What is Criminology? Explained
More Menu

What is Criminology? Explained

byRavi KishanPosted at

Content

  1. Defining Crime
  2. What is Criminology?
  3. Criminological theories

Defining Crime

It might be simpler to define crime once there is a legal system in existence. It would merely refer to any actions that go against the current legal framework. But whether criminologists or social workers limit themselves to the legal concept is a moot point. Even in legal terms, what is considered a crime might change over time, from one region to another, or from one circumstance to another. Murder might be acceptable in a time of war. In many parts of the world, homosexuality was once illegal; this is no longer the case. Even in India, there is a lot of controversy surrounding it. In order to be considered a crime, there must be both an act or omission that breaks the law (actus reus) and the intent to do the act (mens rea). It is not a criminal act if either are absent.

Wayne Morrison (2009) identifies four frameworks using which crime is defined. 
  • crime as a social construction- according to this perspective our concepts, crime is one of them, is created in social interaction and once created it becomes symbolic and also a practical reality. This perspective argues that crime needs to be recognized and the criminal identified and punished. This process that we now take as natural is constructed. In simple words, crime occurs because some acts have been labelled as crimes and our responses are based on that. 
  • crime as a product of religious authority/ doctrine- this framework looks as everything created by God and messages from God were collected in books of authority like the Bible or Koran. Gods will is seen as ultimate.
  • crimes as a reflection of nation-state legality- 17th century onwards crimes have been understood ‘as an act or omission as defined by the sovereign authority in factual charge of a specific territorythe nation state’ (p. 15). 
  • more recent concepts beyond the nation state- crimes are now defined by the nation states and there can be a difference in what a crime is in two states. E.g. a state may see prostitution as a crime, another may legalise it. The understanding of crime is now expanding with attempts to include human rights and acts against humanity within the understanding of crime. There are also suggestions of replacing crime with deviance so as to move beyond just the legal definition of crime (pp. 12-19).

Types of crime

Crimes are typically separated into two primary categories, such as crimes against persons, violent crimes, and crimes against property, even in the I.P.C. The additional categories of public order crimes, political crimes, economic crimes or white collar crimes, organised crime, environmental crime, and cyber crime were created because such division is not always practicable.

What is Criminology?

Probably the most popular definition of criminology was given by Edwin H. Sutherland in his book, ‘Principles of Criminology’ (1968) where he defined criminology as ‘the study of the entire process of making laws, of breaking laws, and of reacting toward the breaking of laws’ (p. 1). Sutherland warns us about narrow definitions of criminology and includes within its objectives ‘the development of body of verified principles and other types of knowledge regarding this process of law, crime, and treatment or prevention’ (p. 1).

Walklate (2007), in her book ‘Understanding Criminology’ concludes the first chapter with a list of features of criminology. These seven features are, 
  1. As a discipline it is held together by a substantive concern: crime. 
  2. This means that it is multidisciplinary in character rather than being dominated by one discipline. As a consequence, in order to make sense of what criminologists might be saying it is important to understand the conceptual apparatus with which they might be working. 
  3. Thus criminologists frequently disagree with each other. 
  4. Despite such disagreements, it could be argued that there is some consensus around some features of what constitutes the crime problem, although much less agreement on how to ‘solve’ that problem. 
  5. Nevertheless criminologists have been historically (and still are contemporaneously) concerned to offer some form of intervention in the policymaking process. 
  6. These features of criminology sometimes resonate with popular (common sense) thinking about crime and sometimes challenge such thinking. Such tensions are a perpetual challenge for the discipline. 
  7. These debates are taking place in a ‘late modern’ society increasingly preoccupied with crime, risk and insecurity (p. 14). 
This gives us a fairly good idea of what criminology is.

Criminological theories

Crime-related theories are attempts to identify the root causes of crime. We briefly review the various hypotheses in this section. Criminal justice social workers may have a narrow view of crime and criminals in their job if they are unaware of criminological theories, and this may show in how they react to crime. The oldest justifications for crime involved a demon. But we start by talking about the traditional theories.

