Introduction:
Criminological theories attempt to define crime and shed light on the criminal justice system. Moreover, the theories further shed light into the intrinsic nature of the crime and its offender, and thus enhancing the rationale in devising the preventive measures (Tibet & Craig 107).
Theories envelop the making and the contravention of the law, criminal and deviant conduct, and criminal activity patterns. The principal sociological crime theories consider the immediate social environment, such as the family unit, local community, peer groups, and learning institutions. The theories explain why some individuals have higher inclination to crime unlike others (Black 89).
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The paper shall focus on three major theories, namely: the Social Learning Theory, the Social Disorganization, and the Social Control Theories. Also, the report shall explore on the role of each of the theory in crime prevention.
Social Learning Theory:
The theory emphasizes on the acquisition of criminal behavior through interactions with the environment, or interaction with other individuals in the society. The divergence lies in the compliance or deviant trend or balance of the social pressures such as strengthening, ethics and mind-set, and replication (Barak 148).
As a broad concept, the theory has been tested in sociology, psychology, criminal justice, and criminology in an endeavor to enlighten how criminal morals, thoughts, procedures, and terminology are spread from one person to another. Differential association theory, proposed by Sutherland, is a cognitive theory that focuses on one’s acquaintances and the progressive descriptions one discovers or learns from them (Tibbet & Craig 59).
Often, constructive behaviors instill positive behaviors; deviant manners also reinforce erroneous behaviors. Deviant acquaintances that inspire negative energy into one another often form great bonds of acquaintance. The outcome of such interactions only result to increased rates of either substance abuse or criminality.
According to Rankin and Wells, they identified four aspects of the social structure that could be integrated with social learning, and further scrutiny of each in breeding criminality: differential social organization, differential location in the social makeup, hypothetically distinct structural variables, and differential social setting (Rankin & Wells 131).
Role of the theory in crime prevention:
According to the learning theorists, deviant behavior may modified by removal of the reward. This triggers the criminal behavior, escalating the depressing consequences of the conduct, or shifting the equilibrium of incentive/castigation for the actions (Barak 150).
According to Barak, the introduction of guided interactive curriculum in schools would enhance the youth desist from recruitment into criminal gangs and from criminality. This would also upgrade on their critical thinking skills, a platform that would see abstain from deviance, into law enforcement. Moreover, this underlines the jeopardies of joining criminal gangs and elevates their cognizance of life abilities. Over the first level of apprising the youth on deviance, they are made to appreciate the pro-social mindset and respect for values that enhances their knowledge (Barak 152).
Community based gang programs becomes significant in the following ways: they prevent gang membership, the membership in these gangs is harnessed to advocate for an improved behavior and change, suppression plans, as well as other comprehensive transformation approaches. The theory posits that it is then through such learning and exchange, programs that can propagate either deviance or conformity to values (Tibbet & Craig 64).
Notwithstanding, there is then the essence of instilling law- enforcement models to complement with other community and educative programs for accomplishment. This would be exemplified by: use of physical combat to fight criminal gangs and cartels, intensive investigations, surveillance approaches, and in due course, raids (Jerin & Laura 117)
The arrangement of law enforcement’s approaches directed to hunting down criminal groupings and increasing castigations for the offenders. This increased level of punishments among errant individuals borrows its foundations from the deterrence theory. Deterrence theory embodies the concepts of increasing retribution levels and setting precedence, either, explicit or all-purpose aids in the suppression of criminality. Nonetheless, there are proponents of the social disorganization theory who predicts that this only shifts the crime to another locale (Tibbet & Craig 67).
Social Control Theory:
According to the theory, crime is most prevalent is neighborhoods that are economically deprived, overpopulated, residing in multi-unit residential-like apartments, with high population mobility (the entry and exit rates of people into the community is much pronounced), and where family disruption is dominant. Consequently, the ability to control and manage these areas becomes difficult, and thus crime levels escalate (Black 91).
In the book “The Sage Handbook of Criminological Theory”, the Social Control Theory focus on societal deviance and delinquency, in terms of lack of adequate control mechanisms within the society. The book espouse that the fluidity in the social bonds may arouse an individual to be the benefits of crime. This book advocates for self-control, at the place of societal control, as the derivation of criminality or compliance (McLaughlin & Tim 105).
The public policy inferences of these theories have verified an erratic issue, although many efforts have been directed to a review of the Hirchi’s theories. Albeit the popularity with these theories, they have not been spared from innumerable critics. Generally, Hirschi's contributions have been imperative and have sought to illuminate why individual conform to norms and values of the society, and not inclination to crime (Hirschi & Michael 75).
Role of the theory in crime prevention:
Hirschi laid his theory on the Causes of Delinquency, a model that was adopted from the American Society in the 1960s. Hirschi would empirically study the society. He noticed a degraded social control among individuals as well as disruption in the social institutions – religion, the family, academic and political institutions were crumbling, they had lost their essence (Hirschi & Michael 81).
Individuals had opted to sever ties with most of the societal values and norms. This had been with the advent of hard music genres such as rock and roll, drugs, and the civil rights lobby groups. The theory then displaced blame to the breakdown of the American family, to the escalated criminal behavior (Hirschi & Michael 83).
