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Correlation between crime and race
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Subculture Theories are subgroups within dominant groups with its own norms and values that may be different from the larger group. (Bohm & Vogel, 2011). These groups stem from individuals who are cutoff or denied access from the mainstream groups. These theories try to explain why crimes happen on a macrolevel and why these crimes happen within certain groups.
Some subculture groups in the criminology field are "lower class" groups. (Bohm & Vogel, 2011). Wolfgang described a second subculture as a subculture of violence. Delinquency has also been described as a subculture. In order to be categorized as a subculture 7 propositions have to be present. No subculture can be completely different from the society in which it is a part of. The
Siegel, L. J. (2008). Critical criminology: It's a class thing. Criminology: The core (pp. 173-196). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing.
Cultural criminology is a relatively new perspective and approach to understanding crime and deviance. Cultural criminology first began to develop in the 1990s and rapidly progressed in to a new field of criminology that is both influential and informative. The core concept of cultural criminology is built upon by using traditional approaches from different disciplines such as sociological studies, cultural studies, symbolic interactionism and many other disciplines, theories and methods. (Oxford bibliography Keith Hayward) Although it would seem that cultural criminology is nothing more than an interdisciplinary field, using only the studies and theories of some of the disciplines mentioned above - it actually does offer a new line of thought and individuality that other fields of criminology in the past did not. This is because instead of viewing crime objectively, it instead looks at crime subjectively by analysing the idiosyncrasies of the modern sociocultural environment. It offers an explanation of crime and deviance as a constructed result from either political, social or cultural actors and groups who commit crime, because of a shared sense of meaning, emotions, symbols, styles and even fashion within different subcultures. (Oxford bibliography Keith Hayward) Cultural Criminologists hope to explain and examine how the meaning of certain aspects of a subculture can play an active role in society and the construction of crime, not only by explaining why crime is committed, but also how crime is controlled. This essay will explain what cultural criminology is by using The 1989 Hillsborough disaster as an example in illustrating some of the research findings by cultural criminologists. There have been many different topic area...
The second is related to status and respect. This type of status can change even between subcultures and may result in crime in order to achieve this s...
Criminological theories interpret the competing paradigms of Human Nature, Social Order, Definition of Crime, Extent and Distribution of Crime, Causes of Crime, and Policy, differently. Even though these theories have added to societies understanding of criminal behaviour, all have been unable to explain why punishment or treatment of offenders is unable to prevent deviancy, and thus are ineffective methods of control. The new penology is a contemporary response that favours the management of criminals by predicting future harm on society. However, all criminological theories are linked as they are a product of the historical time and place, and because of their contextual history, they will continue to reappear depending on the current state of the world, and may even be reinvented.
Siegel, L. J. (2013). Trait theories. Criminology: theories, patterns, and typologies (11th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Criminological Theory: Past to Present, edited by Cullen, T.F., Agnew, R. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Many of the traditional criminological theories focused more on biological, psychological and sociological explanations of crime rather than on the cost and benefits of crime. More conservative approaches, including routine actives, lifestyle exposure and opportunity theories have clearly incorporated crime rate patterns as a fundamental part of analyzing the economics of crime. Crime statistics are important for the simple reason that they help put theories into a logical perspective. For example, a prospective home owner may want to look at crime rates in areas of potential occupancy. On a more complex level, it helps law enforcement and legislators create effective crime reduction programs. Furthermore, it also helps these agencies determine if crime prevention programs, that have been in effect, have been successful. There are many factors that influence the rates of crime including socio economic status, geographical location, culture and other lifestyle factors. More specifically, Messner and Blau (1987) used routine activities theory to test the relationship between the indicators of leisure activities and the rate of serious crimes. They discussed two types of leisure actives, the first being a household pastime, which primarily focused on television watching. The second type was a non-household leisure event which was consisted of attendance to sporting events, cinemas, and entertainment districts. The focus of this paper will be to study the effects that substantial amounts of leisure activities have on the offender and the victim. Leisure activities not only make a crime more opportunistic for offenders, it may also provide offenders with motivation to engage in criminal activity. On the other hand, it may also be argue...
Albert Cohen was born on June 15, 1918, and is an American criminologist who has been widely acknowledged for his subcultural theory on gangs. He is also the author on a book dealing with the theory titled Delinquent Boys: Culture of the Gang. His theory itself was aimed at confronting the issue of delinquency, questions that he felt hadn’t been properly researched or answered by other theories. Some of these questions include why exactly delinquency takes place specifically in gangs? Why are working class youths attracted to a life filled with delinquent behavior? And another questions Mr. Cohen had was asking why so many delinquent acts are violent and mean spirited just for the sake of it, when they don’t even offer any financial benefit to the person causing the acts. Cohen came up with the idea that there wasn’t necessarily a general consensus that people shared in terms of values, but rather subcultural values that are shared by specific
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).
The three eras that have characterized the field of criminology over the past 100 years are the “Golden Age of Research,” the “Golden Age of Theory,” and an unnamed era that was “’characterized by extensive theory testing of the dominant theories, using largely empirical methods’” (28). The “Golden Age of Research” era spanned from 1900 to 1930 according to John H. Laub. This era is identified as focusing heavily on the collection of data surrounding crime and the criminal. This data was assessed without “any particular ideational framework” (28). The second era, the “Golden Age of Theory,” spanned from 1930 to 1960, also according to Laub. This era is also rather self-explanatory, it is described by the development of theories; however, Laub
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.
In Subculture Theory many theorists were interested in explaining delinquent gangs, which were believed to be the most common form of delinquency. The Subculture Theory was made up of several different theories that were all related to each other. Subculture theories provided explanations of how groups of individuals develop similar values and rationales for behavior (Williams & McKay, 2014). One theory within Subculture Theory was called the delinquent subculture theory by Albert Cohen. Another theory in the Subculture Theory was the differential opportunity formed by Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin. The third theory by Walter Miller used direct observation of social groups in their natural setting. All four theories were interest in of the Subculture Theory could develop (Williams & Mckay, 2014). The last major theory was very different theories and was created by Wolfgang and Ferracuti. All these theories in the Subculture Theory were very different but were all related in some way.
..., Larry J. (2006). Criminology: Theories, Patterns, & Typologies, 9th edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing. ISBN 0-495-00572-X. Print. 25 Feb 2014.
Hasisi, B. (2008). CRIMINOLOGY: POLICE, POLITICS, AND CULTURE IN A DEEPLY DIVIDED SOCIETY. The Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, 1119-1145.
One of the best lines that supports this claim is made at the end of chapter 6 made by Decker saying that “culture trumps everything...neither education nor detection, nor investigation, nor discipline, is as effective.” (pg. 128) Although not directly mentioned. The fact that these are more or less, primarily the education and disciple aspects, the things that a normal citizen would have, and that they are clearly not effective means that some form of a subculture exists here. The last theory has to deal with lifestyle theory. This is mentioned in the textbook as Life Course Theory, and is located in chapter 7 of the textbook. The theory roughly states that there are factors throughout your life such as family, school, and work that will affect how you act. This is made obvious in David’s story who “has done his time, learned his lesson, and was ready to begin anew...because of his time locked up.. the goals he had so successfully internalized were out of his reach” (pg. 183) this lack of ability to find a job could force kids into terrible situations that could get them to commit crimes again and get them locked up. This is exactly what the theory