 Classical theories

The theorising of crime in the late 18th century is related to the Classical school of criminology. The most significant figures from this era are Jeremy Bentham in England and Cesare Beccaria in Italy. The main work of Beccaria is titled "An Essay on Crime and Punishment."

The free will of a person in committing crime was emphasised by the classical school. People are thought to make sensible decisions. It was crucial to consider the hedonistic calculus, which contends that people make decisions about whether or not to respect the law based on weighing the risks and probable suffering of doing so against the potential pleasure they would obtain from doing so (Akers and Sellers, 2004). Therefore, a criminal justice system that cannot provide punishment won't be successful in reducing crime. This punishment must be appropriate for the crime committed in order to serve as a deterrent to future criminal behaviour by both the person who may have done the act and by other members of society (specific deterrence) (general deterrence).

A concept put forth by Bentham was the "panopticon." According to Miller and Miller (1987), this was a surveillance system rather than a prison. The panoptical was envisioned as a circular structure with a watchtower in the middle. Bentham believed that this might be used to house any reluctant people in addition to prisoners.

The work of Beccaria can be viewed in the context of our current penal reforms. His most significant piece, "An Essay on Crime and Punishment," was first published in July 1764 under an assumed name. The essay served as a critique of how criminal justice was handled at the time in Europe. He pioneered the concept of a social contract, according to which the existence of laws was a requirement for free, independent men to come together and form a community. Men trade some of their freedom for the benefits of safety and tranquilly. And the sovereignty of a country is represented by this freedom that is given up. The goal of punishment at that time was to prevent men from interfering with other men's freedoms as stipulated by the law of a social contract (Monachesi, 1955, pp. 442). Only those punishments used by the Sovereign to defend the sovereignty of all against the degradation of a single person were considered justified (id. pp. 443). Beccaria continues by saying that laws determine how crimes are to be punished and that the 'Legislator,' who was a representative of the entire community, had the authority to pass laws. All societal members shall be treated equally under these laws. The Sovereign can create laws but cannot determine if someone has broken the social contract's conditions (Id. pp. 443). The judges' role is then discussed, where they decide whether or not someone broke the law. Logic should be used to make this decision. Judges, according to Beccaria, should focus solely on applying the law rather than interpreting it. He suggested doing this to avoid unfair treatment under the law and to shield individuals from the "whimsical and venal passions of the magistrates" (Id. pp. 444). Beccaria also asserts that laws ought to be expressed in plain language so that everyone can understand them. Beccaria also discusses penalties. The purpose of punishments was to keep people in check and ensure the survival of the social order. The severity of the sanctions must match the offence. The goal of sanctions should not be tormenting criminals or making up for crimes previously committed, but rather to stop both the offender and others from committing crimes. Punishments must be administered consistently, and the trial must go quickly. He placed more emphasis on the certainty of punishment than on its severity. He vehemently opposed capital punishment. He concluded that it was neither essential nor legitimate. From the perspective of deterrence, he believed that an offender's death was just a fleeting spectacle that did not make a lasting impression on those who witnessed the execution. However, he claimed that sanctions that persisted over time and were acknowledged to be ongoing were more effective. Even though it was permitted by law, he considered the execution to be an act of violence and barbarism and referred to it as a homicide (Id. pp. 446-447). Beccaria opposed the use of torture to compel confessions. Last but not least, he thought that preventing crime was preferable than penalising offenders, and that improving the educational system was one of the most crucial methods to do this (Id. pp. 448).

It was criticised that the classical school couldn't justify every crime using the hedonistic concept. In addition, there was no justification for juvenile crime. However, the school of thought has had an influence on modern penal reforms.

