People commit crimes because that is what they want to do. Criminal behavior is a matter of choices. Today, there are many excuses cloaked as reasons for criminal behavior. The misguided nature of these assertions has a serious impact upon crime control strategies. The classical approach to crime control strategies deals with direct intervention tactics. Law enforcement, within this rubric, takes an aggressive posture toward criminal acts. The delayed tactics of a reactionary position is relegated to the illusion of rehabilitation. In the classical view, deviance and crime are addressed in a proactive manner. This strives to be consistent with both legal and social aspects of constraint. Deviant behavior in the form of criminal activity must necessitate a punitive approach to behavior. Such an approach must come with speed, precision and certainty. For control sanctions to work, the systems of justice must work decisively. The attendant criminal justice systems must be capable of deploying the necessary resources. From an historic perspective, the classical school of criminology is often overlooked as a viable crime prevention strategy.
All available scientific, forensic and technical resources should press full force behind a more classical approach to criminology. This effort should be applied within the context of modern times. Following a doctrine of “psychological hedonism”, the classical approach holds that people choose freely among alternatives of behavior. In this view, the perpetrator plans his or her criminal behavior before carrying out his or her actions. The individual creates the basis for their departure from socially, morally or legally sanctioned aspects of behavior. A person calculates the “pain versus the pleasure of an act”, or the gain minus the risk of doing a certain thing. Not unlike the rest of us, the perpetrator carries out his or her conduct as a result of personal calculations. Such acts of deviance stem from the pleasure being greater than the risk. In other words, they want to take something that someone else has. Criminals want the shortest distance between two points. The implication of the doctrine is that the societal reaction to crime should be the administration of a measured amount of pain. The general proposition of the classical school is that it is necessary to make undesirable acts painful. Attaching punishment is crucial to making an impact on behavior. Likewise, punishment requires re-education, so that criminals learn through painful costly consequence such behavior is counterproductive.
Accountability and responsibility are attached in definite ways, so the perceived loss will exceed the gain. Since the punishment must be one that can be calculated, it must be the same for all individuals. No one is excused regardless of age, mentality, social or economic status, political influence or other self-indulgent conditions. People are held in absolute accountability to the actions they choose. Deterrence and moral retribution replace rehabilitation. Preventing criminal behavior before it happens is part of the overall strategy of crime control objectives. This perspective presupposes that people will take advantage of opportunities. Since people freely decide their course of conduct, rapid societal interdiction is necessary. A concept of “free-will” criminology is necessary to ensure society does not disintegrate due to an obsession with behavioral excuses. Behavior is influenced by a decision-making process that relies on consequences. As such, so is criminal behavior.
The motivation to commit acts of criminal behavior relate to basic internal desires of control, dominance, anger, revenge and display of personally perceived inadequacy. A quadrangle of self-motivated thinking transpires. Desire, opportunity, ability and gain merge to formulate the strategy of motivation. A multi-dimensional realm within the mind transforms into an outer expression of exploitation. As such, our crime control strategies and tactics must consider the inherent motivation of the criminal. The inherent motivation is the subjugation of another person for personal gain. Approaches based on hasty generalizations and politically correct agendas are counterproductive to the health, safety and welfare of the community. We must consider what the individual criminal is like. He or she is not much different than the rest of us. Except that the criminal prefers “the short cut” in stead of the legitimate way of doing things. Forget about the pseudo-scientific approaches that come up with impressive labels and complex diagnoses. And, forget about the short-term fads or fetishes of quick fixes for long-term problems. Fancy theoretical constructs do not solve crime. Instead, determined and dedicated hard working police officers do. They are the ones who solve criminal behavior issues affecting society. They do this through the collective interaction of public support and involvement. Not by politicians, media hype, fad or fiction.
People commit crimes as part of a selfish desire to get something for nothing. Their “private logic” focuses on their alleged “suffering” at the hands of an insensitive and cruel world. They selfishly desire to take advantage of opportunities, exploit their prurient interests, and assert their abilities. All this is done based on their individual capabilities to get what they think is rightfully theirs. The criminal is not a victim of society. Neither is he or she forced into a position of disadvantage by others. Criminals refuse to accept responsibility and accountability for their behavior. When caught, they are quick to puppet excuses the social sciences, the media and politicians have preconceived for them. Criminals develop their thinking processes on the basis of “being owed” something. His or her behavior becomes connected to what they believe is “entitlement”.
