Thorsten Sellin was an outstanding criminologist famous for his opposition to the death penalty (Jonson, Myer & Adler, 2011). In particular, he stated that the comparison of statistics from those areas where death penalty was implemented and where it wasn’t practiced showed that it wasn’t in fact effective and didn’t deter people from crime commitment (Hayward, 2010).
Another important role that Sellin played in the history of criminology was introduction of the cultural conflict concept, which meant conflict arising between immigrants from one country to another and migrants between different parts of the same country. In the paper "Culture Conflict and Crime", he analyzed the role culture conflict played in causation of crime. In particular, he stated that crime was a result of conflicts that lie within norms.
According to this theory, crime experts should view crime not as a form of ‘violation of law’, but rather as ‘violation of conduct norms’ (Hayward, 2010). The latter term can be interpreted as a set of rules prohibiting people from doing something specific in special circumstances. If these norms are a part of the law, violation is a crime, but if not, it shouldn’t be called so. As for the culture conflict, it can arise on the basis of differentiation in an area or culture system or after contact established among norms taken from separate areas or cultural systems.
The scientist also distinguished between two types of conflict – primary and secondary. In the first case, two cultures clash and conflict of culture norms arises, while in the second – one culture evolves and conflict arises within its framework. The approach of Sellin is often criticized as being too difficult.
Another famous criminologist is Travis Hirschi, famous for his two major theories – of control and self-control of delinquency. According to the first theory, delinquency can be explained by the family breakdown, rather than disorganization of society. The focus of the theory was on the social bonds, their presence in particular. When an individual loses control, he/she is free to see the crime benefits, forgetting about the costs that its commitment entails.
When explaining why people deviate from or conform to the social norms, Hirschi used four variables: commitment, attachment, belief, and involvement (Lilly, Cullen & Ball, 1995). By commitment the author meant rational component of conformity – fear of behavior that is against the law. Attachment meant extent, to which people are attached to the others. The higher attachment level is, the less likely the person is to commit a crime.
Belief means common system of values shared by the members of society, the norms of which are violated (Hirschi & Gottfredson, 1994). When people believe in the social norms, they are more likely to conform to them. The last concept, involvement, means engrossment in conventional activities. When a person is too busy doing such activities, he/she is less likely to commit a crime.
This theory was criticized, as it didn’t cover all types of crime, providing too simple solutions to problems brought about by the delinquency (Grasmick, Tittle, Bursik & Arneklev, 1993). Moreover, the variables of the theory are confusing. The criticism of the theory resulted in another theory generated by the author – self-control theory of delinquency. According to it, all the findings and facts about crime can be organized around the concept of self-control.
As per this theory, crime is a fraud or act of force that is undertaken when pursuing self-interest (Polakowski, 1994). High level of self-control results in person conforming to the laws and social norms, while low self-control means that a person is likely to commit crimes. This theory addresses different types of crime better, than the previous one.
The last criminologist that will be presented in this paper is Albert Cohen, who is well-known for the subcultural theory of delinquent gangs (Vito, Maahs & Holmes, 2006). He was given the Edwin H. Sutherland Award for outstanding contribution to the sphere of criminology research and theory, which proves the high value of his work.
According to the Cohen’s theory, delinquent gangs attempt to replace the common norms of society with their special sub-cultures. He described two ideologies: status frustration and reaction formation. The first deals with youngsters from lower classes of the society (Kinnear, 2009). They are frustrated by the inequalities they encounter in life, which results in reaction formation – replacement of societal norms with alternatives.
For instance, the level of respect, which is commonly measured by hard work, can be earned by the most vandalism committed inside such gang (Binder, Geis & Bruce, 2001). The set of values shared inside such group cannot be used anywhere except this gang, which results in exclusion of gang members from the society. This theory explains the increasing rates of non-utilitarian type of crimes. Another statement of the subcultures theory is that gangs are usually formed among those experiencing similar circumstances in society.
References
Binder, A., Geis, G., & Bruce, Jr. D. D. (2001). Juvenile Delinquency: Historical, Cultural, and Legal Perspectives. Cincinnati: Elsevier.
Grasmick, H. G., Tittle, C. R., Bursik, Jr. R., J., & Arneklev, B.J. (1993). Testing the core empirical implications of Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory of crime. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. 30(1), 5-29.
Hayward, K. (2010). Fifty Key Thinkers in Criminology. New York: Routledge.
Hirschi, T., & Gottfredson, M. R. (1994). The generality of deviance. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.
Jonson, C. L., Myer, A. J., & Adler, F. (2011). The Origins of American Criminology. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.
Kinnear, K. L. (2009). Gangs: A Reference Handbook. Santa-Barbara: ABC-CLIO.
Lilly, J. R., Cullen, F. T., & Ball, R. A. (1995). Criminological theory: context and consequences. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Polakowski, M. (1994). Linking self- and social control with deviance: illuminating the structure underlying a General Theory of Crime and its relation to deviant activity. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 10(1), 41-79.
Vito, G. F., Maahs, J. R., & Holmes, R. M. (2006). Criminology: Theory, Research, And Policy. Sudbury: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