Biological theories

There was a shift toward biological positivism in the nineteenth century. Probably the most influential early biologist was Cesare Lombroso. He describes the physical characteristics of a born criminal in his 1876 classic, "The Criminal Man." His interpretation was based on research he did while studying in Italian prisons. He added the physical characteristics of a born criminal and refined it throughout the course of five volumes. He claimed that criminals by nature exhibit many traits common to the barbaric races. This was his term for atavism. He goes into great depth to list each one. Low cranial capacity, a receding forehead, the thickness of the skull's bones, big ears, and crispy hair are a few of these that are copied below from the third volume titled, "Crime: Its Causes and Remedies." But he also added characteristics that are rarely discussed, such as laziness, a lack of regret, and impulsivity, to the physical qualities. He observed distinct features in the skull, brain, face, torso, and skin of atavism and criminals. He also made note of psychological, sensory, and motor aberrations. He claimed that atavism could explain why offenders relapse into criminal behaviour and why sanctions are ineffective (Lombroso, 1911, pp.365-369). But this book's atavism chapter also examines the geographic and sociological factors that contribute to crime. The primary cause is thought to be alcoholism. Temperature and heat are the subject of an entire section in Lombroso. These elements were merely triggers; biological reasons continued to be the underlying causes of Lombroso.

The English Convict was published in 1913 by Charles Goring. He made comparisons between jail inmates and soldiers, college freshmen, teachers, and hospital patients. To disprove Lombroso, he discovered no statistically significant difference between behaviour and 37 physical features. He did conclude that the atavism theory was incorrect, but he also discovered other features that were noticeably different between law-abiding citizens and criminals. Prisoners in his sample, for example, were thinner and shorter than civilians, and they were also perceived as having lesser IQ (Akers and Sellers, 2004, pp.47-48).

Another well-known figure from this school of thought is Willian Sheldon. He explained the Somatotypes idea. The endomorph was spherical and fat and wasn't bad. The ectomorph was weak, skinny, and not a criminal. However, the mesomorph was hefty, muscular, and violent (Carrabine et. al, 2009).

Psycho-biological theories

In 1965, Patricia Jacob and a team of researchers published a paper in Nature discussing the relationship between male XYY chromosomes and violent behaviour (Jacob et.al, 1965). The article claimed that XYY chromosomes produced super men and were linked to criminal behaviour. Recent studies have disproved these conclusions. Other hypotheses in this area relate impulsive behaviour to low serotonin levels, and criminal behaviour to an imbalance between dopamine, noradrenaline, and serotonin.

These ideas also suggest a genetic component to criminal behaviour. According to research by Mednick (1983), criminal behaviour may be genetically predisposed. Between 1924 and 1947, they investigated a collection of non-familial adoptions in Denmark. The conviction rates of the sample of adopted children were influenced by the recidivism of their biological parents. When discussing Mednick's research, Akers and Sellers (2004) note that Mednick postulated that the susceptible person inherited an ANS that is slower to awaken or respond to stimuli. People with a slow-acting nervous system (ANS) either learn to control their aggressive and antisocial behaviour slowly or not at all. Similar studies conducted in Sweden and the United States have discovered very minor, or inconsequential, variations in criminal tendencies that may be inherited qualities.

Psychological theories

There was a shift toward biological positivism in the nineteenth century. Probably the most influential early biologist was Cesare Lombroso. He describes the physical characteristics of a born criminal in his 1876 classic, "The Criminal Man." His interpretation was based on research he did while studying in Italian prisons. He added the physical characteristics of a born criminal and refined it throughout the course of five volumes. He claimed that criminals by nature exhibit many traits common to the barbaric races. This was his term for atavism. He goes into great depth to list each one.

Low cranial capacity, a receding forehead, the thickness of the skull's bones, big ears, and crispy hair are a few of these that are copied below from the third volume titled, "Crime: Its Causes and Remedies." But he also added characteristics that are rarely discussed, such as laziness, a lack of regret, and impulsivity, to the physical qualities. He observed distinct features in the skull, brain, face, torso, and skin of atavism and criminals. He also made note of psychological, sensory, and motor aberrations. He claimed that atavism could explain why offenders relapse into criminal behaviour and why sanctions are ineffective (Lombroso, 1911, pp.365-369).

