I. What is a theory?
1. Criminology is the scientific study of crime and the causes of criminal behavior.
a. Correlation and Cause: Correlation is the relationship between two variables that tend to move in the same direction. Causation is the relationship in which a change in one variable creates a recognizable change in another variable. For example, many criminals are drug abusers but drug abuse does not cause crime because not everyone who abuses drugs is a criminal.
b. The Role of Theory: Criminologists have uncovered information concerning a different and more applicable inquiry.
II. The Scientific Method
1. Theory is an explanation of a happening or circumstance that is based on observation, experimentation, and reasoning.
2. A
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2. Research shows that even moderate use of alcohol or drugs increases the chances that a schizophrenic will behave violently.
IX. Psychology and Crime
1. Social psychology is the study of how individual behavior is influenced by the behavior of groups in social situations.
b. Bad Neighborhoods and Other Economic Disadvantages: Sociology is the study of the development and functioning of groups of people who live together within a society.
X. Social Disorganization Theory
1. High levels of high school dropouts.
2. Chronic unemployment.
3. Deteriorating buildings and other infrastructures.
4. Concentrations of single-parent families.
XI. Strain Theory
1. Strain theory is the assumption that crime is the result of frustration felt by individuals who cannot reach their financial and personal goals through legitimate means.
2. An anomie is a condition in which the individual feels a disconnect from society due to the breakdown or absence of social norms.
XII. Social conflict theories
1. Social conflict theories are theories that views criminal behavior as the result of class conflict.
c. Life lessons and Criminal Behavior: Surveys that ask people about their criminal behavior have shown that the criminal instinct is pervasive in middle and upper class communities, even if it is expressed differently.
XIII. The abandoned car experiment
1. Social process theories are theories that considers criminal behavior to be the predictable result of a person’s
Schmalleger, F. (2012). Criminolgy today: An interactive introduction. (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
There are several differences between correlation and causation. Correlation is if an event happens and is not related to another event and it is a coincidence. This would be if an event happened but it was not connected to another. An example of this would be catching a foul ball at a baseball game. It would be a correlation because you just happened to be in that place where the ball was hit and were able to catch it. Causation on the other hand is a cause and effect. One thing happens because another thing previously happened. An example of this would be if a person drank caffeine late at night, then they would be up all night. Another example of this would be if someone slipped on ice coming out of class.
Strain theory and New Deviancy Theory (NDT) are mirror images of those above. Strain theory understands human nature to be socially constructed, where, committing a crime is produced by society not from individual instincts, favouring a deterministic perspective but also recognising that individuals rationalise from inside their determined position to achieve their aspirations. However, methods of innovation, ritualism, retreatism, or rebellion are not included under human rationality. Combining voluntaristic and determinacy is a main feature in NDT, although, they argue that while individuals are born free, they lose their agency in societal frameworks that manage behaviour; the state. The problem with this is that it ignores class conflict and therefore denies the basic causes of crime.
Theories are a series of interconnected proposals. Theories are an effort to describe, explain, predict, and finally control a period of events. We are able to base our experiments and select the contenders for the experiments off of our theories. We are able to test our theories by how well the cumulated data describes, relates to and predicts reality. Theories act as patterns for interpreting specific data that we may refer back to. These patterns ensure we stay on topic and are able to obtain the proper results needed to verify our theories.
