Law and social order constitute important elements of social change and theories of criminology (Schmalleger, 2012). Understanding the interplay between them, law and social order, gives us important insights into how and why governments either work or fail. Three different perspectives outline the interplay between the two and help us understand what is happening behind the scenes in various forms of government. These three perspectives are the consensus, pluralist, and the conflict perspectives. The consensus perspective has a very naïve view of social organization. Within this view members of society generally share the same core values (Schmalleger, 2012). Laws, according to the consensus perspective, result from a “consensus” of the people and it serves each individual equally (Schmalleger, 2012). Those who violate the law are seen as being mentally unstable, or socialized ineffectively (Schmalleger, 2012). The champion of the consensus perspective is Roscoe Pound who was the dean of Harvard Law School. He is seen by some as one of the greatest scholar of law (Schmalleger, 2012). Interesting to note about Pound is that some of his ideas roughly reflect those of Thomas Hobbes. For example; Pound believed that for a civilized society to exist, men and women must believe that others would not commit violent acts on them, and would deal with them honestly. Furthermore, Pound wrote that members of a civilized society must be able to trust that those who maintain things will do their job and, well, maintain things (Schmalleger, 2012). This is similar to Hobbes’ idea that men form social contracts with each other and with a central authority figure in order to escape fears of death and wrongdoing and allow them to pursue culture a... ... middle of paper ... ...gainst this over the short term, one would suspect that in the long term of constant pressure from wealthy groups, the law would develop biases since poor groups are less likely to afford lobbyist acting in their own interest. Through this process, one can imagine how the law would end up a tool for the powerful incrementally over time. The symptoms of which seem to mirror a commonly known fact about the USA; the rich get richer and the gap between rich and poor continually increase. Works Cited Baird, F. E. (Ed.). (2011). From Plato toDerrida. Upper Sadle River: Prentice Hall. Dwyer, J. (2010, July 20). A Smell of Pot and Privilege in the City. Retrieved from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/21/nyregion/21about.html?_r=3&ref=todayspaper& Schmalleger, F. (2012). Criminology Today: An Integrative Introduction. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.
The criminal justice system is made up of three main parts: law enforcement, the court system, and corrections. These three components are interconnected. You can’t have one without the other. The term “consensus model” describes this relationship. The consensus model supports the idea that all three groups should work together to achieve justice.
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.
Carl et al. (2011, p. 119) suggests that there are two primary models as to how laws were created (i) the consensus (ii) conflict models. While the consensus model of law suggests that laws arise when people witness behaviours that they do not approve of, therefore agreeing to make that behaviour illegal (Carl et al., 2011, p. 119). The conflict model
The individuals within our society have allowed we the people to assess and measure the level of focus and implementation of our justice system to remedy the modern day crime which conflict with the very existence of our social order. Enlightening us to the devices that will further, establish the order of our society, resides in our ability to observe the Individual’s rights for public order.
The basis of criminal justice in the United States is one founded on both the rights of the individual and the democratic order of the people. Evinced through the myriad forms whereby liberty and equity marry into the mores of society to form the ethos of a people. However, these two systems of justice are rife with conflicts too. With the challenges of determining prevailing worth in public order and individual rights coming down to the best service of justice for society. Bearing a perpetual eye to their manifestations by the truth of how "the trade-off between freedom and security, so often proposed so seductively, very often leads to the loss of both" (Hitchens, 2003, para. 5).
These ideas Hobbes presents explain why his account of human nature is deeply pessimistic of man. His successful argument of the need of a social contract is shown by defining his pessimistic theory of why man exists. He defines men as savages. Men who are willing to kill at their own free pleasures. These are the reasons Hobbes calls for an absolute sovereign authority. He first defines the definition of man, and then states that man is embolden to seek peace. To do so man must come into agreements with other man. And to make a league of contract holders, there must be an absolute sovereign authority. Then all man must relinquish his rights to the sovereign, and adhere to his laws. These are the necessary ways to keep peace and preserve life.
Social conflict theory is the only one out of the vast number of criminology theories that deals directly with this problem. From out of it’s Marxist roots arose a theory which challenges the way in which today’s society views it’s legal system and the implications it has on it’s working class citizens. The nature and purpose of social conflict theories is to examine the social controls made by the ruling class and imposed on the rest of society.