But this book's atavism chapter also examines the geographic and sociological factors that contribute to crime. The primary cause is thought to be alcoholism. Temperature and heat are the subject of an entire section in Lombroso. These elements were merely triggers; biological reasons continued to be the underlying causes of Lombroso. The English Convict was published in 1913 by Charles Goring. He made comparisons between jail inmates and soldiers, college freshmen, teachers, and hospital patients. To disprove Lombroso, he discovered no statistically significant difference between behaviour and 37 physical features. He did conclude that the atavism theory was incorrect, but he also discovered other features that were noticeably different between law-abiding citizens and criminals. Prisoners in his sample, for example, were thinner and shorter than civilians, and they were also perceived as having lesser IQ (Akers and Sellers, 2004, pp.47-48). Another well-known figure from this school of thought is Willian Sheldon. He explained the Somatotypes idea. The endomorph was spherical and fat and wasn't bad. The ectomorph was weak, skinny, and not a criminal. However, the mesomorph was hefty, muscular, and violent (Carrabine et. al, 2009).

Psycho-biological theories

Criminal behaviour has been explained by psychologists as the result of flaws in early development, trauma, personality, learning, etc. Here, we go over some of the key theories. Hans Eysenck compared a criminal propensity to a propensity for particular mental illnesses. Eysenck was concerned in how the social environment and the human neurological system interacted, according to Crowther (2007). He employed assessments such as the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised (EPQ-R) to pinpoint personality traits along a continuum between neuroticism and psychoticism (N) and extraversion and introversion and extraversion (E) (P). The three main facets of personality were E, P, and N. According to one theory, extraversion is positively connected with antisocial behaviour because introverts are thought to establish conditioned reactions more quickly and strongly than extraverts. Eysenck thought that extroverts and introverts differed due to specific mechanisms in the central nervous system. On the introvert-extravert continuum, those who are more extraverted need a lot of excitement from their surroundings, which can lead them to breach the law (Bartol and Bartol, 1986, pp. 35). The intensity of emotional responses is a topic of neuroticism. The stable psycotics are on the other end of this spectrum. According to Eysenck, emotion can act as a drive and persuade someone to act in a way that is out of character for them. It may motivate previously ingrained, unthinking behaviours that the person has developed. Thus, they have a higher likelihood of engaging in criminal behaviour (Id. Pp. 40). Cold harshness, social insensitivity, emotionlessness, disregard for risk, problematic behaviour, and disdain for others are traits of psychoticism. Psychotics are aggressive. Additionally, criminal behaviour will exhibit this as a conspicuous trait (pp. 40). There needs to be a lot more empirical investigation done on Eysenck's theory.

One of the most significant figures in psychology is Sigmund Freud. The focus of Freudian psychoanalytic explanations of delinquency is on a person's emotional growth starting in childhood. The id, ego, and super-ego are Freud's three divisions of the human psyche. I've studied the pleasure principle and have impulsive tendencies. Humans experience the emergence of their egos when they begin to exercise control. The analytical or conscious side of the mind is the ego. The moral aspect of the mind is called the super-ego. Delinquency is explained psychoanalytically as a struggle between the id, ego, and super-ego. This is due to aberrant maturation, a negative relationship with one's parents as children, obsession during a period of emotional growth, repressed sexuality, or guilt (Akers and Sellers, 2004).

Crime has also been attempted to be explained by learning theories. Ivan Pavlov, B. F. Skinner, and John Watson hold the most sway in this field. In some of his well-known conditioning experiments, a dog was trained to salivate in anticipation of food when a bell rang. This occurred because earlier, meals was served after the bell. However, the dog kept drooling even though the later food did not come after the bell. When combined with another stimulus (food), which would elicit a reaction, the dog had mastered the ability to react to a bell, which had previously been neutral. Conditioning in the traditional sense. Another type of learning occurs when a certain behaviour is picked up because it might result in rewards. This is applied learning. Criminal behaviour can be learned and unlearned, according to the fundamental principle of applying learning theories to crime. Watson viewed psychology as the study of behaviour. Watson, who was much influenced by Pavlov, believed that behaviour could be controlled and anticipated using this knowledge. Skinner extended classical conditioning to include a different kind of conditioning. His core belief is that people act in certain ways to avoid punishment and get benefits. Reward reinforcement, he says. Anything that increases probability is a reinforcement. Either positive or negative reinforcement may occur. A good behaviour can be repeated through positive reinforcement, and a bad occurrence can be prevented as a result of a behaviour through negative reinforcement (Bartol and Bartol, 1986). On the basis of the reinforcement it results in, criminal behaviour can so be learned and reinforced. Through reinforcement, society, culture, and environment influence whether a specific behaviour is good, harmful, or neutral.