This paper summarizes four theories of criminology. Rational choice theory states that criminals act based on a thought process that weighs the pros and cons of criminality. Criminologists who believe in this theory feel that most criminals are people capable of having rational thoughts before committing a crime. Trait theory is the view of criminology that suggests criminality is a product of abnormal biological or psychological traits. Criminologists who believe in this theory feel that criminals choose to commit crime because of a brain anomaly or chemical imbalance. Social structure theory is “a view that disadvantaged economic class position is a primary cause of crime” (Seigel 139). Those who follow this theory often believe social forces can have a great effect on whether or not a person commits a crime. An example would be those who are poor are more being more prone to commit crime. Social process theory is a view that criminality depends on how a person interacts with different organizations and institutions and processes in society. For example, a family would be considered
Another category of the Cultural Conflict Theory is the “delinquency and drift”. This category describes the whys and how delinquents and or criminals commit law breaking acts and their justification for the apparent lack of guilt for committing those crimes. In
Through out the years Criminologists has conducted a great amount of research and through that research Criminologist has developed different theories in order to better understand and explain criminal behavior. Theories try to help make sense out of many observations that are conducted presenting the facts of the principal that connects and explains the theories. If good theory has been developed; then it becomes very valuable to Criminologist, because it shows the knowledge that is beyond the facts that has been presented; which will show Criminologist how to predict how others might behave (Andrews, D and
There are many different aspects of criminal justice policy. One in particular is the different theories of crime and how they affect the criminal justice system. The Classical School of criminology is a theory about evolving from a capital punishment type of view to more humane ways of punishing people. Positivist criminology is maintaining the control of human behavior and criminal behavior. They did this through three different categories of Biological studies, which are five methodologies of crime that were mainly focused on biological theories, Psychological theories, which contains four separate theories, and the Sociological theories, which also includes four different methods of explaining why crime exists. The last theory is
Charles Manson is well known around the world for the infamous murders he orchestrated throughout the 1960’s. When hearing the name “Manson,” two words that immediately come to mind are crazy and murders. I believe Manson is insane, and should be in jail for life. Although he did not personally commit murders, he had other people that trusted him, do it for him. Manson manipulated people all around him and could get people to murder whenever he asked them to.
Criminology has evolved over history into becoming a discipline all its own, along the way it grew and developed from a multiple sources of disciplines to become an integration of various theories. Reasons that seek to explain crime and deviant behaviors has mirrored the time in which research was being conducted and as time continues to change it is to be expected more theories will arise to incorporate past theories to become ever more inclusive. It is important to understand this development from the formulation of theories, the evolution of, the determining factors in testing, particular process such as social learning that are upheld as strong empirically sound theories in order for scholars to continue to advance further studies. But
The strain theory, developed by Robert K. Merton in 1957 is not only a criminology theory but it is a sociology theory as well stating that individuals do indulge in crimes because the society exerts pressure and puts a lot of strain on them while they are on the process of achieving socially acceptable goals. A good example of this socially acceptable goal is the American Dream whereas examples of crimes committed under strain theory include
Additionally, epistemological assumptions pertain to how knowledge is obtained through investigating origins, structure, methods, and the validity of knowledge (Bohm & Vogel, 2011). Consequently, crime theories are based on the assumption that the world can be understood through science, that is, the human capacity to observe and to reason (Bohm & Vogel, 2011, p. 3). The last assumptions are metaphysical assumptions, which addresses the question of what is nature of reality (Bohm & Vogel, 2011). Furthermore, present in all criminology theory are two ontological assumptions, and the first assumption addresses whether human behavior is free willed or determined (Bohm & Vogel, 2011). Subsequently, the next assumption considers the inherent condition of human beings, or the condition of human beings in a hypothetical state of nature (Bohm & Vogel,
The social process theory suggests that criminals are raised in an environment that forms them to make unlawful decisions. People are influenced by what they are taught and their surroundings such as where they were raised, their guardians, and people they associated with. Individuals actions and thought process is going to be based off of what their first instinct is and their first instinct is going to be what they know best. For example, if a boy is raised in a home where their family shows their anger by reacting physically, then that child will be more likely the one that is getting in fights at school than the child who grew up in a home where fighting was never present. No one is born with the mind be
Criminology is the scientific study of crime and criminals. Criminological theories have provided empirical insight into factors that explain crime. However, as research developed they noticed that not just one theory can adequately explain crime and delinquency. In the early stages of research, they found the neoclassical theory that evolved from the classical school theory that made the assumption of “free will,” and that humans acted on rational choice. It was later developed that biological theories rejected the idea of “free will” and believed that human behavior could be due to genetics or human development starting at a young age. I will be going into better detail about the theories and their underlying assumptions, and how both theories play a significant role into our current knowledge of crime today.
Strain theory is an occurrence within society where pressure to the juvenile to commit crimes, the juvenile is compelled remains in a specific settings like family and school. Therefore if said juvenile is experiencing pain or aversive it is hard for them to escape the situation. So to alleviate this discomfort they turn to crime, this mainly seen within the subculture of gangs (Agnew, 2012).