Social Structure Theory

In Psychology, there are perspectives and approaches that are looked into when trying to understand how the intricate human mind works. These perspectives are respectfully derived from different ideas and time periods, exemplifying different ways of thinking. These perspectives include: sociocultural, biopsychological, psychodynamic, behaviorism, cognitive, and humanism. These approaches are critically essential in solving something as serious as murder, or simply even why someone acts the way they do. There are many instances where there will be shocking news stories about people committing murders—people that are so unexpected to do such harm. However, when the six

The social construction theory is based on the reality that the society has created that may seem obvious to a person who agrees to it. In other words, our life experiences and interaction towards others is the way we create our reality through social interaction. This means that we were not born with this sense of knowledge, but was taught through social interaction and our life experiences (Orem 2001a, 7). Social construction is based on the categories of difference which are race, gender, and social class (Ore, 2011a: 8).

On December 6th, 2012, the state of Washington legalized the use and possession of marijuana by adults over the age of 21. There were already laws in place to provide for the medical use of marijuana before this date, therefore this new initiative (Initiative 502) pertained mainly to recreational marijuana users. According to a statement issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office the day prior to the law going into effect, “The Department of Justice is reviewing the legalization initiatives recently passed in Colorado and Washington State. The Department's responsibility to enforce the Controlled Substances Act remains unchanged.

Criminology and the criminal justice system have framed a “taken-for-granted, common-sense” understanding of ‘crime’ and the ‘criminal’ (Tierney, 2010). ‘Crime’ is commonly understood as a violation of the criminal law; originating from religion and the sin of God and then moving towards Classicalism. Classicalism rests on the assumption of free will and recognises rational choice of the individual. It influences much of our system of justice today; especially aspects of due process. It argues that criminality is therefore part of nature; and order is maintained through law and punishments. We can see this through Beccaria’s approach of certainty, celerity and severity (Beccaria, cited in Newburn, 2013, pp116). Positivism, associated with theorists such as Lombroso, offered more of a scientific approach in identifying the causes of crime and could recognise impaired ability such as mental illness. It argues that ‘crime’ is

Films Media Group (2007). Lockdown: Tent City [Video file]. Retrieved from Films on Demand website: http://digital.films.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?aid=7967&xtid=40796

In this paper I will examine the social structure theory, along with its definition and how the different types of theories make up the social structure theory. I will also attempt to discuss the strain, culture conflict, and social disorganization theory all of which make up the social conflict theory. I also wish to discuss the video “Tent City, Arizona” and answer the following questions, “How does the video you selected support a social structure theory? What is the primary subject or content of the video? What social issues are raised in the video? What major principles of sociological theory are addressed in the video? What might be some possible ramifications for social policy change?”

The novel Unfair: the new science of criminal injustice, is a collection of short pieces addressing different situations in the criminal justice world where psychology plays a major role in determining outcomes. Chapter 6, "The Corruption of Memory”, addresses the problems with the process and using of an eyewitness testimony to convict someone (108-132). John Jerome White’s real-life example is used to demonstrate the problems with eyewitness testimony and how mistakes made during the process can ruin someone’s life. In the case of John Jerome White, he was misidentified as the man who raped and robbed a 74 year old women, by the victim herself (6 weeks later), which resulted in him spending 28 years in prison. To make it worse the actual guilty man, James Edward Parham, was in the lineup one person away from Mr. White and he was not caught again until he raped another victim. Many errors were made in how the case was handled and although they were not intentional they still magnify problems in the justice system and how we view our memories. From immediately after the crime to the point a suspect is put behind bars, the questioning, interrogation techniques, line up methods, and cross examinations can all effect the victims and witness’s recollection of events. Human memories are thought to be strong but with all the information that needs to be processed they are not as reliable as thought. However, this is not accounted for in the criminal justice system and it can greatly affect the outcomes of cases like John Jerome White’s. The point of the criminal justice system is to provide justice like it says in its name and although it happens more times than not, if there are possibilities of not providing justice they need to be fixed. Chapter 6, "The Corruption of Memory”, looks at what went wrong in order to wrongly convict an innocent man which ended up costing him half his life and how psychological principles could help prevent this from happening again.

Worldwide, big-name cases have been shown to have similar fallacies in their police investigations, and despite this, institutes have yet to adequately correct these mistakes. One particularly prominent example of such a case is the proceedings of Karla Homolka and her husband Paul Bernardo. Two of Canada’s most notorious serial killers, the pair are infamous for the murder of three girls: Tammy Lynn Homolka, Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy, along with the rape of a woman anonymously referred to as “Jane Doe”. There were also over a dozen more rapes performed by Bernardo alone, when he was known as the 'Scarborough Rapist'. Throughout the course of their heinous acts, there were times in which, were the police working together effectively, the two would have been caught much earlier than they were.

There are many theories that try to explain why crime is committed. There's the strain theory, the Social disorganization theory, the Different association theory and many others. But the one that I think best explains why crime is committed is the social bond theory. It is very straightforward and it explains what leads to a crime. The social bond theory states that a person's view toward a society determines if a person will be a criminal or not. This theory has some downsides to it but I will try to defend it against some theories. I will also try to defend this theory against some criticism.

Even though America’s prisons are illustrated as a credible approach for individuals and institutions to bring justice, it has done a poor job to properly convict people for criminal acts and instances of violence, and to provide victim’s with satisfaction for due justice. Karakatsanis further evaluates upon the process of convictions in America. For instance, he examines the techniques that help support a court verdict, when he writes, “For many decades, American courts have allowed criminal convictions based on policing and forensic techniques that lack a scientific basis. Even after these methods were formally exposed as unscientific by the most prestigious collection of American scientists, police, prosecutors, and courts continued to use them every day nonetheless” (Karakatsanis (265). In accordance with Karakatsanis, the process for criminal convictions are largely flawed. In particular, eyewitness testimonies from police and evidence from forensic lack a significant scientific groundwork, and such approaches have been heavily scrutinized and criticized by the scientific community. Even with such criticism, there have been a lack of an institutional reform to rectify these imperfections. Subsequently, the methods for criminal convictions are often unreliable. Subsequently, plausible consequence may include how criminal suspects may be wrongful convicted of a crime that they were never involved in, and the victim’s or the victim’s family’s desire for justice may never

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.

There are several theories created by many thinkers of our time that believes that societal, financial, and social arrangements and/or structures as the main cause of criminal behavior. In society, depending on where you are, there are usually some unwritten norms that are expected to be followed. It can be in a business corporation, out in the streets, at home. Usually there will be two sets of norms that is expected to be followed that causes an individual to feel torn. However, the feeling of being torn is the inner battle of doing the right thing, conscience or keeping yourself alive.

The social structure theory deliberates delinquency as a gathering of the person’s dealings with numerous groups, organizations, and process in the society. Any person irrespective of their prominence in life is likely to become delinquents if they continue with negative social affiliations. Every aspect of the society, social and economic must be viewed using the social structure theories to find the cause of crime and deviance. The social structure theories consist of four types which include social disorganization theory, anomie theory, differential association theory, and labeling theory. Several theories offer different answers to this delinquent of influential the key features of a social group.

Raising epistemological questions about the ideological foundations of criminology has been the objective of critical criminologists. Critical studies are extremely important in this respect as they 'keep us all on our toes with regard to our own

Power and politics have always been around but seldom openly discussed. Power is learned at an early age through family and schools. Ordinary people such as scholars hesitate to talk about power. It is often equated with force brutality, unethical behavior, manipulation, connivance, and subjugation.