Psycho-social theories

early childhood educators Animals were used in the lab experiments by Pavlov, Watson, and Skinner. Theorists of social learning have gone farther and stressed the importance of cognition, or thinking and remembering. This group of thinkers emphasises the value of learning from social environments through paying attention to and monitoring them (Bartol and Bartol, 1986). An notable person connected to this school of thought is Albert Bandura. He thought that people learn how to do things by observing how others do them, and that direct encouragement may not be required. They are referred to as models. Modeling or observational learning are the terms used to describe the process (Id. pp. 85). The Differential Association Theory was developed by Edwin Sutherland, the most important criminologist of the 20th century, and it is based on social learning. He first presented this theory in the book Principles of Criminology, which included a seven-step learning process. He made them nine for the 1947 publication of the book's fourth edition. Following Sutherland's passing, Donald R. Cressey updated next printings of the book. Sutherland walks us through the steps a certain person must take to participate in illegal behaviour.
  1. Criminal behaviour is learned. 
  2. Criminal behaviour is learned in interaction with other persons in a process of communication. 
  3. The principal part of the learning of criminal behaviour occurs within intimate personal groups. 
  4. When criminal behaviour is learned, the learning includes 
    • (a) techniques of committing the crime, which are sometimes very complicated, sometimes very simple; and 
    • (b) the specific direction of motives, drives, rationalizations and attitudes. 
  5. The specific direction of motives and drives is learned from definitions of legal codes as favourable and unfavourable. 
  6. A person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favourable to violation of law over definitions unfavourable to violation of law. 
  7. Differential associations may vary in frequency, duration, priority and intensity. 
  8. The process of learning criminal behaviour by association with criminal and anti-criminal patterns involves all the mechanisms that are involved in any other learning. 
  9. While criminal behaviour is an expression of general needs and values, it is not explained by those general needs and values since non-criminal behaviour is an expression of the same needs and values. (Sutherland and Cressey, 1968, pp. 77-79)
Differential association was named as the sixth principle by Sutherland. People who turn to crime do so as a result of interactions with criminal behaviour patterns as well as separation from anticriminal behaviour patterns. The Differential Association-Reinforcement theory was developed by Burgess and Akers. Their main goal was to clarify how Sutherland's theory of learning worked. Akers used four ideas—differential association, definitions, differential reinforcement, and imitation—to achieve this. Here, the term "differential association" applies to both direct (via contacts with individuals who exhibit particular behaviours) and indirect relationships (with distant reference groups). According to these interactions, a person is exposed to specific norms. Definitions are the connotations that people ascribe to particular behaviours. The balance of anticipated or actual rewards and penalties that follow or are a result of behaviour is referred to as differential reinforcement. Additionally, imitation is defined as "engaging in behaviour after observing similar behaviour in others." (2004) Akers and Sellers

Sociological theories

Sociological ideas changed the focus of understanding crime from that of the individual to that of society. Crime was viewed as commonplace in society and as a natural response to social developments. This viewpoint first appeared in the 19th century and is still prevalent today. According to a functionalist viewpoint, Émile Durkheim observed that crime had a certain function in society. The preservation of equilibrium and comprehension of solidarity in a society were the key concerns of Durkheim. Collective conscience served to sustain this mechanical togetherness. Here, crime upsets the social balance, while the law fosters cooperation and brings people together to punish the offender. What unites people is their response to deviation by banding together (Moyer, 2001, pp. 57 and Carrabine et. al., 2009, pp. 69). Only if it is spontaneous can division of labour foster organic solidarity in larger, more diverse civilizations. A state of "anomie" results from forced labour division. Here, law fosters solidarity once more (Moyer, 2001, pp. 58). By challenging societal norms, deviation also promotes social transformation (Carrabine et. al., 2009).

