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Theories of Crime Name Course Professor Date Theory can have different meanings depending on the field of knowledge that it is used as well as the kind of methodology and context of its discussion. Common usage defines theory as an opinion or a speculation. It may not be based on facts and may not even be a description of reality. There are several criteria for a good theory. In order to determine whether a theory is good, there are several things that one can look into. Social disorganization refers to the theory where social institutions or organizations is treated as both a perspective as well as a theory.
There are several social disorganization theories expounded by Shaw & McKay (1942), and it refers to the collective efficacy to a community's capability to maintain peace in public places. Social disorganization also refers to the decrease in the influence of existing social rules of behavior where the institutions and values are no longer followed. This has a political implication because that only goes to show that the government can no longer control and give sanctions to its citizens. It is said that antisocial personalities are people who lack a sense of responsibility and morality and are unable to develop attachments to other people or feel empathy for them.
They are concerned with their own immediate satisfactions and unrestrained by remorse; they exhibit no regard for the consequences of their actions for others. Moreover, they seem unable to profit from the lessons of experience. These are some of the things that one has to look into when testing the validity of theories. (Peterson, 2000). Atavism refers to the theory of Lombroso that states that while most individuals evolve, some however, can become atavistic or primitive instead of progressing. These so-called devolvement are known as the born criminals including the most violent criminals in society. These people can be identified through what is known as their atavistic stigmata. (Terms of Criminology).
It was in the late 19 th century when the criminals were suggested as evolving because it was something inherent in their nature. It was suggested that it was not the result of social factors but was rather biological in nature. Cesare Lombroso pointed out that the issue of the atavistic criminal was a theory that could explain why some men can be violent criminals (Criminological Theories). In examining deviant behavior using drugs, we can analyze whether it is both rational and influenced by personality factors established early in life or part of the genetic makeup of the person. Primarily, the biological argument states that each individual is born with genetically with determined characteristic patterns of responding to the environment and to other people. Virtually every researcher studying temperament shares the assumption that temperamental qualities are inborn and carried in the genes.
Communities play a huge role in monitoring dispositional options (Stevenson et al. , 1996, The Jurisdiction of the Juvenile Court Today). Members of the community know these children in some way or another, and must be able to identify what should be done to help children develop themselves. They can also employ model offenders, to help give sharing or trainings for other offenders. A peek in the lives of serial killers substantiates the direct relationship between drug use and crimes.
For instance, Henry Lee Lucas was a man had the most violent, abusive and unhappy childhood. His mother was a prostitute who beat him and disparaged him in front of people by calling him evil. He was also forced to watch his mother do their thing in his presence. A relative once asked him to watch him slit a calf's throat and then have sex with the animal.
After that he persuaded Henry to try the same act after he had taken some drugs. He killed his first victim when he was fourteen years old after he raped and strangled to death a 17 -year-old girl who was waiting at a bus stop. He also killed his mother and was sent to the Ionia State Mental Hospital where he was subjected to electric shocks and heavy doses of drugs. (Drug Use Forecasting). Meanwhile, touted as one of the worst female serial killer, Aileen Wuornos had a family background that bred the makings of a serial killer and an unstable adult life. She was born in Rochester, Michigan to a father who was a psychopathic child molester and who committed suicide in prison soon after she was born and her mother who abandoned her and her brother Keith. It was a case of double abandonment and this must have been etched in the mind of the growing Aileen.
She was left in the care of her grandparents. Lauri and Britta Wuornos. As if to add more traumas to her life, Lauri, her grandfather also physically abused her as a child. Britta her grandmother was an abusive alcoholic. She also claimed to have sex with her brother at a young age. Add to that, she burned her face when she was a little girl and this destroyed her self-esteem.
It was not surprising, therefore, that she would choose to become a prostitute, take prohibited drugs when she grew up. She became pregnant at 14 years of age and later gave up her baby for adoption. Thus, she had a string of traumatic experiences that probably broke the sanity in her life as she performed those murders. (Criminological Theories). It is the goal of those attempting to help him to utilize behavioral modification techniques where the therapist (1) identifies the reinforcers that sustain unacceptable habits and eliminates them while (2) modeling or reinforcing alternative behaviors that are more desirable. Thus, distressing behavior such as bullying or name-calling can often be eliminated in a matter of weeks with behavior-motivation techniques, whereas psychoanalysts might require months to probe the individuals unconscious, searching for a conflict that may underlie these hostilities. (Drug Use Forecasting). REFERENCES Criminological Theories An Overview.
Retrieved Nov. 20, 2008 at: web Drug Use Forecasting. 1996. 95. Washington D. C. National Institute of Justice Social Disorganization Theories of Crime. Retrieved Nov. 20, 2008 at: web Social disorganization and control theory.
Retrieved Nov. 20, 2008 at: web Terms of Criminology. Retrieved Nov. 20, 2008 at: web Latent Trait Theories of Crime Gottfredson and Hirschi introduced the General Theory of Crime in the 1990 s intended to associate criminal behavior to the failure of an individual to exercise self-control. The theory asserted that individuals with the propensity to commit anti-social acts failed to learn self-control. Gottfredson and Hirschi also described individuals with low self-control as impulsive, insensitive, risk taking, and shortsighted. (Simons et al, 1998, p. 219) Poor parenting and failure of parents to instill appropriate guidance and teaching their children about having self-control contributed to an individuals early descent into a life of crime (p. 219).
A variation on levels of self-control among individuals served as the primary explanation for individual differences in involvement in antisocial behavior throughout the life course. (p. 219). Gottfredson and Hirschi also claimed that crime is committed in order to satisfy desires of the moment. (Geis, 2000, p. 37) An alternative view towards the tendency of an individual to engage in criminal activities and behavior was proposed by Colvin. Colvin's differential coercion theory emphasized the exposure of the individual to coercive environments develop social-psychological deficits that enhance their probability of engaging in criminal behavior. (Unnever, Colvin and Cullen, 2004, p. 244) Colvin observed that coercion could come from multiple sources such as families, schools, peer relations, and neighborhoods among other settings. (p. 247) The term differential was used to explain the individual differences to exposure of coercive environments or situations. Colvin claimed that, criminal involvement will be positively related to the degree of coercion individuals experience. (p. 247) There are two dimensions of coercive force according to Colvin: one involved the degree of coercion and the other pertained to the consistency coercive force was applied or experienced. The psychological and social deficits as consequences of coercion tend to increase the likelihood of individuals to become delinquents. They are also more likely to exhibit characteristics such as higher levels of anger, weaker self-restraint, weaker social bonds and the individuals coercive ideation.
This means that the individual has the propensity to view the world as an environment that thrives in coercion and only coercive forces could be overcome by applying coercion (p. 247). Colvin differentiates between interpersonal and impersonal coercion. Interpersonal coercion usually occurs within families as a means of enforcing compliance through threats and intimidation. Impersonal coercion is pressure experienced on a macro level and it is usually beyond the control of the individual.
Sources of impersonal coercion include economic and social pressures created by structural unemployment, poverty, or violent competition among groups. (p. 248) The third latent trait theory of crime is the control balance theory originally proposed by Charles Tittle. The theory was designed to explain all forms of deviance. The core of the theory proposed that, the control ratio or the amount of control to which a person is subject relative to the amount of control they can exercise. (Piquero and Hickman, 2003, p. 283) The extent of how individual behavioral options are curtailed or facilitated is reflected in the variables of exercising control and being controlled (p. 283). The degree of deviance where an individual can exercise more force over the others result in exploitation, plunder and decadence. (p. 284). On the other hand, individuals subject to control resort to...
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