Personal choice dominates the motives of individual actions. We think, we fantasize and we act according to our underlying belief system. Through a process of rational conscious thought, we select the temptations of preference. Regardless of what comes into us from external sources, we pick what we want. We employ our learning history to do things we conjure in our own minds. Such is the rational process by which we pick and select the course of action we take. In a kind of “economic view” of the world, people balance the risks, or the costs, involved in doing a certain act. Upon validation that the “benefit” outweighs the cost, we decide to act. Then again, we might decide not to act. Crime, in a sense, holds a seductive quality and grips our attention. We are mesmerized by the darkness in the balance between good and evil. Good and evil is simply picture thinking about the scope of human nature. For some, crime pays, until caught. At the very least, we calculate a “pain versus pleasure” reality.
References:
1. Jeffery, C. R., Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, (Beverly Hills: Sage Publications, 1971), page 24;
2. Samenow, E. S., Inside the Criminal Mind, (New York: Crown Business, 1984), pgs. 20-22;
3. Schmalleger, F., Criminology Today – An Integrative Introduction – Fourth Edition, (Upper Saddle River: Pearson-Prentice Hall, 2006), page 118-119;
Crime and Criminology
Introduction
In this article, we shall study the nature, type of crime as defined and methods propounded by various jurists for controlling them and we also study criminology as subject its origin, classification, methodology and approaches in criminology for study of crimes. The interpretation of the historical development of criminology , any such history is inevitably a contentious undertaking, entailing theoretical choices and rhetorical purposes as well as the selection and arrangement of historical materials. Whether they acknowledge it or not, histories of the discipline necessarily come up against fundamental issues – what is crime and ‘criminology’?
What is Nature Crime?
The classical School Was Not Interested In Studying Criminals, But Rather In Preventing Crime and people choose to commit crime after weighing the benefits and costs of their actions.
The crime according to the social theories is correlated with structure of the society of society. It is also originate from the social disorganization of the society, more urbanization more the ecological problems result in mental strains causes gangs and delinquent crimes.
Social conflict theory portrayed crime as a function of social demoralization and a collapse of people’s humanity reflecting a decline in society. The brutality of the capitalist system turns workers into animal-like creatures without a will of their own.
The Marxist theory of the criminology believe the empirical relation of the development of the capital economy leads to development of “CLASS STRUGGLE” results in indulgence in crime for securing their right from privileged section of the society. The economic inequality intensifies personal problems and crime.
Crime is a product of society and each society will produce its own types and amounts of crime. The critique of Marxist says that if the Marxist is accepted as then what is cause of crime in socialist countries? Marxist standards are too high and moralistic.
Powerlessness increases the likelihood of Victimization for women, Crime is a way of “doing gender” for men. The patriarchal structure of the society leads to dominance of the male gender weakening of the position of the woman and causes crimes like cool blood murders, murder in the name of “AZHAT”, rapes and prostitution etc and the patriarchal structure of the society is being resisted by various quarters’ causes feminist crime.
The inferior biological structure coupled by weakness of basic instinct like possession, sex and fear of body of human accentuate delinquent behavior and the tendency towards crimes, and the biological school of thought believe in proper physical development for curbing committing of the crime.
Basic theme is that criminals represent physically different structure from non-criminals and criminals as atavistic e.g. sloping foreheads, joined eyebrows, long arms, twisted noses etc.
Chambliss and Seidman propounded the modern conflict and on empirical relation of Law, Order and Power in 1971.They believe that the justice system operates to protect the rich and powerful by defining crimes and law enforcement and punishment for law-breaker.
How to prevent them?
There are various theories has propounded by jurists for prevention of the crime in societies.
Punishment
The Marxist has labeled the tool of punishment by saying “only crimes of the poor are punished ” and also believes in fact that the crime will virtually disappear with equal distribution of property.
The punishment is inflicted for the purposes of breaking norms of the society which has been codified into the law provisions.
Methods Of punishment
There are various method of punishment has prescribed, radical and classical school of thought extend their appreciation for the strict punishment for curbing the committing of crimes while modern jurist prefer the reformative schools.
Justifying the Punishment
Cesare Beccaria, follower of classical school, while justifying punishment say that, the retributive approach maintains that punishment should be equal to the harm done, either literally an eye for an eye, or more figuratively which allows for alternative forms of compensation. The retributive approach tends to be retaliatory and vengeance-oriented. The second approach is utilitarian which maintains that punishment should increase the total amount of happiness in the world. This often involves punishment as a means of reforming the criminal, incapacitating him from repeating his crime, and deterring others. Beccaria clearly takes a utilitarian stance. For Beccaria, the purpose of punishment is to create a better society, not revenge. Punishment serves to deter others from committing crimes, and to prevent the criminal from repeating his crime.