Later, Durkheim looked into suicides in Western Europe. He reintroduced the idea of anomie in his 1951 novel Suicide. He identified four different sorts of suicide: fatalistic, egoistic, altruistic, and anomic. Based on an individual's reaction to society, Durkheim examined suicides. In this case, societally integrated people who had committed suicide did so because of sudden changes that had upset their sense of control and created distress. Anomie was later used in criminology by Robert Merton. Merton concentrated on cultural objectives and the personal tools accessible to people from various societal groups to attain them. Anomie happens when the aims and the methods are out of balance. In such a situation, there were 5 adaptation strategies: conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, or rebellion. People who comply use traditional methods to accomplish their goals. The impoverished and other groups in society might not always have access to the means. They will therefore devise novel methods to accomplish them. For instance, selling drugs to get affluent (Carrabine, et. al., 2009). To accomplish the goals, social values are rejected. Ritualism is when the lack of resources is accepted to the point where societal aims are abandoned and institutional norms are obsessively followed (Moyer, 2001). When both objectives and strategies are disregarded, retreatism occurs, and the pursuit is abandoned. Here, Moyer (2001) uses the example of an alcoholic or drug user. In the end, revolt rejects the tactics and ends in favour of some new ones. Those who follow this aim for more significant structural changes. Merton received criticism from a number of angles.

He received criticism from feminists for failing to apply this philosophy to females. He received criticism for treating criminals like passive actors that need to be controlled. However, he had an impact on subculture theories. According to Albert Cohen, crime happens when the values of the middle class and the working class clash. He labelled the actions of delinquents as nonutilitarian, spiteful, and pessimistic in his 1995 book "Delinquent Boys." The delinquent subculture offered a substitute for middle class status, which they were unable to obtain through the existing means. However, the concern that not all working-class kids turn to criminal activity leads us to the work of Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin. They acknowledged that both legal and illegal methods can be used (Walklate, 2007). They emphasised the opportunities that may be found in particular neighbourhoods and the resulting subcultures. These came in three varieties. The subculture of criminals exhibits the most resistance. Criminal tactics are regarded as ways to accomplish objectives. Violent behaviour dominates the conflict subculture. Here, traditional social structures fall short. The retreatist subculture, which develops as a result of failing relationships, was the third (Moyer, 2001). Another well-known school of thinking in criminology and sociology is the Chicago School. Here, gang studies at the micro level were the main topic.

The Gang, a 1927 publication by Fredrick Thrasher, was the first significant research. He investigated 1313 gangs and came to the conclusion that gangs originated in slums where many children gathered in a small, congested space (Moyer, 2001). He proposed that gangs emerge from unplanned playgroups when they start to elicit criticism and dissent, form a collective consciousness, and transition into conflict groups (Raghavan, 2010). He divided gangs into three types: diffuse, consolidated, and conventionalized. Ecological studies of delinquency benefited greatly from the work of Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay. They charted the location of youth gangs in Chicago. They discovered that where there were dwindling residential populations and areas of industry and trade, delinquency was most prevalent. These were also regions with affordable housing, low-income families, and dilapidated structures.

In these neighbourhoods, immigrants had the least access to basic essentials. There were many different norms, and when combined with the worst circumstances, this led to delinquency (Moyer, 2001). Shaw and McKay also participated to the Chicago Area Project, an initiative to enhance neighbourhood life in an effort to lower crime. Shaw and McKay were pioneers in using their work to influence philosophy and policy.

The concentric zones idea was developed in 1967 by Roderick McKenzie, Ernest Burgess, and Robert Park. There were five concentric zones there, resembling a bullseye. The business district was in the middle, followed by the transitional area, where recent immigrants lived in dilapidated housing, the working-class area, the residential area, and the commuting area—the suburbs. The zone of transition, where immigration led to competing standards and societal disarray, was where the majority of crime was observed (Walklate, 2007). The Chicago school has lost its relevance in today's society. According to Raghavan (2010), concentric zones are no longer present in urban areas. Particularly in the context of globalisation, cities are creating newer patterns of growth and decline. Another flaw is the ecological fallacy, which is described by Carrabine et al. (2009). The argument falls short of explaining why some individuals in the more probable zones turn to crime while others do not. Sutherland's work, who attended the same university as Sutherland, has already been covered elsewhere.

