The Theories And Theories Of Crime

Most of the time, men try to justify female offenders just because they are women. One thing that should never be assumed is that everyone behaves like they do because of outside influences. Sometimes people are perfectly healthy (mentally, emotionally, and physically), but they simply make bad choices. In the end, chivalry is used to ‘protect’ those women; in other words, chivalry tends to be used to justify their actions by presenting them as victims. In most occasions, women use this stereotyping to their advantage because they know that if they do their sentencing will more likely be reduced.

Women who commit sex offenses was largely overlooked by the public, until recently (Cain & Anderson, 2016, p. 5). It is normal for one to automatically associate men with sex crimes. Yet past research as well as previous criminal cases has proven that women commit sex crimes, just as men do. However, women and men are not treated the same by society or the judicial system, nor do they have the same impacts on their victims. Although it is very rare instances when women commit sexual offenses, more research and advancements made towards the specific topic of female sex offenders. It is also clear that majority of the research on sex offenders fails to even consider the female sex offender (Carpenter, 2013, p. 162).

Throughout the ages, media and society have been concerned over children. Instead of youth as folk devils, children nowadays serve as the victims of folk devils (Critcher, 2002, p.532). With these trigger events popping up, stereotypes are gradually formed. In recent British history, Paedophile had become one of the most terrifying folk-devils (Jenkins, 1992, p.99). Paedophile behaviour is a moral panic one legal case and the panic is generally fuelled by the sensationalism of media in

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.

Many etiological theories exist attempting to explain the root causes of sexual offending. Although few provide substantial evidence and no definitive conclusions have been made, the social learning theory has been proposed to account for sex offending behaviors. Specifically, the social learning theory, or victim-to-victimizer theory, suggests sexually abused children learn these behaviors and are much more likely to perpetrate abuse when they’re older (Seto & Lalumiere, 2010). The following studies have provided substantial support for the social learning etiology. Through the use of a meta-analysis, Seto and Lalumiere (2010) concluded that sexual offending is tied to prior sexual abuse. Burton, Miller, and Shill (2002) discovered

Sexual abuse is a heinous act that causes extreme suffering for a victim while providing pleasure for a perpetrator. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, approximately 1 in 6 boys and 1 in 4 girls are abused sexually before the age of 18 (n.d.). The question of why an individual would commit such a heinous act has various answers, almost all of which depend on the background of the individual. A common speculation is that abusers themselves were once abused by someone else. This idea branches off of the Positivist Theory of crime. The theory basically states that prior influences or experiences in life will ultimately decide how people will act in the future (C. Bartol & A. Bartol, 2017). Their history of abuse influenced them to become abusers. While this may be one viable explanation to this behavior, there are many other answers that are just as feasible in explaining this behavior. This includes the topic of serious mental illnesses and other behavioral disorders. Regardless of background influences, the true intent of the abusive individuals may be almost impossible to draw out, especially since most guilty individuals want to escape from the consequences associated with the crime that they commit (Inbau, Reid, Buckley, & Jayne, 2013). Unless a perpetrator admits to committing the crime, piecing the story together and understanding the influences that played a role in the actions committed by them is more feasible in terms of learning the truth. Whatever the

Victims of sexual assault suffer from a wide variety of mental and emotional issues throughout their lives as a result of the experience. Results can range from depression, anger, feelings of loneliness, and difficulty when trying to formulate relationships of trust (Hyde 45). Victims experience a wide variety of psychological issues as a result of sexual crimes, which they will have to carry with them throughout their entire lives. Also, “Psychological problems can start later in life with changes in behavior- vague fears, feeling unprotected and helpless, nightmares, bedwetting, sleeping problems, fear to loss parents approval/love, need to please others, poor self esteem, anger, depression, withdrawal from activities, daydreaming, difficulty concentrating, behavior problems” (Hyde 47).

Within society, there is an engrained belief of what makes a person a legitimate victim and often their status as a ‘victim’ is questioned. This is especially true if the victim does not fit the typical stereotype of who is considered to be a legitimate victim. This is most widely illustrated in cases involving male victims of sexual assault.

