A General Theory of Crime
(Michael R. Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi)
Term Paper
Soc 203
Prof. Ortiz
12th December 2002
Crime is a serious issue in the United States and research shows that it is running rampant, and its effects are felt in all socioeconomic levels. Each economic class has its own crime rates and types of crime. It is a mistake to think of crime as a lower class problem. Crime is a problem for all people. The lower classes commit crime for survival while the upper class commits crime to supplement capital and maintain control.
Research also highlight that middle class crime is the most popular while lower class neighborhoods are deteriorating. This paper will focus on "A General Theory of Crime" using
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Crimes highlighted in the UCR are broken down into eight categories of offenses also known as part I offenses, i.e. as rape, murder, burglary, motor vehicle theft, aggravated assault, robbery, larceny-theft, and arson (Siegel, 2001, p.52). The UCR utilizes the hierarchy rule that implies that when multiple crimes are linked to one offender within the same reporting year, only the most serious crime is counted. The UCR also uses another category termed clearance rate, this category highlights number of cases solved based on arrests, usually some cases where there are suspects but cannot be cleared for one reason or another when suspect flees the country, commits suicide, dies, or is convicted in another jurisdiction.
APPLICATIONS OF THE THEORY
The assumptions and implications of labeling theory in criminology are not agreed upon by all of society, but it is essentially a conflict theory that can explain the process of harmful labeling at the community level. There are communities dominated mostly by African Americans, and communities dominated mostly by those not of African American descent. One of the assumptions in labeling theory is a focus upon the micro level of explanation, but the implications are important for the whole of society. Labeling simply means singling out individuals, tagging and segregating a particular individual or group. Many believe that labeling is biased to the lower
Akers & Sellers (2013) noted that there are various common theories that are pertinent to the study of crime as the extents of crime explanations range from the genetic/biological through to the economic and social perspective. Howitt (2012) divided these theories into four categories: macro-level or societal theories; locality or community level theories; group and socialisation influence theories; and individual level theories. This essay first describes the major theories of crime in the discussion section, which also discusses the impacts of crime at the individual and societal level, followed by conclusion based on the previous discussion.
UCR or known as the Uniform crime reports is an annual report published by the FBI in the DOJ, which is meant to estimate most of the major street crimes in the United States.The main purpose of the UCR is basically to collect as many crimes or reliable crimes that come up as crime statistics so it can be used in our law enforcement administration. The Ucr is a very helpful tool for the law. The system was created in 1929. It provided information for criminologists,sociologists, and even the media. The Ucr mostly concentrates on assaults and robberies. The NIBRS or the national incident based reporting system is the system that the government uses for gathering data about recent or past crimes. The system has a lot of purposes but one of the main purposes’ is to evaluate the crimes associated with any current culture of violence theories.
The Uniform Crime Report, which was developed in the 1930s, is commonly used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a record of crimes committed all across the United States. These crimes, which fall under two categories, Part I and Part II offenses, are reported by local police to the Federal Bureau of Investigation each year. Part I offenses are considered to be the more serious of crimes recognized by society. Such examples of this are homicide, forcible rape, robbery, arson, motor vehicle theft, etc. Part II offenses are those that are considered less serious, such as fraud, simple assault, drug abuse, gambling, stolen property, embezzlement, etc. Part I crimes can also be subdivided into what are known as violent crimes and
Crime and punishment in the 1800s affected gender and social classes in a variety of ways. During this time period, a rapid increase in crime rates occurred due to poverty and poorly educated citizens. In particular, the shortage of housing, crowded rural areas, and the lack of education created an environment familiar with crime(Wong, 325). Many individuals were grouped together by their surroundings and crimes they were committing.
Poverty fosters large crime rates. Where you find poverty, you often find crime. Urban areas are commonly known to be densely populated. High population along with the close proximity of businesses provide criminals with larger amounts of potential targets. For many impoverished people, the potential benefits of crime outweigh the risks of being caught. The pressing need for material goods, such as food, can steer people to commit crimes. Often threats and violence produce larger quantities of goods, which provokes people to commit even more violent acts. These acts are carried out primarily by people from poorer segments of the population and who are more likely to live in urban areas.
The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is one of the two ways crime rates are measured in the United States. These Crime Statistics are produced from data received from over 18,000 city,
In 1979 the theorists Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson developed a theory based on their research on the increase of crime after the Word War II. They created a theory based on how the increase of suitable targets, the absence of capable guardianship, and motivated offenders are related when producing crime. This theory argues that time and space is one of the main factors when committing crime. Moreover, the theory helps us understand how our everyday activities might lead to criminal activity. Individuals that live in hotspots have more probabilities of being a suitable target because of the increase of motivated offenders in the area. In addition, RAT help us observe the correlation between individuals who stayed at home and the decrease in crime. Moreover, routine activity theory, helps us to change our lifestyle on order to reduce the probabilities that may lead to criminal victimization. Finally, RAT can be use in research in order to test data collection in the areas there of high concentration of crime and offenders.
