the fact that Fredric Engels and Karl Marx were the founders of contemporary radical criminology, none of them gave explicit focus to crime. William Bonger (1876-1940), a Dutch criminologist was a more direct founder of this concept. It gained popularity during the early 1970s when it tried to explain the causes of contemporary social mayhem. He used economic explanations were used by critical criminology to analyze social behavior by arguing that social and economic inequalities were the main reason behind criminal behavior (Henry & Lainer, 1998). This view reduces the focus on individual criminals and elaborates that the existing crime is as a result of the capitalist system. Just like the conflict school of thought, it asserts that law is biased since it favors the ruling or the upper class and that the legal system that governs the state is meant to maintain the status quo of the ruling class. Critical criminologist are of the view that political, corporate and environmental crime are not only underreported but also inadequately punished by the existing criminal legal system.
It has been observed that there are numerous researches conducted on youth crime particularly in the United Kingdom which gave the emphasis on young individuals as offenders instead of victims of crime. Moreover, radical criminology significantly contributed to understand the youth crime through different theories. According to Yar (2012), radical criminology is known as the conflict philosophy. It centres its perceptions on crime and on regulation in the faith that capitalist civilisations precipitate as well as describe crime as the possessors by sense of production utilise their influence to endorse commandments that would regulate the working class and suppress intimidations to the supremacy of the governing class. Radical criminology
Theoretical Criminology is most commonly found in universities and other areas of higher education. It only serves as a component of the todays, broad field of general criminology. Unlike the old fashion way of explaining what kind of crimes exist and how often they happen, theoretical criminology was intended to give explanations and reasoning’s for criminal behavior. Simply put it helps us to understand why criminals commit the crimes they commit, or what effects the environment had on the ultimate decision in commit such crimes. The task at hand should be to differentiate what we define such behavior as either criminal or noncriminal. (Siegel 113) To understand these theories I believe one must first understand what a theory is. In ideal form a theory is propositions that are clearly presented on events, relationships or things that are under an observation of study. When we read or study theories we try to understand the situation at hand with a deeper meaning and understanding of the reason for the study being conducted. If a theory is more applicable than it is found to be then it is more generalizable it from one situation to the next.
Crime and Criminal Justice social problems are some of the most complex problems we have in American society. The four different perspective all have their own vastly different theory of how they view crime. I think the most interesting perspectives are the functionalist perspective and the symbolic interactionist perspective. A common functionalist perspective is one by Émile Durkheim, one of the first sociologists. Durkheim’s theory is that deviance can be functional because it affirms moral boundaries, promotes social unity, and social change. Robert K Merton applies Durkheim’s theory to “develop the strain theory of criminal behavior” (358, Leon-Guerrero). The Strain Theory states that criminal behavior occurs when there is conflict
Criminal behaviour has always been part of human history and criminologists have developed different theories to explain causes of crime. One must keep in mind that criminology is an interdisciplinary science and many theorists developed a variety of explanations. Scientists like Cesare Lombroso and William Sheldon developed biological positivism with the understanding that a human is committing crimes because of factors that lie beyond their own control, namely physical make up or mental ability. Instrumental Marxist criminology sees criminal law and the justice system as an instrument of those with power to control the lower class and was developed in the 1970s. Key advocates were the American sociologists Richard Quinney and William Chambliss.
Criminal law involves prosecution by the state of a person for an act that has been classified as a crime (Criminal law, 2010). But who gets to decide what acts are criminal? It should be no surprise that the individuals with the most power do. For radical criminologists, the problem arises in capitalist societies because it is in these societies where the means of production are owned privately by a small number of people. Based on the writings of Karl Marx, radical criminologists argue that the state works to serve the interests of the capitalist ruling class and that criminal law is merely an instrument of that class to keep all other classes in a disadvantage position (Young et al.,1973; Quinney, 1980). Named the elites, bourgeois, or the ruling class, these powerful people formulate and shape the content of the law to further their interests and at the same time to exploit the poor and the weak. Criminal law protects the powerful by making it look like the most dangerous types of crime are committed by the poor and consequently by setting the stage for criminal justice officials to go after and punish perpetrators of street crime more harshly than those who commit white collar or corporate crime.
By definition criminology is the scientific study of crime as a social phenomenon involving criminals and penal treatment. The origins of criminology are rooted in the 1700s when society believed that crime was a result of supernatural forces. This demonic perspective supported the idea that temptation brought out evil forces in an individual (Cullen & Agnew, 2011, p. 21). Once possessed, a person was lured into sinful behavior. Such beliefs were prevalent and accepted due to the strong connection between the government and religion in implementing rules. In the 1800s, Cesare Beccaria and Cesare Lombroso set out to challenge this ideal by proposing two new, radical approaches. Beccaria introduced the classical theory of criminology emphasizing behavior while Lombroso presented his positive school of criminological thought emphasizing science to explain crime. As classical criminologists they based their critiques on their personal speculations as well as the work of other leading figures at the time. Ultimately, classical and positive theories of criminology can be compared and contrasted through their philosophical foundations, assumptions and policy implications. When comparing Beccaria and Lombroso’s theories, their ideas are similar because they reject the demonic perspective and stress alternative explanations. However, both theories are contrastable because Beccaria pursues the behavioral route while Lombroso relies on the scientific aspect to explain crime in society. In essence, both theories help guide the analysis and understanding of crime.
According to Worrall, radical criminology is “a conflict perspective that sees crime as engendered by the unequal distribution of wealth and power and other resources, which adherents believe is especially characteristic of capitalist societies” (2015 p. 97). Areas that have low poverty rates are likely to have high crime rates. Murder, rape, and theft are key examples of violent crimes that occur. Willem Bonger was an important figure in radical criminology. Radical criminology has two theories: Radical Conflict theory and Conservative Conflict theory. Radical conflict theory has to do with capitalism. Resources are controlled by private owners and is essential to society. Conservative conflict theory has to do with conflict. Conflict is a natural part of society. Power and control are crucial to maintain