Restraint Theory/ Social Control Theories

According to control theories, internal and external restrictions are necessary to deter crime because criminal behaviour is subject to free will. We briefly touch on the contributions made by a few of this school of thought's founders. First, Walter Reckless and Simon Dinitz researched Columbus, Ohio, to determine what would prevent children from high-delinquency neighbourhoods from developing criminal tendencies. To come to the conclusion that parental supervision and self-concepts as "good boys" had protected them from turning delinquent, they first analysed 125 "good boys." Parental guidance was discovered to be crucial in a second group of children who were at risk of becoming delinquent. These boys' mothers were unaware of what their sons were doing.

In 1961, Reckless referred to his hypothesis as the Containment theory (Moyer, 2001). Here, he makes the case that an individual could be controlled by both internal and exterior circumstances, a concept he refers to as confinement. Reckless placed more emphasis on internal confinement than on outside causes. Positive self-concept, goal orientation, frustration tolerance, and norm retention were among these internal containment elements (Burke, 2009). A coherent moral worldview, standards, goals, and expectations, effective social control, room for alternatives, a chance to be accepted, a sense of identity, and a sense of belonging make up outer containment, the structural buffer in the immediate social and familial surroundings. These containments interact with one other as well as with push and pull variables. Individual traits like anger, aggressiveness, and personality make up the push forces. Environmental issues including poverty, a dysfunctional family, and a lack of access to education are among the pull factors. in 2010 (Raghavan). Contrary to other theories that did not span disciplinary boundaries, he pointed out that control theories were multidisciplinary (Moyer, 2001).

According to Travis Hirschi, criminal behaviour results from a person's breach of the social contract. This bond has four components in Hirschi's view: attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief. A person and another person or a person and society were connected by attachment (Moyer, 2001). Strong bonds promote conformity (Burke, 2009). The dedication to societal norms is what is meant by commitment. A person who is involved spends more time engaging in traditional employment and activities and less time engaging in nonconventional behaviour. For the last component, control theories contend that, in contrast to sub-culture theories, which contend that distinct values apply to different groups, offenders and non-offenders share the same beliefs and values. So, why are the rules broken in this situation? Hirschi uses David Matza's idea of neutralisation in this instance (Moyer, 2001).

Even when they believe in the more general societal rules, delinquents, according to Matza, utilise some neutralising tactics to defend their delinquent behaviour. Denial of responsibility (I didn't mean it), denial of injury (I didn't really hurt him), denial of victim (he deserved it), condemnation of the condemners (they always pick on us), and appeals to higher loyalties (you've got to help your friends) were the five techniques of neutralisation that were identified (Burke, 2009). These were merely justifications, not justifications. Matza developed his drift hypothesis based on the methods of neutralisation theory. The free will component is what transforms a potential wrongdoing into an actual one. To put it another way, the act must be chosen by the person. The delinquent "drifts" in and out of crime based on free will and the ability to rationalise using tactics of neutralisation, as opposed to engaging in criminal activity in response to a rejection of society values (as suggested by the sub-culture theorists) (Raghavan, 2010). Following this, Gottfredson and Hirschi proposed the General Theory of Crime. Rather than asking "why do people offend?" as their first question, they began by defining what crime is. They described crime as "acts of force or deceit committed for personal gain." These were founded on the hedonistic principle and were poorly thought out. Low levels of self-control were connected to criminal behaviour. Monitoring behaviour, identifying aberrant behaviour, and penalising such behaviour were said to improve self-control in kids (Raghavan, 2010). There were several holes in this enormous hypothesis. One of them was bias because non-while offenders made up the majority of the offenders in their theory. Control theories have come under fire for failing to explain how strong the relationships must be as well as the fact that they can turn repressive.

Interactionist School

According to this school of thought, criminal behaviour is a product of an individual's social response. The individual or the group is the focal point. Labels or how labels affect a person's behaviour are the main topics of discussion. In 1938, Frank Tannenbaum made the argument that someone becomes deviant due to a tagging process in Crime and the Community. An individual might engage in some abnormal behaviour. Even though the individual may generally continue to be non-deviant, the community dramatises this behaviour and assigns a label. However, as a result of the labelling, the person could adopt the deviant label as part of their identity (Moyer, 2001, pp. 164-165).

