There are many different crimes and crime types that individuals can be involved in. Theoretical explanations are an important way of helping criminologists and other individuals figure out what makes people commit crimes and become offenders in the first place. In this essay, two types of crime will be explained; these are anti-social behaviour and hate crime. The theoretical explanations that will help to explain these two crime types are Routine Activities Theory and Social Learning Theory. The theories will be compared and contrasted using the two crime types and the strengths and limitations of the theories will be mentioned. The two crime types that will be used to help find the strengths and limitations of the theoretical perspectives are anti-social behaviour and hate crime. The first crime type of anti-social behaviour. According to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, anti-social behaviour is “acting in a manner that caused or was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as the defendant” (Home Office 2004, pp.2). Anyone can become an offender or a victim of anti-social behaviour. Children and young adults can commit anti-social behaviour by being too loud in quiet streets or gathering together in a large group in public spaces, such as shopping centres or recreation centres. Some people are cautious of big groups of individuals as they think that they are up to no good. In a national survey (Millie, 2005 cited
The way individuals learn to interact with society as children tends to predict how they will interact with society and respond to its environments as adults. There are social theories that help the understanding of why individuals choose deviant behaviors and how they progress through life. Social process theories view criminal and deviant criminal behaviors as evolving mechanisms learned through societal interaction. Social development theories view deviant and criminal behaviors as part of a maturation process. Social theories are conclusions that have come about based on the response of individuals to
High crime rates are an ongoing issue through the United States, however the motivation and the cause of crime has yet to be entirely identified. Ronald Akers would say that criminality is a behavior that is learned based on what an individual sees and observes others doing. When an individual commits a crime, he or she is acting on impulse based on actions that they have seen others engage in. Initially during childhood, individuals learn actions and behavior by watching and listening to others, and out of impulse they mimic the behavior that is observed. Theorist Ronald Akers extended Sutherland’s differential association theory with a modern viewpoint known as the social learning theory. The social learning theory states that
This essay will outline how crime theories are able to assist in recognizing the causes of criminal activity, as well as demonstrating two criminological theories to two particular crimes. Overviews of trends, dimensions and victim/offenders characteristics of both crime groups will be specified. The two particular crimes that will be demonstrated throughout this essay are; Violent Crime (focusing on Assault) being linked with social learning theory and White Collar crime (focusing on terrorism) being linked to General Strain theory. In criminology, determining the motive of why people commit crimes is crucial. Over the years, many theories have been developed and they continue to be studied as criminologists pursue the best answers in eventually diminishing certain types of crime including assaults and terrorism, which will be focused on.
The concept of ‘crime’ is something that depends on time, place, and other influences. For this reason, researchers have been trying to get criminologists to rethink their definitions of ‘crime’ and consider the idea of ‘social harm’ which could help better explain the causes of human suffering and the definitions of ‘crime’ and ‘criminals’ and broaden the application of criminal justice. What this rethinking can do for criminologists broadly is give them a broader picture of human psychology as well as the range of harms that individuals, communities, or whole societies experience. In this context this can include crime in the sense of activities of individuals as well as government and institutions.
Hate crimes has become an increasing problem here in the united states ranging from racial hatred to gender discrimination but what are hate crimes? According to Dr. Jack McDevitt, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston Hate crimes are message crimes, Hate crimes are defined as crimes that are violent act against people, property, or organizations because of the group to which they belong or identify with. The coined term “hate crimes” was first used No matter how many different definitions there are for hate crimes but we all can agree that hate crimes are wrong and immoral. But within hate crimes they are many different types of hate crimes. One of the main reasons that people commit hate crimes would
As indicated, hate crimes can be explained through the use of theory and, one such theory is the symbolic interactionism theory. As criminologists were engaged in attempting to
Furthermore, this report broke down the types of criminal offences, hate related, that were committed into two categories, violent and non-violent (p. 7). The violent offences were, most common to least common, were: common assault, uttering threats, assault with a weapon or causing bodily harm, criminal harassment, aggravated assault, other assault, and other violent offences. For non-violent offense, from most common to least common, were: mischief in relation
People often wonder as to the reasons and motives for why criminals commit crimes. The social process theory provides an explanation for certain behaviors based upon environmental influences. The “Tent City, Arizona” video points to certain criminal behaviors being learned through social interaction.
A crime that has been performed because of sexual, racial, or other prejudice feelings is known as a hate crime. These wrongdoings often include violence and are one of the FBI’s Civil Rights programs highest priority to stop. They are at such an importance to control because the destruction these crimes cause families and communities is horrible. It is also believed that these crimes can plant a seed of terrorism in our country because of the intolerance and hatred preached by these criminals.
Hate crimes may be caused by the social structures as social pressures to commit the crime. As Chakraborti N (2010) suggests that people usually will suffer strain because of difficulties and a lack of consensus serves to stir debate among practitioners. People
Why do criminals commit crime? How to we learn to commit crime? These questions can be answered using social learning theory. "Social learning approach is the assumption that all human behavior is socially learned" (Thompson, Bynum 2013 115). The theory of differential association was developed by Edwin Sutherland to try and explain the development of criminal behavior. Essentially what this theory says is that deviant group behavior results from normative conflict. Normative conflict arises when multiple probable rules exist, specifying how one ought to behave in a given situation. Conflicts among norms affect deviant people of a variety of social groups. An individual is part of many social groups including friends, family, and school. Every group has its own set of social norms. Sometimes the norms between these groups can conflict with each other resulting in the possibility of deviant behavior
The simplest definition of what a hate crime is, is a crime committed against a victim due to his or her perceived role in a social group. Social groups can be defined by many factors such as sexual orientation, race, disability, religion, age, gender and many other factors. Within this essay I aim to evaluate the causes of hate crime and also to assess the impact of crime on victims and the strategies used for responding to hate crime. The types of hate crime I am going to be focusing on are race, sexual orientation and gender.
Routine activities theory is a theory that was created in the late 1970’s meant to explain crime and victimization. The routine activities theory is based off of the assumption made in previous theories such as deterrence and rational choice theory, which offenders rationally think out criminal behaviors before they engage in them. This assumption includes the theory that offenders calculate risks and consequences before committing a crime. The routine activities theory suggests that there are three elements that contribute to whether a crime will be committed or not. In order for a crime to be committed according to theory there must be: a motivated
Crime has existed in societies across the world for centuries, and is defined as any offense harmful against the public. However, the true nature of crime is more complex as there are many different motives and causes behind a criminal act, which cannot be contributed to a single factor (Barlow & Decker, 2010). Within the field of criminology, a number of theories exist that attempt to explain why some individuals commit crime, while others abstain from it. Some theories attribute crime to the specific environment; they believe that an individual commits crime when certain ecological conditions are met (Felson, 2001). Others argue that crime is caused by the individual themselves; that criminals are the result of unrestrained thoughts and low self-control (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 2001). This paper will analyze aspects of a real world scenario using both routine activity theory and low self-control theory, for the purpose of better understanding and evaluating certain criminal behavior.
Socialization is defined as the process through which people learn social norms, values, behavior, and skills through their interaction with significant others such as teachers, family, and friends. Furthermore, the social process theory connects socialization and crime by stating that criminality is a function of people’s interactions with various organizations, institutions, and processes in society. Socialization is key to understanding criminal behaviors. So, according to the social process theory, if someone is socialized with dysfunction and destructive relationships, tradition success may be unachievable and the person may see crime as their only alternative. In addition, anyone can develop antisocial behavior