Abstract.
The paper seeks to expound on criminology as the science that involves studying the economic, cultural and political forces that interact with the law. The essay will explain crime and the societal reaction to it. Through the different theories of criminology, the essay will illustrate on how criminology shows the humanity the way to combat and prevent crime. It represents overviews of the legal systems, part of law in understanding legal systems forms of criminal behavior. The use of the criminology data that has been collected over time to formulate policies that are aimed at curbing crime by adopting best practices in the correctional facilities, making objective judgments to the offenders, tracing the of rampant cases in the community. Civic policy implication of criminology theories is that lawmakers could make laws that ensure severe punishments for crimes as a preventive measure that would deter crime. The aftermath of conflict, accommodation, competition and cooperation in illustrating by unified social system that acts as a control for the action in the society. With criminals at every level of the society, this paper shows how criminology as a career has got many employment opportunities in various law enforcement agencies and also in the institutions of higher learning. Criminology plays a leading role in the fight against all manners of crime. It also helps to bring out and prove the white collar crimes that have been committed at the higher levels of leadership management.
Introduction Criminology is a social science that has different theories that involve the social phenomenon. These different theories share a common goal of explaining the causes of criminal conduct in the hopes that this information can use to formulate policies that will be effective in controlling or eliminating crime. Criminology combines the efforts of psychiatrist, lawyers, probation officers, law enforcers sociologists and statisticians. The study centers its attention on the offender as a person, his behavior and what led him or her to commit a crime. It seeks to understand the offenders’ genetic makeup and to interrogate the connection between the inherited tendency and crime. It does this by considering issues like family background, personal socioeconomic background, childhood associations and educational opportunities. Early criminologist believed that everyone had the ability to make rational choices and; therefore, his or her argument was that if a person were aware of severe punishment that goes with a particular offence, may not commit crime (Ferracuti, & Wolfgang, 2013, p .159). These conclusion of the early criminologist is what led to the creation of such punishments like death, public humiliation, fine, banishment and torture. Criminology is the systematic study of the non-legal facets of crime, including its bases and avoidance. It was established in 18th century when social activists began to interrogate the use of castigation for reprisal rather than deterrence and transformation. The use of scientific methods in studying crime began in the 19th century (Cowburn, Senior, Robinson, & Duggan, 2013, p. 47). In its various theories criminology tries to unravel the question of whether criminals should be held responsible for their actions, try to understand them or both. Although individuals have a responsibility to act sensibly, criminology probes whether person’s behaviors are as a result of their selfish reason biological factors and social forces. Criminology proves that different thoughts concerning criminal behavior and criminal law are efficient techniques that can help in solving a myriad of issues for society and its inhabitants. The explanations by different theories help in determining the essence of criminal law, and they are effective in preventing and treating criminals properly. Identifying features that distinguish criminal behavior helps determine a holistic criminal justice system to maintain, and how to portray the criminal. The biosocial theories were derived from the positivist who believed that behavior was described by its psychological, biological and social characteristics (Young, & Rees, 2013, p.172). Those who believe in the biosocial theories are apprehensive of the criminal conduct instead of the legal issues, and they advocate for rehabilitation and treatment, as opposed to punishment. Biological theories assume that humans have got unique features and under certain conditions some commit criminal acts. Theories also suggests that genetics strongly influences an individual’s behavior and that only happens under certain conditions or environment. They argue that the key to understanding crime is a careful, rigorous and scientific observation of the criminal behavior and not the action itself. Labeling theory is bases on the idea that behaviors are abnormal only when society labels them as irregular. As such conforming members of the society who interpret certain behaviors as deviant ant then attach this label to individuals, determine the peculiarity between nonconformity and conformity. Evolutionary theory of criminology is the belief that human characteristics that produce violence are defined through a long process of social development. According to this theory, the struggle for the scarce resources has not only influenced but also affected the human race. Consequently, people who have personal traits that enable them to acquire more than others are most likely to breed and dominate the species (Nedelec, & Beaver, K.2014, p.117). The choice theory which is also known as the classical theory suggests that people chose their behavior and that individual choice can be controlled by the fear of punishment. Consequently the theory indicates that the ability to control criminal behaviors is determined by how swift and severe the punishment is set. The rational theory which is closely linked to the decision theory explains a well thought decision to commit a particular crime that is based on an evaluation of the available information concerning the results of that criminal act. People analyze their preparedness in committing the act, before committing a crime. The level of preparedness includes their needs, fear and their skills. They perceive crime as an event and behavior as a personal trait. Deterrence theory is founded on the notion that if the punishment for a particular offence outweighs its benefit, the person will be deterred from committing that crime. When individuals act in a