Criminological
theories
Individual explanations:
· Emphasis is on criminogenic social conditions. The immediate social environment is primarily responsible for criminality in our society, e.g., broken families, poor parenting, low quality educational experiences, delinquent peer relations, poverty, lack of equal economic opportunity, inadequate socialization to the values implicit in the American culture, etc. Crime control (emphasis is on the criminal not on the crime itself just as with biological and psychological views): correctional programs can give those arrested the social skills necessary to overcome those aspects of their immediate social environment that led to the criminal acts in their first place.
·
Social
control: Travis Hirschi’s Social Bond theories. The
emphasis is on why people do not commit crimes. Everyone has the potential to
become a criminal but most people are controlled by their bond to
society. Crime occurs when the forces that bind people to society are weakened
or broken. When the social bonds that individuals have to parents, peers, and
important social institutions like the school or the workplace are strong, they
fear that their criminal activity may jeopardize their relative position in
society and refuse to run the risk of losing meaningful social relationships,
careers, etc. Generally, adolescents have weaker bonds to conventional society
than adults.
·
Strain theory (Merton) crime
is a function of the conflict between the goals people have and the means they
can use to legally obtain them. While goals are the same for all the ability to
obtain these goals is class dependant. Consequently, lower classes feel anger,
frustration and resentment which is referred to as
strain. These people can either accept their condition and live out their days
as socially responsible but un-rewarded citizens, or they can choose an
alternative means of achieving success, such as theft, violence or drug
trafficking. Here the criminal
must rehabilitate psychologically and accept those limited legitimate means
available to him or her.
·
Cultural
deviance theory: The major tenet of cultural deviance theory is that conformity
to the prevailing cultural norms of lower class society causes crime. Lower class
subculture has a unique set of values and beliefs, which are invariably in
conflict with conventional social norms. Criminality is an expression of
conformity to lower class subcultural values. Members of the working class commit
crimes as they respond to the cultural norms of their own class in an effort to
deal with problems of social –middle class- adjustment.
·
Labelling theory:
people become criminals when significant members of society label them as such
and they accept those labels as a personal identity. Throughout their lives
people are given a variety of symbolic labels in their interactions with
others. These labels imply a variety of behaviors and attitudes; labels thus
help define not just one trait but the whole person. If a devalued status is
conferred by a significant other, the negative label may cause permanent harm
to the target. Being perceived as a social deviant may affect their treatment
at home, at work, at school and in the other social situations. Labeled persons may find themselves turning to
others similarly stigmatized for support and companionship. Law is differentially applied, benefiting those
who hold economic and social power and penalizing the powerless. Labeling theory
is not concerned with why people originally engage in act that result in their being labeled. Its concern is with criminal
career formation and not the origin of criminal acts. A
person is deviant primarily because of the social distance between the labeler
and the labeled. Two effects of labeling:
o
The
creation of a stigma: A public record of the deviant act caused the denounced
person to be ritually separated from a place in the legitimate order of society
through successful degradation ceremonies.
o
The effect
on self-image: stigmatized offenders may begin to reevaluate their own
identities around the label.
o
Primary
deviance: crimes that have little influence on the actor and can quickly be
forgotten.
o
Secondary
deviance: when a deviant comes to the attention of significant others or social
control agencies who apply a negative label. The person then reorganizes his or
her own behavior and personality around the consequences of the deviant act.
Secondary deviance involves re-socialization into a deviant role. The labeled
person is transformed into one who employs his behavior or a role based upon
the label as a means of defense, attack or adjustment. Secondary deviance
produces a deviance amplification effect. This is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Conflict or
critical criminology: political view of crime. It is capitalism that creates
criminal behavior.