Verification Theory

Theories are a series of interconnected proposals. Theories are an effort to describe, explain, predict, and finally control a period of events. We are able to base our experiments and select the contenders for the experiments off of our theories. We are able to test our theories by how well the cumulated data describes, relates to and predicts reality. Theories act as patterns for interpreting specific data that we may refer back to. These patterns ensure we stay on topic and are able to obtain the proper results needed to verify our theories.

Two different subculture theories link racial differences in crime to racial differences in social class: the subculture of violence theory particular the one proposed by Marvin Wolfgang and Franco Ferracuti and various theories on subculture of poverty. The subculture of violence is a theory that states that high rates of violence in inner-city communities existed because the people who live in the area carried pro-violence values and norms. The idea behind this is that people living in violent areas will become very use to the violence, allowing for people to normally carry the norms and values behind violence, therefore the people will be more violent. With that in mind, the subculture of poverty thesis says that the values of the poor directly cause crime because people with a certain kind of characteristics tend to engage in crime rather than patiently wait for opportunities. In addition to the subculture of poverty theory, people in poverty indirectly cause crime because their values do not hold education and hard work as high as those in more well off

The assumption with this theory is that those neighborhoods that are disorganized and messy will have higher crime rates than neighborhoods that are clean and orderly. In neighborhoods that are messy and disorganized, it starts to become the norm, and there starts to become less control that leads to disorder and crime.

The verification principle arose from a movement in the 1920’s known as Logical Positivism and, in particular from a group of philosophers known as the Vienna circle. They applied principles of science and mathematics to religious language and argued that, like human knowledge, religious language also had to be empirically verified through experiences if it were to be considered meaningful. They believed that this was the basis of all forms of empirical testing. From this, Vienna Circle established that truth and meaning can be identified as two distinct concepts when referring to religious language. Consequently, statements such as ‘God exists’ may have meaning to a believer, however, it would be a completely different matter to state

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

For example, one of the most cited causes of the decrease of crime rate is the booming economy at the time. Those who claimed the economy was the reason for the decline said that lower unemployment rate led to criminals not having to rely on unlawful actions. Levitt brought up statistics on the unemployment rate and decline in nonviolent crime. Levitt said, “studies have shown that a one percentage point decrease in the unemployment rate accounts for one percent drop in crime.” However in the 1990’s the drop in the unemployment rate was 2 percentage points accompanied by roughly forty percent drop in crime. Which is significantly disproportionate to the current statistics. Instead of the one to one ration it was one to forty. He also brought up another important flaw to the theory. According to Levitt, “homicide fell at a greater rate during the 1990’s than any other sort of crime, and a number of reliable studies have shown virtually no link between the economy and violent crime.” This means the drop in unemployment rate had little to no effect on the crime

It makes sense to me that the precursor to crime would be caused by failure to achieve economic goals, failure to achieve non- economic goals, no positive stimuli, loss of loved ones, and the introduction of negative stimuli which may be arguments with parents, teachers, etc. It is logical that if negative events happen closer together, it would make matters worse. The theory states that the result of all this,

Most importantly are that theories must be clear and understandable so that they may be tested, otherwise they will be undermined and unable to be put up against practice. Theories are expected to pass certain prerequisites laid out in science i.e. logical consistency, scope and parsimony. Or in other words a theory should be clearly defined, incorporate an inclusive scope, but is explained using a limited reasoning. A theory is best if it can avoid being tautological in nature, although sometimes unavoidable, nevertheless a theories empirical validity and reliability is what the scientific community relies upon when determining the overall value of theories. After all, the ultimate reason scientist theorize is to solve the puzzle or

Poverty and crime go hand and hand because when people are poor they do whatever it takes to get money. Data from the Chicago Department of Public Health, shows the relation between poor neighborhoods and crime. The data took the 5 poorest neighborhoods in Chicago, and compared to its 5 least poor neighborhoods. The study revealed the percentage of African-Americans and the homicide rates in the area. The higher percentage of blacks in an area seemed to have a higher homicide

The second theory I would like to discuss is the Strain theory. The strain theory basically states that crime breeds in the gap, imbalance, or disjunction between culturally induced aspirations for economic success and structurally distributed possibilities of achievement. The theory assumes fairly uniform economic success aspirations across social class and the theory attempts to explain why crime is concentrated among the lower classes that have the least legitimate opportunities for achievement. It is the combination of the cultural emphasis and the social structure which produces intense pressure for

The relationship between Crime and less fortunate people cannot underestimated; it may just be the way the media has conditioned us to characterize what a criminal looks like and how they live their lives. There are many low income cities and crime rates widespread across America. One may say that people with low income have nothing to lose when they commit crime or depressed or desperate to the point that they will commit crimes for the profit of money. Even though crime is committed at all walks of life, one can still pose a question to know if crime is more likely to be committed by people with low income that those with high income.

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.

A theory is primarily meant to explain or predict an event, behaviour or outcome. Proponents of a theory look for evidence to support the theory. This evidence should be independently observed and consistent after repeated observations. Some theories are speculative or ideas or guesses floated to encourage researchers to undertake the observations required to prove or disprove the theory. The question often debated is what comes

I believe a weakness of this theory is that it does not explain why everyone commits crime. It also shifts the blame from the individual who committed the crime to the factors that may have caused the crime to take place. An example would be instead of the person who steals being blamed for the crime, the blame is then on the environment because it is a low

As the act of criminality is a global phenomenon, there must therefore be some explanation as to why this is; some schools of thought strive to explicate this by means of genetics, whilst others take a more socially influenced approach. Although at the time, the micro-criminological theories of Lombroso and Sheldon may have appeared credible, modern research has attempted to refute such notions. In an epidemiological context, the act of crime is seen by some as a positive contribution to society, as noted by Durkheim (Kirby et al, 2000), although too much will lead to social instability, or anomie. In contrariety to Durkheim's beliefs, a Marxist perspective would consider the mere notion of capitalism as criminal; thus deeming the vast