Criminal Justice
Introduction
Criminological perspectives encompass several arguments that explain the cause of crime. Understanding the cause of crime is relatively important in solving criminality, which the various criminological theories tend to clarify. The discussion will highlight the three criminological perspectives namely trait, social, and classical theories. Each perspective will be discussed followed by an argument regarding the two sentencing models and determine, which of the models is a more effective approach in addressing crime. Lastly, the discussion articulates the sentencing model, which is likely to have the most potential in reducing crime while linking to the discussion on the various theories of criminality.
Trait Perspectives
Arguments encompassing the causation of crime involve psychological or biological factors referred to as personal traits. From the individual trait perspective, people commit crime because of certain traits that are considered stable part of one’s character. Usually, criminologists look into a person’s behavioral traits and mental conditions such as neuroticism or psychosis to determine potential dangerous behaviors. However, the theory suggests that any personality trait can cause a person to commit crime. The premise of the theory emphasizes the fact that people posses stable personality that could provide the conditions in becoming a criminal (Reid, 2011). For instance, an anti-social personality was found to be common in some of the most notorious serial killers in history. From the psychological perspective, the person’s character can be described as a combination of biological and genetic make up that manifests as the person’s nature. This combination provides the framework of an individual’s behavior, which with influence of the external environment and social factors could trigger, criminality.
Social Perspectives
While the trait theory looks at the cause of crime as an individual problem, the sociological perspective looks at the community and the emerging factors in the community that creates the conditions for committing crime. Several theories provide explanation of the phenomenon, but the most predominant factor that influences people to committing crime is the conditions that the community have created for the people that belongs in that community. For one, people perceives crime problem as a result of people learning from each other on how to commit crime, this is referred to as social earning theory. From another perspective, crime problems may emerge as a result of social class warfare or gap in wealth, which encompasses the concept of social conflict theory (Zembroski, 2011). These two theories have one thing in common, and that is the idea that people are not born criminals, but rather the conditions that influence them to commit crime was created by the environment around them. For example, a juvenile convicted of drug trafficking could be a result of having a neighborhood engaged in the same activities, or the juvenile’s financial situation pushes him to go for easy money.
Classical Perspectives
Understanding criminality from various theoretical perspectives brings all the context of its discussion to one of its earliest theories, which is the classical school of thoughts about crime. The underlying principles of the classical perspective suggests that people are hedonistic and has free will, which implies that people are self-seeking, hence, such characteristic constitutes causation of crime (Burke, 2009). Within the classical school of thought, crime is also viewed together with the concept punishment, which is instrumental in deterring crime instead of rehabilitating offenders. Furthermore, the theory also suggests that every individual is responsible for their actions, hence, the circumstances of their actions are inexcusable.
Sentencing Perspectives
The subject of criminological perspective also emphasizes the importance of the context of punishment in which sentencing encompasses a fundamental role in determining the mode of incarceration in terms of length of time behind bars. There are two sentencing models that are currently in practice determinate and indeterminate. Determinate refers to a define length of prison sentence that is often do not exceed more than six months, which could be also shortened by granting parole. On the other hand, the indeterminate prison sentence refers to indefinite time in jail, which is often consisting of a minimum of 20 years and no definite date of release (Portman, 2016). The two sentencing models are being used depending on the gravity of the crime and based on the statutory laws. However, in consideration of the causations of crime relative to the described crime theories, the application of the sentencing models should also comply with what factors have caused a person to commit crime.
In trait theory, crime is committed because of the person’s state of mind and it could be because of unstable mental condition that might have constituted the grounds for a person to commit crime. Given that a person is not in his right state of mind, the determinate sentencing model should be applied on the grounds that the person needs psychological rehabilitation more than punishment. On the other hand, the social theories of crime encompass an argument that people commit crime because of the conditions created by their environment. In this regard, sentencing should be indeterminate because, people who are not proven insane is expected to know the difference between what is acceptable and not acceptable actions in the civil society, much more to commit crime. Hence, their actions are cannot be justified and they are in the proper state of mind to anticipate the consequences of their actions. On the other hand, the classical perspective on crime can be attributed to either determinate or indeterminate.
Conclusion
People commit crime for variety of reasons and the criminological perspectives provide relevant insights to explain its causality. Trait, social, and classical perspectives explains crime from different spectrums, but the concept of punishment, as the consequence of being involved in crime is relatively the same, which is imprisonment. However, imposing punishment should be based on one reason alone and that is the person had committed a crime regardless of what caused them in doing so. This stance ensures the greater potential of the justice system in deterring crime, but considerate enough to allow release if there is a change in behavior.
References
Burke, R. (2009). An introduction to criminological theory (3rd ed.). Cullompton, UK: Willan Publishing.
Portman, J. (2016). Indeterminate vs Determinate Prison Sentences Explained | Criminal Law.CriminalDefenseLawyer.com. Retrieved 5 June 2016, from http://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/determinate-sentences.cfm
Reid, J. (2011). Crime and Personality: Personality Theory and Criminality Examined. Student Pulse,3(1). Retrieved from http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/377/crime-and-personality-personality-theory-and-criminality-examined
Zembroski, D. (2011). Sociological Theories of Crime and Delinquency. Journal Of Human Behavior In The Social Environment, 21(3), 240-254. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2011.564553
Discuss your progress on this week’s paper. Of the theoretical perspectives that you’ve researched, which do you think best explains crime, and why? What are the weaknesses of the perspective?
Reflecting on my progress on this week’s paper, I could safely assume that I was able to immerse myself on the various perspectives explaining the causation of crime based on theories. I was able to explore the context of various reasons why a person would commit crime, and I am able to grasp a better understanding of the underlying principles that best explains how crime happens and how the trait and social factors influence a person to commit crime. On the other hand, out of the three perspectives the social theory provides the most logical explanation why crimes occur. According to theory, social learning and social conflict encompasses the causation of crime. In social learning, people commit crime because other people in the community are doing the same. For example, a juvenile living in slums plagued with crime is likely to learn the ways of criminality because a lot of people are doing the same thing and the juvenile is learning from what he observed from his community.
This also translates to social conflict where class warfare and wealth gap provides the reasons for a person to commit crime. Based on the example of a juvenile living in a slum area where crime is rampant, living conditions may not be favorable to the people in the community of poverty and the lack of opportunity for descent livelihood pushes people in the lower social class to prey on the upper class in order to get a share of wealth perpetuated through crime. However, the social perspective also has its weaknesses and that is the inadequate explanation of why there are people who commit crime as a result of the conditions created by the community while not everyone in the community are considered offenders. This means that of community conditions create criminals is it selective and not everyone becomes a criminal.