Crime and criminalization are dependent on social inequality Social inequality there are four major forms of inequality, class gender race and age, all of which influence crime. In looking at social classes and relationship to crime, studies have shown that citizens of the lower class are more likely to commit crimes of property and violence than upper-class citizens: who generally commit political and economic crimes. In 2007 the National Crime Victimization Survey showed that families with an income of $15000 or less had a greater chance of being victimized; recalling that lower classes commit a majority of those crimes. We can conclude that crime generally happens within classes.
Crime in this country is an everyday thing. Some people believe that crime is unnecessary. That people do it out of ignorance and that it really can be prevented. Honestly, since we live in a country where there is poverty, people living in the streets, or with people barely getting by, there will always be crime. Whether the crime is robbing food, money, or even hurting the people you love, your family. You will soon read about how being a criminal starts or even stops, where it begins, with whom it begins with and why crime seems to be the only way out sometimes for the poor.
Crime in Urban America has been around for many years, it is atrocious and there are many reasons why people commit these crimes. Crime is a big issue all around the world and while there is more production of drugs and loss of jobs, the crime rate will continue to increase day by day. While there are many motives that contribute to crime the most obvious causes would be poverty which causes the poor to adapt into a violent and aggressive behavior to which later becomes ingrained into them. The environment where a person grows up in which could consist of gangs that participate in illegal activities. Abuse of drugs or alcohol attribute to crime because people commit abominable crimes while under the influence. The anger that an individual
There is a plethora of theories that can be employed to explain crime but none is more applicable and relevant in my mind than the theory that A neighborhood or any form of A location is more than if not as much of A catalyst for crime in that area coupled with the deterioration of the educational system leads to A cycle of insurmountable poverty that in turn leads to crime. Crime is A direct product of poverty. Where there’s an impoverished population with almost nowhere to turn there’s a rise & reason for crime to be present in that area. Coming from A city where the education system has failed so many people such as Baltimore I know what it’s like to witness people who lack the knowledge & confidence in their city back themselves into A
There are many issues in society that can be tied into one another. Poverty alone is a major issue worldwide just as well as crime. So what happens when these two are tied in with each other? Is poverty the main reason for crime rates accelerating? According to Aristotle, poverty is the parent of crime. It seems to be so common in society for criminals to be the minority that it is rather surprising when they find out a criminal is not a part of the minority. Minorities often, but not always, include blacks and Mexicans but never usually the whites. It is, in fact, very stereotypical to categorize a black person to be a criminal. For example, as used by many, if you are walking down the street, and you see a black guy walking in your direction, your first instinct would be to hold on to your belongings a little tighter or even move to the opposite side of the road. Also, if you are walking in the low-income side of town, you are sure to be more aware of your surroundings. There are numerous amounts of issues that arise from poverty being tied to crime, and it can most definitely lead to racism and classism. Many distinctive aspects can be used to show why poverty is the motherhood of crime as Aristotle stated. In example, there are different age groups that are affected by poverty and misguided into getting involved with crimes and there are different crimes that are being committed by those individuals. With these two being such a big issue to the society, is there any
Crime exists everywhere in the world – in rural and urban areas in many countries, in the East and West, and among all types of people. This has led many government officials, especially those in urban areas, to focus largely on the reduction of crime among their respective constituencies and has led others to speculate on the factors that influence the amount of crime and how those factors can be controlled. Crime has been around since man and there is no doubt that it will continue to be around, until there is an existence of a perfect world. But for now, we
A contrasting view, also by Hollin, is the “conflict view”. This view states that crime is created due to there being different classes within society. The conflict may lead to crime as a result envy. For example, if one member of society owns three cars whilst another cannot afford one the poorer person may steal the other ones car in order to compete with the upper class and cause them pain. The “conflict view” can possibly be supported by Webster, C. (2007, p.194) who states that economic and social change can influence crime rates in a location. Webster also suggests that crime is often linked to “masculinity”, hence why perhaps we often
Crimes against people include assault, kidnapping, murder, and sexual attacks. Such crimes usually bring severe punishments. Crimes against property include arson, automobile theft, burglary, embezzlement, forgery, fraud, larceny, and vandalism. In most cases, these crimes carry lighter penalties than the crimes set against the person. Robbery is the crime most difficult to classify. The law considers robbery a crime against the person or against the property, according to the case. Robbery may involve simply stealing property from another person, but when a personal encounter occurs between the robber and his victim, it may include violence and bodily harm. This usually occurs during muggings or other strong-arm robberies.