Hirschi suggested that any attempt to deter or rehabilitate offenders would fail, unless much focus was directed on boosting and encouraging the family unity, and effective parenting roles. This would instill discipline at such an early age, inspiring the essence of being responsible, law-abiding citizens, the benefits of being good and rational.
This would yield an improved connections, strong and resilient, between parents/or guardians to their children. For instance, Hirschi echoes that it is never the parentage of a teenage mother on a child that is inconsistent, or wanting, but the lacking of paternal support to a child. In connection, it would hence be imperative to maintain the paternal involvement in parentage, rather than working to prevent teenage pregnancies (Hirschi & Michael 104).
Consequently, Hirschi proposes harsh tax penalties for uncooperative fathers. Moreover, adopting policies that enhance parental and familial bonds would ultimately yiled to a better control of the children, and a better mould of their character (Hirschi 138,139). This attribute has been epitomized in various models such as the Social Development Model (SDM). This model has been shown to increase in child-control, bonding and attachment in effective parenting.
Social Disorganization Theory:
Shaw and McKay advanced this macro approach. They confirmed the consistent patterns in criminality among juvenile offenders. This was empirically tested over several decades in varied locale. It was clear that highest deviance was in the heart of the city and diminishing outwards. This alludes that there prevails other factors transcending the individual delinquents (Rankin 69).
The forces could lie in the systems and organizational structures in that city. Such forces include economic parameters, social associations, and relationships (Cited in Eysenck 1984). The proportion of the youthful generation, political inclination and affiliations, religious tolerance, poverty rate, unemployment rate, percentage of female-headed households, the number of individuals under eighteen years, and innumerable indicators of community development and involvement (Barak 159).
Therefore, in devising preventive models, the environmental design of the city is worth considering. It then becomes vital to address the root problem, hidden in community welfare and its ‘health’ (Barlow & David 106).
Relevance of the theory in crime prevention:
This theory tends to explain that the ultimate inclination to crime is triggered by a myriad of factors ranging from: economic inequalities, racial and ethnic supremacy –where one of the groups is preferred against another, extended poverty, disrupted social and familial association and relationships as well as political influences (Barak 163).
According to Barak, a practicality and meta-analysis of macro-level criminological standpoints, established that criminal justice system indicators were constantly among the weakest crime pointers, with exclusion of incarceration, which was deleteriously related to crime levels. Ultimately, the obvious consequence of the findings is the probable futility for all the instilled measures to crime prevention directed on criminal justice system, the wide range of dynamics, with the probability system dynamics, with the possible exclusion of incarceration.
It is the rational to focus on the real-time causes of crime and putting up effectual measures in the criminal justice system. This would be a brilliant platform to tackle criminality and deviance. According to a 2005 research by Michelle and Kristin, “Deviance and Social Control”, it would be of paramount importance to consider aspects such as economic deprivation theories, conflict in resource sharing and distribution, in any efforts to analyze the policy implications of criminality (Michelle & Kristin 137) .
Conclusion:
As Jerin and Laura assert, the criminal justice system remains a vehicle to retain the powerful in power. It then becomes clear that upon those who engage in criminal acts only function against the culture of the powerless. On the other hand, the powerless will commit crimes in form of activities that tend to contravene the norms and values of the powerful. To attain a consensus, it then becomes clear to adopt a set of laws which will be binding every individual within that given society; this keeps the society glued together (Jerin & Laura 121).
Various programs have been tried around the world based on criminality laws and provisions, as contained in the Penal Codes e.g. using deterrence and choice as fundamental elements (Rankin 72). This has been seen in varied models such as Scared Straight Programs and deterrence in an attempt to keep prospective offenders away. According to Hibbert (149), the harsh penalties or fines work to dampen the motivation to crime. Boot camps have employed fear, discipline, and brief incarceration to keep offenders from subsequent crimes. However, out of their controversial inherent nature, they programs have invoked mixed outcomes, both in favor and against the corrective programs.
Works cited:
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Barlow, Hugh D, and David Kauzlarich. Explaining Crime: A Primer in Criminological Theory. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010. Print.
Black, Donald J. Toward a General Theory of Social Control. New York: Academic Press, 1984. Internet resource.
Hibbert, Hilda M. The Link between Parenting, Low-Self Control and Juvenile Delinquency: A Review of Gottfredson and Hirchi's General Theory of Crime. , 2008. Print.
Hirschi, Travis, and Michael R. Gottfredson. Understanding Crime: Current Theory and Research. Beverly Hills: Published in cooperation with the American Society of Criminology [by] Sage Publications, 1980. Print.
Jerin, Robert A, and Laura J. Moriarty. The Victims of Crime. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2010. Print.
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Michelle L, and Kristin A. Bates. Deviance and Social Control: A Sociological Perspective. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2013. Print.
Rankin, Joseph H, and L E. Wells. Social Control and Self-Control Theories of Crime and Deviance. Surrey, UK: Ashgate Pub, 2011. Print.
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