Explain the Strengths and Weaknesses of One or More Criminological Theories for Explaining Crime in Contemporary Britain

This particular work will consist of a critical theoretical review and a comparative analysis on two criminological theories. For the comparison I have chosen Marx’s theory of crime and Merton’s strain theory of deviance. My critical comparison analysis will emphasise the central concepts and arguments within both theories and how each theory explains crime. The analysis will then explore modern day studies in which have stemmed from these theories as well as explore the many similarities and differences between these two theories. Exploring the strengths and weaknesses in both approaches and concluding that although both theories are

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.

Criminology is the definition of our crime today, it defines many aspects and elements that challenge our common sense understanding of crime. The term ‘Criminology’ was first introduced into the English language in Garland 1988 by a criminologist Havelock Ellis (jones, 2013, pp. 2-3). However criminology was present in the 1860’s as Henry Maudsley a medic that worked in the prison systems to study insane and feeble - minded criminals (jones, 2013, pp. 2.) Criminology gives an understanding to those that seek justice although some victims may prevent crime or encourage it to gain the same significance. The reasoning of crime has changed considerably over the past 40 years, some say it was the change of the criminal justice system abolishing Capital punishment in 1965, or just the development in different legislations. Making punishment more psychological rather than physical punishment may have increased the velocity of the crime rate today as some may argue it is less harsh. Criminology is one to justify these changes to prevent criminal offences. Criminology is enforced to understand and analyse the extent of offences and how legislation is formed and put into practice. Development in crime in our

Sociological theories of crime contain a great deal of useful information in the understanding of criminal behavior. Sociological theories are very useful in the study of criminal behavior because unlike psychological and biological theories they are mostly macro level theories which attempt to explain rates of crime for a group or an area rather than explaining why an individual committed a crime. (Kubrin, 2012). There is however some micro level sociological theories of crime that attempts to explain the individual’s motivation for criminal behavior (Kubrin, 2012). Of the contemporary

One theory in criminology that attempts to explain crime is conflict theory. This theory says that crime is rooted in social conditions that favor those who

Theories of criminology were developed centuries ago so people can go in depth to seek what cause crime and why. In some cases these theories can eve go to the extent to prevent the crimes from happening again. Over the years more theories have been developed and the theories that have already been developed have been added to so they fit a larger spectrum. What cause a person to commit a crime and why would they commit a certain crime over another? These theories that have been developed give us an insight to the answer of these questions. These theories are used so Criminologist can have a better understanding of crime such as the Ferguson, Missouri riots that took place after the August of 2014.

Examine and assess the usefulness of one of the following theories of crime and deviance in terms of explaining crime and the social problems in modern society.

The aim of this essay is to compare, contrast and evaluate two sociological theories of crime causation and two psychological theories of crime causation.

Classical criminological theory was introduced in 1764. The tenants of this theory became the backbone for the development of all criminological theories to come. After over 200 years have passed since its conception, is classical criminological theory still relevant to today’s society in explaining the causes of crime? This essay will address this question by discussing the major components of classical criminological theory while highlighting its strengths and weaknesses. The essay will also examine a more modern criminological theory, Merton’s anomie/strain theory, and decipher major differences between the two theories. This essay will also explain the aspects of classical criminological theory that are applicable or outdated in their

The focal thought was that mankind can-and ought to be enhanced by empowering individuals with "attractive" characteristics to replicate and demoralizing or averting propagation among those with "undesirable" attributes. For individuals with criminal qualities, the best thing for every concerned wa to ensure they didn't have youngsters. As anyone might expect, Lombroso's most continuing legacy has been the inclination of dynamic speculation individuals following the time when to dismiss the thought that criminal conduct has a hereditary part, since that conviction appeared to lead specifically to jail, sanitization, or demise for those unfortunates conceived with the wrong qualities. In the 1970s an altogether different way to deal with comprehension the hereditary segment of criminal conduct emerged. It was enlivened in vast part by the advancement of sociobiology, an amalgamation of science and human science that tried to utilize bits of knowledge from hereditary qualities and transformative hypothesis to comprehend the conduct of people in

Biological criminology began many years ago along with the scientist Cesare Lombroso. He believed that criminals are born, not made. A “born criminal”, is a “defective individual”, whom has natural or instinctive tendencies towards low types of social life. (Biosocial and Psychological Theories, Feb. 11, 2014) Biological criminology believes criminals are genetically determined but face major shortcomings for being “simplistic, untestable, illogical, and often ideological” (Biosocial and Psychological Theories, Feb. 11, 2014). By the 1950’s, biological theories had almost been wiped out because of the lack of support. Today we see some form of biological criminology intertwined with sociological theory. We see the interaction of biological and environmental variables playing a role in a person’s behavior. The original nature argument of biological criminology was rewritten as not nature versus nurture, but as “nature via nurture”. (Biosocial and Psychological Theories, Feb. 11, 2014)

A theory is an explanation of why or how things are related to each other (Bohm & Vogel, 2011). Additionally, a theory is defined as a plausible or scientifically acceptable principle, or a body of principles, offered to explain phenomena (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2017). Furthermore, crime theories examine and attempt to identify relationships among humans, criminal behavior, and specific factors such as biological factors, psychological factors, sociological factors, and economic factors (Bohm & Vogel, 2011). Since we have defined a theory, let us further discuss how theories are created beginning with the components of a theory.

As time continues to progress so does science and from this has come out many criminological perspectives—including feminist, Marxist, and modern biosocial, but what is the purpose of each perspective? And more importantly, how do they benefit traditional criminological theories? Simply put the purpose of each perspective to take a look at something that traditional theories ignored while also explaining why it’s important we take a look at this ideal when considering why crime might occur.

People perceive that crime, primarily violent crimes, such as murder, is the most serious crime society faces in modern times. This has led to efforts by many research groups to attempt to find the cause of such criminal behavior. The focus of such research is biological issues with the belief that a biological basis in criminals does exist and that understanding biology is useful when attempting to predict the individuals who may be predisposed to criminal activity in the future. Research in the 1960s suggested that males with an extra Y chromosome

In our text, “Criminological Theory”, by Stephen G. Tibbetts and Craig Hemmens, many psychological and biological theories have numerous contradictions, which raises more compounding questions. For example, Lombroso’s “born criminal” (Tibbetts, Hemmens 2010, p. 7) theory; which describes certain physical features and abnormalities as being tell-tell signs when attempted to detect a future criminal. Knowing what we know today, there are in fact, no physical distinctions between individuals who commit crimes and individuals who don’t. Not all perspective theories are as