Criminological Theory
Criminological Theory
Summary
Crime is willed by the offender hence society has devised punitive measures to discourage it. This position is advanced by the classical theory. It proposes that crime is squarely the fault of the individual who commits it. On the other hand other theories hold that crime may be a routine if one lacks suitable guardians and finds a target as advanced by the routine activity theory. This means that responsibility for crime is shared between the offender and those whose responsibility it is to guide him or her as well as the presentation of an ideal situation. Sociological theorists argue that crime is caused by the criminal’s environment, for instance, under the social disorganization theory. The inference here is that causality of crime is attributed on the perpetrators environment and social context as opposed to rational choice or genetics. Analysis of the theories will lead to coming up with the best solutions for mitigating all types of crimes at different levels
Theories
The Classical Theory argues that, people engage in crime to pursue their own self-interests and that crime is free willed. The theory was first proposed by Italian theorist Cesare Beccaria and English philosopher Jeremy Bentham.Crime takes place when the benefits to be derived are more than the cost to be paid for such an action. To control crime, people enter into social contract with the State which has enforced laws in order to prevent people from harming others. Thus, the social contract makes people to give up some of the freedom of doing things out of will and this reduces crime as wrong-doers are publicly punished with universally known, swift, severe, certain punishment that is proportionate to crime committed. This theory argues that the choice of engaging in crime is caused by rational consideration of the costs and benefits that is associated with crime. Crime will increase when people consider that their net benefits will increase. People engage in crime to maximize on their pleasure while minimizing pain; thus to prevent crime, official punishment should be swift, severe and certain. In the Biography Marco is makes a conscious choice to engage in crime because of the perceived gratification that would come out of it. He wants to have money and support himself and his family and avoid the poverty around him. In Bronx, he chooses to engage in crime because he thinks of his gratification and puts it before anyone else’s. He even justifies it by saying that ‘there would be no real victims’. He makes all these choices despite the fact that he was taught good moral values by his parents. This makes a strong argument for the role of rational choice and selfishness in crime causality.
The routine activity theory was developed by Cohen and Felson and it argues that for crime to occur; a motivated offender who lacks suitable guardians should find themselves with a suitable target. Lack of either may prevent crime from taking place. Routine activities together with technological advancement influences access, visibility and value of targets, thus determines the type, and quantity of illegal activities in the community. This routine activity theory proposes that the availability of the right situation along with the lack of proper guidance , where there is a motivated individual causes crime. Marco’s case supports this theory. His choice to get involved in crime while at Bronx is a direct result of the fact that he was there alone without people to support him and guide him to make the right choices. Furthermore, the situation provided motivation for him to engage in crime. In Bronx, the lack of churches and other social institutions and groups that would have possibly served as teachers or guides to Marco also contributed to his bad choices which actually led him to crime.
Sociological theories point out that the social environment is responsible for crime since all individuals are equal. Edwin Sunderland was one of the earlier proponents of this theory. Social disorganization is another theory which is one of the sociological theories points out that the informal social controls and breakdown presented in disorganized communities contribute to the emergence of crime. Such communities lack the collective capability and efficiency to fight disorder and crime. Juvenile delinquency is also attributed to social disorganization brought about by transiency, poverty, heterogeneity and rapid growth in population. Sampson and Wilson presented a Theory of Race, Crime and Urban Inequality that argues that the society cultural values tolerate crime although it does not approve it. In Marco’s case it is care that his environment had a lot to do with his decision engage in crime. Having come from a poor background, he was not able to live the kind of life that some of his school mates lived. As he was growing up the society communicated to him that money was the only thing that could make him happy and that could make him matter in society. The inequality he felt is what largely drove him into crime. He wanted to have what other people had. He wanted to be able to afford good things. In Bronx, his surroundings and the environment in which he lived was full of drugs and delinquents. This is what he saw everyday that he lived there and it influenced him to choose the life of crime. Therefore we see in Marco’s life a direct influence of one’s environment on his behaviour. The disturbed emotional environment after his wife left him also led him to return to crime. This shows that the influence of the environment does not just stop at the physical environment but also the kind of emotional environment that an individual is exposed to. The fact that Carlos a gangster was present in his neighborhood also played a big role in the recruitment of Marco to a life of serious crime. There was somebody to teach him the ways of serious crime such as drug trafficking. He took a leap from the small crimes he had earlier been committing and started engaging in the kind of crimes that attract long jail terms. It is this same Carlos who coaxes him into returning to a life of crime after his wife leaves him . We are therefore able to see a heavy influence of the environment, both physical, social and emotional in Marco’s choices to engage in crime.
Since the issue of causality of crime seems to be one that is multifaceted in that there are many possible causes for engaging in crime, it needs to be dealt with as such. Policy makers ought to make considerations for all the different causes of crimes or at least the major and then align there decisions to the same. For instance in the making of policies to control crime intervention needs to occur at the level of the environment. Communities need to be made places where crime is not encouraged. This means that drugs and other social ills such as crime, lack of education, weapons and seasoned criminals should be eliminated from societies as a way to deal with crimes in future. This creates environments that allow for healthy decisions. It is also necessary for policies to be put in place to provide institutions that provide support and guidance to youth so as to make sure that they are net lead into lives of crime and other bad choices. Different arms of society need to work together so as to make the fight against crime a joint effort , as causality factors span are very diverse.