The nature of Criminology
Criminology is an interdisciplinary study of the making of the law, breaking of the law, and enforcement of the law . Its subject matter covers all topics related to crime and criminal justice. This theory and research on the explanation and causes of crime and criminal delinquency, the rates, distribution, and changes in crime and delinquency in society; individual criminal and delinquent behavior; criminal victimization and fear of crime.
History of Criminology
Origin of Criminology is dating back roughly a hundred years when criminologists received their academic training in the social sciences, usually taking degrees in sociology.
Criminology gained its place in America academic earlier 20s when sociology was recognized as the home of academic criminology and it gained its knowledge and benefit from the knowledge and insights of the those with little or no academic training but plenty of experience with some aspects of the crime scene.
Now, Criminology is a detailed academic and established subject of the study, this does not means that criminologist agree definition of the field. Those authors of the criminology texts who offer a definition rarely offer the same one.
Don C. Gibbons and Peter Garadbedian discuss the competing value per specific that has shaped criminology over the years. They identify three major perspectives: conservative, liberal-cynical and radical sometime called critical.
Types of Criminology
Criminology has identified in number of classification.
Conservative Criminology
Conservative criminology gained ascendancy in America with early writing of parson, Gibbon and Parmelee, who were among the conservative criminologist such later contribution as harry Barnes and Negley teeters, whose text, New horizons in criminology, because a best-seller.
...Criminal law a given and is interpreted as the codification of the prevailing moral concepts and faith in ultimate the perfectibility of police ad criminal justice machinery.”
Liberal Cynical criminology
According to Gibbons and Garabedian , liberal Cynical criminology emerged along with the more the 1940s and 1950s because liberal cynical criminology has dominated the field over the past thirsty years, we might also call it mainstream criminology.
Liberal criminology
Liberal criminology retained the emphasis on offenders and their behavior and attempted to explain crimes in terms of either social structure or social process. Those are three major versions of liberal criminology. Another dimension of the liberal criminology is the liberal criminology which has taken deviance from the culture definition of the criminology.
Liberal criminology has become a 'gatekeeper' for state domains of control, the value assumptions of hierarchical authority, of centralized controls and a safety valve and temperature gauge in the limits on how far the state can go.
The liberal writings of the various sociologists, criminologists and psychologists are given much attention in criminology which is indicative of the continued fascination with power, control and the models of the mechanical world. Their thinking is that man is the centre of the universe, but that they are the centre of man. They prescribe what is good and acceptable and how the world and life processes should be managed.
Radical Criminology
The radical criminology rejects the liberal reformism that claims have helped to create probation and parole the juvenile court system. They emphasized on the reformatory schools and half way school.
More Modern Cynical liberal criminology shades into the newer brands of the liberal criminology but still crime and criminology as manifestation of the exploitation character of monopoly capitalism. Unless the present political-economic structure of America capitalist society in legal machinery will continue to undermine the interest of the people while consolidating those rule.
One of the first things to note and or understand is that "Marxism", as a theoretical perspective, involves a number of different variants or "ways of seeing" the social world . In this respect, although we often tend to talk about Marxism as if there were only one kind just as we tend to talk about other sociological perspectives - such as Functionalism - as if it only involved one basic set of ideas), it is evident that Marxism, as a school of thought, has been interpreted in a number of different ways by various writers. Approach and methods the criminology for Study of Crimes are following.
The Biological Approach
The biological theories of criminal behavior says that it study of criminal in biological perspectives.
Psychogenic Approach
Psychologist investigators are pursing the psychogenic approach to the criminology behavior, in which the emphasis is based on linking criminal behavior to mental state, especially mental evidence disease; mental disorders, pathologies, and emotional problems and they repeatedly assert that crime is outcome of criminal mind. The root cause of the criminal behavior neither environmental nor biological than question seems to be unclear.
Multifactor Approach
A long-standing criticism of the earlier bioorganic and psychological approach to crime has much of the work entered around the search for single factor or single set of like factors that could be shown to account for all criminal behavior.
The multifactor approach in criminology grew out of the discrepancies and arguments attending the single-factor tradition of the earlier days and its adherent argument for the approach to crime that would reconcile the disparate orientation and contribute made by a variety of the factors. That underlying assumption was that different crimes are result of different combination of the factors.
Whose interests are represented by criminal law?
This is not normative system of study but represent the interest of various segment of the society like interest of majority or interest . Criminology represents the interest of groups in society and interests of either all members of the society; the representation of the interest of criminology entire depends upon the type of the system prevailing in the society.
