Crime And Its Effect On Society

Social control is techniques and strategies used for preventing deviant human behavior in any society. All levels of society such as family, school, bureaucratic and government has some form of social control. Examples of family social control include obeying your parents rules, doing your homework and chores. School includes standards they expect of students such as being on time, completing assignments and following school ground rules. The bureaucratic organization emphasizes the rules and procedures among their workers. The government expresses social control through law

Crime is legally defined as “acts which break or contravene the letter of the law” (Mooney et al., 2004, pg 6). There is, however, another definition of what crime is, “acts which break or contravene a set of formal or informal norms or codes” (Mooney et al., 2004,

A crime is conduct (or an act of omission) which, when it results in certain consequences, may lead to prosecution and punishment in the criminal court. Newburn (2012:8). Crime is usually defined as breaking the law. The government and authorities usually set out laws for its general public to follow and those who break the law will be faced with the consequences of being punished. The behavior codes introduced by the state are examples of codes that influence society. The criminal justice system forces the law and those that break it will be faced with its consequences. Crime is often set aside for the offences that cause harm or injury to the community, individuals or state, The institute of alcohol studies stated that according to the 2011/12 CSEW, there were 917,000 violent incidents where the victim believed the offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol, accounting for 47% of violent offences committed that year, this represents a rise of 3 percentage points on the previous year [2010/11].

Some People argue that ‘’criminal behaviour in violation of the criminal law is not a crime unless its prohibited by the criminal Law’’ (Sutherland & Cressey (1924/1970 in John Muncie pp4).The criminal Law is a set of specific rules that regard human behaviour which has been publicized by the political power, which applies equally to all the members of the population. No matter how moral, dangerous or damaging it is to the society it is not a crime unless the authorities, the government have made it a law. This is quite dangerous because offenders might commit crimes which are not likely to break the law and might not be classified as crime. This article by Taipan argues that ‘’only those who are criminals have been adjudicated as such by the courts’’ (Tappan, 1947, in John Muncie p.100).Some circumstances must be meet an act before it can be classified as crime these are

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.

This composition will look at crime and its different criminological interpretations. Crime is an umbrella word which covers a diverse range of issues and is dependant upon the theoretical stand point of the writer. Although the wordings of the explanations differ, the implications are consistent (Newburn, 2007. Doherty, 2005). Mclaughlin et al (2006) seems the most relevant for the purpose. They separate crime into three key constituent parts. These are harm, social agreement and the official societal reaction. There are different theoretical interpretations of crime. The product of culturally-bounded social interaction is crime; which is the violation of the social contract (Newburn, 2007. Young,

Crime is defined by Muncie (2006) as behaviour which is proscribed by criminal law, however, he similarly to Treadwell (2013) acknowledges that this in itself is not enough to depict its full scope. The perceptions and understandings of what people consider to be criminal are highly variable. The notion of crime is constantly changing and evolving, and is relative to both the time period but also the societies geographical location. This was comparably argued by Treadwell (2013) in his analysis of crime. What is considered to be criminal in one era may not be true of other eras of time. This understanding also varies between different societies and their geographical differences. There is no one broad understanding of what is considered criminal and what is not, or where this line should be drawn. Crime is a continuously contested concept across various spheres of the academic world (Muncie, 2006). There are legal perspectives but there are also social and political views of crime, with similarities and differences between

Crime as a social construction is the idea that reality is created in our minds. What we perceive something to be ends up to be what it is. Crime, often described as deviance is a labelled behaviour. If one does not view an action as deviant at the time then it is not deviant, this shows us how deviance is a relative concept. In terms of how different people perceive crime, depending on what religious or ethnic backgrounds one may come from, there is heavy variation between individuals. What is illegal or legal in one culture can be very different in another culture. It can

Society views many crimes , such as assault, rape, battery, robbery. Murder, and burglary as uncommon behavior. However some crimes, like people who committed a violation of the law against selling produce to people on the weekend is not uncommon at all. Not all uncommon acts are illegal. The society's criminal justice system punishes criminals / people who have committed an illegal acts that are interfering with the norm of society.

Imagine someone rich or powerful committing crimes without the fear of serving consequences. The crime may include murder, robbery, or stealing. Deviance is a label for an action or behavior that violates social norms. Social norms are rules or expectations which usually guide members of society. Deviance is nonconformity to these norms. Social norms can vary from culture to culture and is defined in numerous ways. Many researchers believe that deviance is a violation of social norms. Some believe deviant behavior is breaking the law or acting in a negative manner. Sociologists use specific words to classify deviant actions from a sociological perspective. There are crimes that are deviant actions and not deviant acts. For example; this

The effects of crime on victim can have a mixed feeling about making a victim impact statement. They may want to tell the judge or parole hearing officer how the crime affected their life and yet they may be anxious because you don't know how to prepare an impact statement or you don't want to bring back bad memories by describing how the crime has hurt you. The victim impact statements may include descriptions of:

Crime is a social construct because it is an idea that is established by a society to control the behaviors of the people within the society (“Radical Concept of Crime”). What is considered to be criminal varies within different area and cultures and even time. Things that were legal two hundred years ago are illegal now. For example, in the 18th and 19th century when slavery was allowed in America, there were a lot of people who saw nothing wrong with it because they had been socialized to accept and justify it. If you ask most Americans now about slavery, they would say that it was a tragedy or that they just cannot understand how it happened. This is because we are now being socialized to think of slavery as wrong. Even though many citizens

Crime is considered to be some breech or violation of behaviors which stand in opposition of rules or norms instituted by some governing body. Some actions are considered to be crimes throughout most societies in history; murder or physical abuse can serve as an example as an example. However, the majorities of things that are considered crimes are more of a subjective nature and vary widely in different societies. In many societies it is a crime to be an atheist or to be homosexual for example, while in other societies these items are tolerated and in some cases are considered social norms. Furthermore, when an individual is considered to have committed a crime, the punishments for these crimes also can vary widely depending on the culture, the social norms, the position of the authority figure, as well as a plethora of other factors. This paper will analyze some of the different forms of crime and they develop and how they are treated in different societies.

As the nineties began, the general theory of crime became the most prominent criminological theory ever proposed; furthermore, it is empirically recognized as the primary determinant in deviant and criminal behaviors. Known also as the self-control theory, the general theory of crime can most simply be defined as the absence or lack of self-control that an individual possesses, which in turn may lead them to commit unusual and or unlawful deeds. Authored by educator Michael R. Gottfredson and sociologist Travis Hirschi, A General Theory of Crime (1990) essentially “dumbed down” every theory of crime into two words, self-control. The widely accepted book holds that low self-control is the main reason that a person initiates all crimes, ranging from murder and rape to burglary and embezzlement. Gottfredson and Hirschi also highlighted, in A General Theory of Crime (1990), that low self-control correlates with personal impulsivity. This impulsive attitude leads individuals to become insensitive to deviant behaviors such as smoking, drinking, illicit sex, and gambling (p. 90). The extreme simplicity, yet accuracy, of Gottfredson’s and Hirschi’s general theory of crime (self-control theory), make it the most empirically supported theory of criminal conduct, as well as deviant acts.

Hollin, C. ( 1989, pp.4-8) explains that “crime cannot be explained solely by psychological theory” and therefore goes on to state three main approaches which attempts to explain what crime is. He also notes that there are of course more explanations than those given therefore again suggesting there is no one definition of ‘What is Crime’. One idea which Hollin states is the “consensus view”. This idea suggests that crime is defined differently in different societies due to what is the social norm. Crime is then defined within this view as an action which the majority disapprove of.