There are different principles that makeup the crime control model. For example, guilt implied, legal controls minimal, system designed to aid police, and Crime fighting is key. However one fundamental principle that has been noted is that ‘the repression of criminal conduct is by far the most important function to be performed by the criminal processes’. (Packer, 1998, p. 4). This is very important, because it gives individuals a sense of safety. Without this claim the public trust within the criminal justice process would be very little. The general belief of the public is that those that are seen as a threat to society, as well as those that fails to conform to society norms and values should be separated from the rest of society, from individuals who choose to participate fully in society. Consequently, the crime control model pro...
The Criminal Justice System, a framework the British government set up to manage the treatment of culprits, has three principle objectives to accomplish social request, these are, (1) implementing criminal law, (2) keeping up peace in the general public, and (3) helping casualties. This may appear to be a well-considered framework, yet like some other association, there are blemishes, and one of the real imperfections is separation, and the predisposition that originates from segregation.
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).
(Tyler & Fagan, 2008). Legitimacy, therefore, reflects an important social value, distinct from self-interest, to which social authorities can appeal to gain public deference and cooperation. Previous research has implied that when authorities are viewed as legitimate, they [authorities] are better able to motivate people to comply with the law. In addition to motiving people to comply with the law, it also promotes the public’s cooperation with the police, willingness to collaborate with the police, help seeking behavior and crime reporting practices in the USA (Fagan & Tyler, 2004, 2005; Lind & Tyler, 1988; Murphy, Hinds, & Flemming, 2008; Reisig, Bratton, & Gertz, 2008). Enhancing legitimacy also advances the goals of policing, which includes crime control effectiveness (Skogan & Frydl, 2004). As Kochel and colleagues (2013) point out understanding how voluntary cooperation and compliance can be promoted is essential to effective policing in a democratic environment (pp. 896). Previous research has also suggested that in societies such as the United States of America, where laws and cultural norms protect liberty and privacy, legal authorities rely on the public’s cooperation and acquiescence (Tyler et al,
In many western democratic countries, maintaining public confidence in judicial administration is regarded as a critical issue across the whole of government, especially in the criminal justice system. The judiciary consists of many organizations, such as police, the courts, prison service and correlations, that is centrally concerned with controlling crime and protecting community by the exercise of power (Snowball & Jones, 2012). However, a system fails to command public trust may also fail to establish its legitimacy and function effectively (Hough & Roberts, 2004 cited in Jones et al., 2008). For witnesses or victims, they might not report crimes to polices if they feel that their report will not be acted upon or solved quickly. Accordingly,
The criminal justice system plays a crucial role in encouraging compliance and resolving non-compliance. The majority of individuals within society will obey the law, however, the law will enforce compliance and sanction violations on behalf of society where individuals do not comply. This is evident in the areas of police powers, the purposes of punishment, alternative methods to sentencing and the International Criminal Court. The police play a major role in ensuring people comply with the law and the powers afforded to them enable them to do so. Police are responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and for the maintenance of public order and they play a crucial role in the investigation of crime.
The three perspectives can be compare and contrasted by using the organization structure which is the social and physical structure. Social structure is defined as connection and interaction between employees each department in an organization whereas physical structure is the actual layout of organization (Lecture slides, week 4, 2014, structure, culture and design). The social structure concept is developed by Max Webber for the purpose of looking through the division of labor, hierarchy of authority and corporate rules and procedures (Hatch and Cunliffe, 2009, p.103). Therefore, from a modernist perspective, it is clear that, structure differentiates through characteristic such as a flat or tall organization structure. Tall organization structures are those with divisions of labor through having many vertical hierarchy levels from top to bottom with only a few departments. Tall organizations on the other hand are those structures with a big number of divisions while having less hierarchical levels (Lecture slides, week 4, 2014, structure, culture and design). Modernists believe ...
There simply is no alternate system of laws that can maintain the calm and peaceful environment for people of the world besides “law”. One can easily see the need for each and every nation to enforce its own set of rules. While all of the countries of the world have their own individuality – they all have one considerable feature which is a system of law. It has no significance what type of government is the command, the rules are all appropriate to the people in their community.