Summary
After presenting a picture of crime and criminology deviance in its definition and scope from post modern era, complex and heterogeneous society as an ongoing struggle. Equilibrium is difficult, if not completely impossible to achieve. The behavior of any group, and perhaps most importantly, the crime meaning and significance defined in criminology is destined to provoke a negative reaction from another group. In particular, authority groups will continuously strive to maintain and expand there control over societal resources by defining the activity of "subject groups" as threatening therefore deviant and/or criminal, to the existing order implicit here is the idea that the existing order is the order, the only legitimate order.
In this article, we shall study the nature, type of crime as defined and methods propounded by various jurists for controlling them and we also study criminology as subject its origin, classification, methodology and approaches in criminology for study of crimes. The interpretation of the historical development of criminology , any such history is inevitably a contentious undertaking, entailing theoretical choices and rhetorical purposes as well as the selection and arrangement of historical materials. Whether they acknowledge it or not, histories of the discipline necessarily come up against fundamental issues – what is crime and ‘criminology’?
What is Nature Crime?
The classical School Was Not Interested In Studying Criminals, But Rather In Preventing Crime and people choose to commit crime after weighing the benefits and costs of their actions.
The crime according to the social theories is correlated with structure of the society of society. It is also originate from the social disorganization of the society, more urbanization more the ecological problems result in mental strains causes gangs and delinquent crimes.
Social conflict theory portrayed crime as a function of social demoralization and a collapse of people’s humanity reflecting a decline in society. The brutality of the capitalist system turns workers into animal-like creatures without a will of their own.
The Marxist theory of the criminology believe the empirical relation of the development of the capital economy leads to development of “CLASS STRUGGLE” results in indulgence in crime for securing their right from privileged section of the society. The economic inequality intensifies personal problems and crime.
Crime is a product of society and each society will produce its own types and amounts of crime. The critique of Marxist says that if the Marxist is accepted as then what is cause of crime in socialist countries? Marxist standards are too high and moralistic.
Powerlessness increases the likelihood of Victimization for women, Crime is a way of “doing gender” for men. The patriarchal structure of the society leads to dominance of the male gender weakening of the position of the woman and causes crimes like cool blood murders, murder in the name of “AZHAT”, rapes and prostitution etc and the patriarchal structure of the society is being resisted by various quarters’ causes feminist crime.
The inferior biological structure coupled by weakness of basic instinct like possession, sex and fear of body of human accentuate delinquent behavior and the tendency towards crimes, and the biological school of thought believe in proper physical development for curbing committing of the crime.
Basic theme is that criminals represent physically different structure from non-criminals and criminals as atavistic e.g. sloping foreheads, joined eyebrows, long arms, twisted noses etc.
Chambliss and Seidman propounded the modern conflict and on empirical relation of Law, Order and Power in 1971.They believe that the justice system operates to protect the rich and powerful by defining crimes and law enforcement and punishment for law-breaker.
How to prevent them?
There are various theories has propounded by jurists for prevention of the crime in societies.
Punishment
The Marxist has labeled the tool of punishment by saying “only crimes of the poor are punished ” and also believes in fact that the crime will virtually disappear with equal distribution of property.
The punishment is inflicted for the purposes of breaking norms of the society which has been codified into the law provisions.
Methods Of punishment
There are various method of punishment has prescribed, radical and classical school of thought extend their appreciation for the strict punishment for curbing the committing of crimes while modern jurist prefer the reformative schools.
Justifying the Punishment
Cesare Beccaria, follower of classical school, while justifying punishment say that, the retributive approach maintains that punishment should be equal to the harm done, either literally an eye for an eye, or more figuratively which allows for alternative forms of compensation. The retributive approach tends to be retaliatory and vengeance-oriented. The second approach is utilitarian which maintains that punishment should increase the total amount of happiness in the world. This often involves punishment as a means of reforming the criminal, incapacitating him from repeating his crime, and deterring others. Beccaria clearly takes a utilitarian stance. For Beccaria, the purpose of punishment is to create a better society, not revenge. Punishment serves to deter others from committing crimes, and to prevent the criminal from repeating his crime.
The nature of Criminology
Criminology is an interdisciplinary study of the making of the law, breaking of the law, and enforcement of the law . Its subject matter covers all topics related to crime and criminal justice. This theory and research on the explanation and causes of crime and criminal delinquency, the rates, distribution, and changes in crime and delinquency in society; individual criminal and delinquent behavior; criminal victimization and fear of crime.
History of Criminology
Origin of Criminology is dating back roughly a hundred years when criminologists received their academic training in the social sciences, usually taking degrees in sociology.
