Explaining Crime Essay

An abundance of research has been conducted on how Robert Agnew’s strain theory can help better understand why crime is committed. However, limitations to this to theory have come to the surface. Some suggest that

Strain theories of criminal behaviour have been amongst the most important and influential in the field of criminology. Taking a societal approach, strain theories have sought to explain deficiencies in social structure that lead individuals to commit crime (Williams and McShane 2010). Strain theories operate under the premise that there is a societal consensus of values, beliefs, and goals with legitimate methods for achieving success. When individuals are denied access to legitimate methods for achieving success, the result is anomie or social strain. This often leads an individual to resort to deviant or criminal means to obtain the level of success that they are socialized to pursue. This is the basic premise of strain theory. This

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.

This essay will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of sociological explanations of crimes with links to Durkheim’s anomie theory, Merton’s strain theory and the Labelling theory which will draw upon different academics that will highlight these specific areas of research. In sociological terms, crime is a social concept as it does not exist as an autonomous entity, but it is socially constructed by people. It can be analysed that sociological explanations of crime attribute deviance to various aspects of the social environment. For example, crime is strongly related to modern city life where this type of social environment creates cultural enclaves which results in producing criminal or deviant behaviour (Carrabine et al, 2014).

has been involved in various crimes, such as purse snatching, breaking and entering, and drug

In the article Three Strikes Burglar a Step Closer to Release a man named Dale Curtis Gaines has served 15 years in prison “after processing stolen computer equipment” (Payne, 2013). Due to Proposition 36, an amendment that makes criminals eligible to be released if their third crime was neither violent nor serious, Gaines is seeking release and prosecutors agreed on his qualification. Gaines must be able to prove that he is not a danger to society in order to be released. If released Gaines would be the second “three-striker” (Payne, 2013) freed.

The nine charges relate to 14 separate fires lit between 3rd of February 2014 and 2nd of January 2015 in the Tatura and Mooroopna area. Ms Thumpston lit each fire on the side of the road using matches or a lighter to ignite dry vegetation. The fires were small and were extinguished by local CFA units, although there was a substantial risk that any of these fires could of spread and caused serious damage. The majority of the fires where lit in the vicinity of a farm whose manages son was involved in a disagreement with the accused in 2013, though it is not believed that all accounts of arson were the motivation. Ms Thumpston was not forthcoming with police when interviewed by police even though she was observed to be in the vicinity of the fires and a tracking device was installed and placed her vehicle in the area of other fires. On the 2nd of January 2015 the accused were taken into custody for 88 days, since then there were no further fires. The accused had a difficult life, her parents were tragically killed at the age of two and as a result she was placed into a foster care system and had issues with her stepmother. At the age of 13 she was sexually assaulted by her stepbrother. Ms Thumpston completed year 8 and 9 but was considered illiterate and at the age of 16 you ran away and lived on a farm for three years. Her husband drowned and her two children were taken away into

Jonathan Sanders (39) was a horse trainer. Due to the 95 degree weather he like to exercise his horses at night. A little before 10:00pm on July 8th, 2015 he was seen chatting with a friend of his who happened to be white. After they disbursed Officer Kevin Herrington pulled over the friend at one of the towns two gas stations. As Sanders passed the scene he yelled out, “Why don’t you leave that man alone?” as he continued to ride horse. Sanders no had no current warrants, but was no stranger to law enforcement. He was currently out on bond from on a cocaine possession charge from an April arrest. He also had been already been convicted on charges of selling cocaine in 2013. Sanders' arrest record hows arrests other infractions as well.

Colin Ross is known widely for the “Gun Alley Murder”, which is the story or a 12 year old getting raped and left for dead. Before the “Gun Alley Murder” even happened, Ross was charged and imprisoned for using threatening words and carrying a firearm without permission. In April of 1921, Ross and his brothers bought a wine shop and renamed it “The Australian Wine Saloon”. In his older years, Ross was charged with multiple criminal actions throughout the years of owning the saloon, one of the many chargers was for robbery. Ross told Frank Walsh to rob a customer and the proceeds would be shared between them, the customer was shot and could not tell anything to police. Walsh was sentenced to six months hard labor and Ross was acquitted of his charges.

The defendant was release to integrity house on 4/11/2017 on an inmate status. Since then, two offences on April 18, 2017 appear on his municipal record, but not on his arrest history. Integrity House was contacted via email requesting an update on the defendant's status. Ebone Reliford, William Terpak's primary counselor, replay that since William came into the program he has been compliant with the program rules and regulations thus

This case is surrounding a home invasion that took place on July 26, 2010. The defendant referred to as Mr. G. –E. (A.), who at the time was 17 years of age. He was unemployed, not attending school, and had a youth record leading up to the incident. Mr.G. –E. (A.), who will now be referred to as ‘Mr.G’ for clarity purposes, entered the apartment of Mr. Savan Bena in Toronto, Ontario. A mutual friend of Mr. Bena and Mr. G let Mr.G,

Prior to the incident, Lamb had committed a number of different offences which had commenced when he was sixteen years of age. A vast majority of these offences were for theft of stolen goods and had been initiated in 1996 and 1997. Lamb appeared in the Children’s Court Three in which he was fined and placed on probation on the occasion. In later years, Lamb convicted a number of armed robberies and other crimes; in sight had resulted in 124 charges and 12 court appearances.

Richard’s first arrest, the beginning to his extensive criminal history, occurred at age 13 for trespassing and was followed by numerous other arrests over the better half of a decade. When he was 21 years old, Richard was found guilty of forging a fellow co-worker’s

Mentally based criminologists clarify criminal conduct as the outcome of individual components, for example, negative early youth encounters, and lacking socialization, which results in criminal deduction designs and/or fragmented subjective improvement.

From the beginning of time there have always been crimes against persons. People went by the saying “An eye for an eye”. You stole from your neighbor, they stole from you. You hurt someone, they hurt you. It wasn’t until the 1940’s people started taking a closer look into these crimes against person, which they later called victimology. This paper will look into victimology and their theories as we go back into the past and how victimology is now.