A Hanson and Morton-Bourgon study found that over a 15 year time period, the rate for recidivism was a terrifying 35% for child molesters of boy victims and 24% for rapists. It is vital to consider that there is an abundance of victims whose trauma prohibits them from coming forward therefore a thoroughly accurate representation of repeat offences is severely limited. Brent Peter Cowan is a prime example of a sex offender, whose minimal

There has been much debate about why people commit sexual crimes. As far as to what causes people to become sex offenders, there is no real answer to this question. No single factor can fully interpret why someone commits a sexual offense, though it is believed that some combination of factors may combine to increase sexual deviancy dramatically. These factors include biological, circumstantial, environmental, and sociocultural aspects of the person, describing the development of abnormal sexual expression through the same mechanisms by which conventional sexuality is also learned (Terry and Tallon). There are a number of sub-theories which have been designed to explain the onset of sexual deviancy. However, because no one can pinpoint the dynamics of sexual deviancy, different theories have been developed to study and account for the development of sexual aggression and behavior. An explanation of the main theories is offered below:

When one thinks of a young child one thinks of joy, innocence, and being carefree. Too often than not though that innocence is taken from a young child through sexual abuse. Studies have shown over and over again that a child who has been sexually abused carries those scars with them into adulthood, many times affecting adult relationships.                           When a person thinks of a child molester they see in their minds the dirty old man image. This is not the case in most abuse cases. Usually the child knows the person that is going to harm them. The offender is usually someone that the child and his or

Perpetrators of sex crimes committed against children often start by gaining the trust of potential victims and the adults in their lives’ by using a tactic called “grooming.” The purpose of this memo is to give the court a baseline understanding of what sex offender victim grooming is, its purpose, and techniques. Because of the extensive amount of research and information on this topic, this paper does not detail all of the grooming techniques used by child sex offenders to groom potential victims.

Sex offenses receive an inordinate amount of special attention from the public as well as the criminal justice system. Is this because our system is a static reflection of the society/community they answer to? Sexual offense stories infiltrate every membrane of our society, from legal mores to norms, from social media to religion. Our system of justice can’t help but deliver attention to this area. Justice demands it and society needs it for interpersonal validation. The Criminal Justice system has given humans a scale to rate what is normal and what is deviant. Our text (Okada. p.182) shares that

Every theory of crime has at least 2-3 meta-theoretical levels above it. The fundamental issues are usually addressed at the approach level, and are often called the assumptions, or starting points, of a theory, although the term "assumptions" more strictly refers to the background or domain boundaries one can draw generalizations about. Above the approach level is the Perspective level, the largest unit of agreement within a scientific community, and in fact, the names for the scientific disciplines. Perspectives are sometimes called paradigms or viewpoints, although some people use the term paradigm to refer to untestable ideologies such as: (1) rational choice; (2) pathogenesis; (3) labeling;

Sexual offenses have happened for a long as people have been around. According to Derek Logue, sex crimes can be dated as far back as 1880 AD and even further back to the days of the bible (2012). Depending of the nature and severity of the crime committed there were many ways the offender could be punished (Logue, 2012). Logue stated that on page 12 of a book written by Philip Jenkins, it was found that the Middle Ages were to some extent an influence on sexual crimes (2012). In the days of the bible the offenders who chose to commit sexual crimes where seen simply as sinners that had turned away from God. They were seen as unholy or unclean and sexual immoral. Sexual crimes weren’t really that widely recognized until the 1800’s (Logue, 12, para 7). When it finally became a more public matter females victims were the most talked about. Even to this day, Jack the Ripper is one of the most well-known acts of sexual violence ever committed. In 2012, Logue mentioned that this is one of the cases that was brought to the public’s attention that led to this becoming a more well know crime in the media. People started to become more aware of these crimes and became “fascinated” will serial killers and sexual offenders. As a result of this stereotypes about sexual offenders where created (Logue, 2012). There are many people who believe that these sexual crimes are a direct violation to our