Criminology gained its place in America academic earlier 20s when sociology was recognized as the home of academic criminology and it gained its knowledge and benefit from the knowledge and insights of the those with little or no academic training but plenty of experience with some aspects of the crime scene.
Now, Criminology is a detailed academic and established subject of the study, this does not means that criminologist agree definition of the field. Those authors of the criminology texts who offer a definition rarely offer the same one.
Don C. Gibbons and Peter Garadbedian discuss the competing value per specific that has shaped criminology over the years. They identify three major perspectives: conservative, liberal-cynical and radical sometime called critical.
Types of Criminology
Criminology has identified in number of classification.
Conservative Criminology
Conservative criminology gained ascendancy in America with early writing of parson, Gibbon and Parmelee, who were among the conservative criminologist such later contribution as harry Barnes and Negley teeters, whose text, New horizons in criminology, because a best-seller.
...Criminal law a given and is interpreted as the codification of the prevailing moral concepts and faith in ultimate the perfectibility of police ad criminal justice machinery.”
Liberal Cynical criminology
According to Gibbons and Garabedian , liberal Cynical criminology emerged along with the more the 1940s and 1950s because liberal cynical criminology has dominated the field over the past thirsty years, we might also call it mainstream criminology.
Liberal criminology
Liberal criminology retained the emphasis on offenders and their behavior and attempted to explain crimes in terms of either social structure or social process. Those are three major versions of liberal criminology. Another dimension of the liberal criminology is the liberal criminology which has taken deviance from the culture definition of the criminology.
Liberal criminology has become a 'gatekeeper' for state domains of control, the value assumptions of hierarchical authority, of centralized controls and a safety valve and temperature gauge in the limits on how far the state can go.
The liberal writings of the various sociologists, criminologists and psychologists are given much attention in criminology which is indicative of the continued fascination with power, control and the models of the mechanical world. Their thinking is that man is the centre of the universe, but that they are the centre of man. They prescribe what is good and acceptable and how the world and life processes should be managed.
Radical Criminology
The radical criminology rejects the liberal reformism that claims have helped to create probation and parole the juvenile court system. They emphasized on the reformatory schools and half way school.
More Modern Cynical liberal criminology shades into the newer brands of the liberal criminology but still crime and criminology as manifestation of the exploitation character of monopoly capitalism. Unless the present political-economic structure of America capitalist society in legal machinery will continue to undermine the interest of the people while consolidating those rule.
One of the first things to note and or understand is that "Marxism", as a theoretical perspective, involves a number of different variants or "ways of seeing" the social world . In this respect, although we often tend to talk about Marxism as if there were only one kind just as we tend to talk about other sociological perspectives - such as Functionalism - as if it only involved one basic set of ideas), it is evident that Marxism, as a school of thought, has been interpreted in a number of different ways by various writers. Approach and methods the criminology for Study of Crimes are following.
The Biological Approach
The biological theories of criminal behavior says that it study of criminal in biological perspectives.
Psychogenic Approach
Psychologist investigators are pursing the psychogenic approach to the criminology behavior, in which the emphasis is based on linking criminal behavior to mental state, especially mental evidence disease; mental disorders, pathologies, and emotional problems and they repeatedly assert that crime is outcome of criminal mind. The root cause of the criminal behavior neither environmental nor biological than question seems to be unclear.
Multifactor Approach
A long-standing criticism of the earlier bioorganic and psychological approach to crime has much of the work entered around the search for single factor or single set of like factors that could be shown to account for all criminal behavior.
The multifactor approach in criminology grew out of the discrepancies and arguments attending the single-factor tradition of the earlier days and its adherent argument for the approach to crime that would reconcile the disparate orientation and contribute made by a variety of the factors. That underlying assumption was that different crimes are result of different combination of the factors.
Whose interests are represented by criminal law?
This is not normative system of study but represent the interest of various segment of the society like interest of majority or interest . Criminology represents the interest of groups in society and interests of either all members of the society; the representation of the interest of criminology entire depends upon the type of the system prevailing in the society.
Summary
After presenting a picture of crime and criminology deviance in its definition and scope from post modern era, complex and heterogeneous society as an ongoing struggle. Equilibrium is difficult, if not completely impossible to achieve. The behavior of any group, and perhaps most importantly, the crime meaning and significance defined in criminology is destined to provoke a negative reaction from another group. In particular, authority groups will continuously strive to maintain and expand there control over societal resources by defining the activity of "subject groups" as threatening therefore deviant and/or criminal, to the existing order implicit here is the idea that the existing order is the order, the only legitimate order.
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