criminal manner, they do so out of free will and they weigh the consequences of their action, know what they are about to do and choose to do it. Social structure theories explain why people commit crimes due to the influence of the social structure in the society. It introduces macro theories that address the broader question about differences across society or among major groups in the society. Social structure theories involve factors that can affect a person, but are beyond control of the person to change (Null, 2013, p.438). They attempt to relate the distribution of crime and the reasons people do it to the social structure. The social structure theory does not try to categorize individuals above or below one another in the social hierarchy, but rather they classify people in bases of their association to one another within the structure. Social structural theorists do not agree over the cause of crime. Some believe crime can be linked to subcultures of crime, while others doubt even the existence of subcultures. Some think crime is linked to social forces that can be changed through reform, while others think that crime is closely linked to oppression in capitalist societies that cannot be change through development. Another criminology theory is a social process theory. It argues that the criminal behavior is a function of a socialization process. It includes the emotional and social interaction by the offender with institutions and social organizations. This theory submits that offenders turn to crime as a result of peer group pressure, poor school performance, family problems, and legal entanglements among other factors that steer them to criminal acts gradually. This theory claims that anyone can become criminal. Each discipline is distinctive in its value and quality. Some have value in the theoretical understanding while others are important in the practical value. Criminology as a scientific study has is important both in theory and practical sense. The scope of criminology in the different social crimes is the understanding of their different aspects as it unravels the ills and cures of the criminal behaviors in the society. Criminology is used to investigate the factors and causes of social disintegration, as well as determining remedial measures for preventing and dealing with their event (Sampson, 2013, p.25). These multidimensional values and value of criminology helps to achieve efficiency in the general social control. In every social setting, there are some criminals and occasional incidences of crime. It is humanly impossible to raise an ideal community where every chance of criminal behavior is eliminated prior to its occurrence. The nature of criminals and crime may undergo several changes, but eradication of crime is close to impossible. In crime psychosis, there are social and personal factors. Given the different types of sub-cultural communities known to man, it is clear that every society harbors some criminals. Criminology furnishes authorities with factual and realistic data on crimes and criminals in a given society. With reliable data about crimes, criminologist can compile the taxonomy of crime. Criminologist often studies causes of crime and factors for its occurrence. One means in which they achieve that is by interpreting trends. Evaluating these trends helps criminologists to find means of preventing crime and help determining the underlying causes of crime.Criminology defines the white collar crime which is hard to be identified by the average person. To the layman the nature and types of crime are definite. If a layman is asked to count crimes, he or she might name only the general crimes like rape, assault, burglary, theft, arson. Loot and murder. Average persons may have difficulty in appreciating the fact that maltreatment one’s pet is a crime, and they may be baffled if told that nepotism, racism and misuse of power are criminal acts that are as harmful to the society as other crimes. The average person may not recognize the white collar crime because they are committed by those who are in authority and the crime involve little or no violence. Criminology seeks to identify all type of crimes including the white collar crime and it also helps to gather and provide evidence of such crime in the courts of justice to prove that a crime was committed. In addition to its theoretical value, criminology also has broad practical applications and importance. Criminology as a career is the immediate application of knowledge to the different programs of control of social crime. Elimination of crime us one of the specific aims of criminology. It helps society in eliminating and controlling crime directly and indirectly. It is obvious that if one know the cause of illness, it antidote becomes easy to find. Besides the prevention, controls and elimination of crime, responsibilities and the supreme law of criminology as a science is to device and suggest measures for reforms and rehabilitation of the criminals. Numerous areas of specialty exist in the field of criminology and professionals may focus of precise age cluster in their work. The cluster may include elementary youth, middle youth, young adults, senior citizens, high school youth and middle aged adults.There are many cases of widespread abuse of controlled substances like drugs and alcohol by the junior citizens, killing and maiming among students by the use of guns, cases of child pornography and internet fraud. Criminologist mainly focuses on particular crimes; some specialize on murders, others with vandalism, some involve different sorts of serial crimes, others with rape cases. Alternatively criminology professionals may specialize in crime scene investigation, corrections, criminal litigation, or crime prevention. Employment opportunities in criminology are found in institution of higher learning for advanced teaching, research and policy evaluation. Other than teaching criminology in universities, they also teach legal studies. In government agencies criminologist is hired as state medical examiners, FBI agents or police officers. They are also found in different settings as airport security, probation or parole officers, custom agencies, corrections systems and other law enforcement agencies. In the private sector, major department stores, corporations, law firms and financial institutions employ criminologists as a private investigator, security consultants or security officer.
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