Crime And The Punishments For Criminal Offences

The OED defines crime as: An act punishable by law, as being forbidden by statue or injuries to the public welfare… An evil or injuries act; an offence, sin; esp. of a grave chapter.

Crime is a set of rules and statutes that regulates the behaviours of a society, it is a behaviour or action that will put members of the public at risk of harm in one way or another be it a robbery or a violent attack. However, deviance is not necessarily breaking the law but it is in violation of the social norms. (Cliff Notes. 2009) But what is classed as criminal or deviant is dependent on certain factors. Crime, or what is perceived as criminal changes over time; what is considered a criminal act now may not have been seen as such in previous years, for example, recreational drugs such as cocaine were not illegal in the late nineteenth century but holds a hefty punishment for possession now. What is deemed to be

The judicial system incarcerate based on crimes leading to punishment within the penal system. Although crime has reduced since 1990, the population in these facilities have risen immensely. The intervention of these negative behaviors have lead to disparities within the prison complex. The contribution to prevent and dismay the activity leading to convictions and crime should be conquered through adequate programs. The goal of prevention should be to educate, acknowledge and be an activist. My thesis is do these crimes committed outweigh or justify, their degrading treatment in prison and how does mass incarceration affect us as a society?

A crime is an act or omission committed against the community at large that is punishable by the law.

Criminology is a complex subject chock-full of theories that attempt to explain crime and criminal behavior. Each base theory has several branches of theory which expand upon and compliment their predecessors. Even some of the sub-theories have branches of theories.

Crime is defined as:An act committed in violation of a law forbidding or commanding it and for which punishment is imposed upon convictionUnlawful activityA serious offence, especially in violation of moralityCauses of CrimeFirstly, let us explore crime and it's causes.

Crime - an action or omission which constitutes an offence and is punishable by law.

The obvious definition of crime is the legal definition of an act which breaks the law. However, the Oxford English Dictionary extends this to include an act which is ‘injurious to the public welfare … An evil or injurious act; an offence, sin; esp. of a grave character' (Mooney et

Criminology targets why individuals commit crimes and why they behave in certain situations. By understanding why a person commits a crime, you can develop ways to control crime or change the criminal to a certain extent. There are many theories in criminology. Some characterize crime to the individual. They believe that an individual weighs the pros and cons and makes a choice whether or not to act criminally. Others believe it is the community’s responsibility to make sure that citizens do not commit crime by offering them a safe place to live in, in society. Some argue that some individuals have specific traits that will determine how they will react when put in certain negative conditions. Overall, the determination of a criminal can be done through criminal profiling.

Criminologists hold various roles. For example, they examine the causes for and origins of crime. To fulfill this role, criminologists try to explain criminal behavior by studying factors that may have contributed to the practice of criminal behavior. Explanations are “drawn from all of the social and behavioral sciences, including biology, psychology, anthropology, economics, and sociology” (Wellford, 2009, p. 13). Peer-reviewed scholarly articles stemming from the disciplines mentioned above may thus build the basis and prove highly valuable for criminologists who focus on the etiology of crime.

The biological theories are essential to the criminal justice profession so that they won't assume that a person's genetic characteristics cause a person to commit a crime. However, there are born criminals and “these types of criminals are the most dangerous, and can be identified through his or her stigmata or identifying characteristics” (Akers, Sellers, See, & Kieser, 2013, p. 10). Biological theories are the bases for severe criminal behavior mostly found among people who are born with an innate impulse to commit a

In the past, theories of the biological aspects of criminal behavior were marked by a general lack of knowledge regarding the human brain and by serious methodological shortcomings (see, e.g., Glueck and Glueck, 1956; Goddard, 1921; Hooten, 1939; Jacobs et al., 1965; Lombroso, 1918; Sheldon, 1949). Indeed, "biological criminology" was eventually discredited because its findings were largely unscientific, simplistic, and unicausal. Biological fac­tors were globally rejected due to the inability of theorists to posit a rational explanation for the development of criminal behavior.

First, psychological theory suggests that a person’s environment and past can influence their ability and desire to commit crime while biological theory suggest a person’s DNA makeup could influence their ability to commit crime. “Biological theories within the field of criminology attempt to explain behaviors contrary to societal expectations through examination of

The search for causes of crime forms the basis of most criminological studies. There are numerous explanations for crime: psychological, evolutionary, genetical,

A crime is the breaking of certain rules laid out by a society i.e. the Government. Crime is said to be ‘activities that break the law and are subject to official punishment (Holborn and Haralambos, 2000, pg. 330)