In order to conceive primary and secondary deviance, Edwin Lemert developed this thinking further. The primary kind of deviance was sporadic, socially acceptable aberrant behaviour. The harsh social response to original deviant conduct is what leads to secondary deviation. This is the outcome of initial deviance and penalties that rise with each violation until the point at which the deviant social status is accepted (Moyer, 2001, pp. 167- 168).

We also take into account Howard Becker as a member of this school of thought. He is a second-generation sociolog from the Chicago school. His 1963 book "Outsiders" had a significant impact. Walklate (2007) reveals that his work was divided into two halves. One was to determine how a certain behaviour was classified as deviant, and the other was to comprehend the impact of the labelling procedure. For him, breaking the law meant treating an offender harshly rather than the conduct itself. He created a typology of four possible labels: secret deviant, pure deviant, conformist, and wrongfully accused. The conformist in this situation is neither a deviant nor labelled, whereas the pure deviant is both labelled and deviant. The covert deviant, however, is a deviant who no one notices, and the wrongfully accused is simply viewed as a deviant without having committed a deviant act (Moyer, 2001).

According to Becker, audience reactions breed deviation. He makes reference to three analytically independent components of group reactions: the formulation of rules, their implementation, and the designation of certain people as outliers or abnormal. He questioned how one group imposes norms on others and how the labelling process determines who is a deviant (Raghavan, 2010).

Goffman had an impact on the development of criminology in the 1960s and 1970s. Prisons, drug treatment facilities, and other correctional institutions were all included in the institutions he wrote about. These provided housing for numerous "similar situated persons," who had been isolated from society for a long time. Together, they have a structured, organised life. Every person who resides in a whole institution has a moral career that consists of the pre-patient, in-patient, and ex-patient phases.

The person goes through a process of questioning his previous identity, redefining his identity, and experiencing an irreversible shift in his identity during these three stages of his life (Raghavan, 2010). In "Stigma," his other significant work, he defined stigma as "attributes that are deeply discrediting" to an individual, and he distinguished it into three categories: abominations of the body (physical deformities), blemishes of individual character (societal labelling through records of unemployment, imprisonment, mental illness, homosexuality, etc., and as being weak-willed, treacherous, dishonest, etc.), and tribal stigma of race, nation, and religion (contamination of all members of the particular family through lineages). People do not instantly become stigmatised; there needs to be a relationship's language that describes the person as being out of the ordinary. A person is stigmatised before becoming what the stigma indicates through a process of interaction between the person and the social audience. Once stigma has developed, it can be exceedingly challenging to get rid of it (Moyer, 2001, p. 180-181).

According to Walklate (2007), the labelling theories had a significant impact on criminology. They sparked an investigation of the criminal justice system and how it might concentrate attention on one set of people while ignoring the covert deviants.

Conflict theories and Radical theories

Here the focus is on the stratification within the society and crime. These theories dominated the seventies and the eighties. Richard Quinney is the most important figure of this school. For the radical school the focus is on political economy of capitalism and crime. Radical school is more specific than conflict theories. For both these schools of thought, society is characterised by conflict between groups. Conflict criminology draws from labelling theories and see crime as defined by the agencies of the criminal justice system. For conflict school, conflict is analysed in terms of segments or groups instead of class. 

Bernard (1981) lists the common principles of the two schools from three sources- Chambliss and Seidman's analysis of the relationship of values to the enactment of laws, and was influenced by Vold's theory of group conflict and by Quinney's theory of the social reality of crime. 
  1. One's "web of life" or the conditions of one's life affect one's values and interests. 
  2. Complex societies are composed of groups with widely different life conditions. 
  3. Therefore, complex societies are composed of groups with disparate and conflicting sets of values and interests. 
  4. The behaviour of individuals is generally consistent with their values and interests. 
  5. Because values and interests tend to remain stable over time, groups tend to develop relatively stable behaviour patterns that differ in varying degrees from the behaviour patterns of other groups. 
  6. The enactment of laws is the result of a conflict and compromise process in which different groups attempt to promote their own values and interests. 
  7. Individual laws usually represent a combination of the values and interests of many groups, rather than the specific values and interests of any one particular group. Nevertheless, the higher a group's political and economic position, the more the law in general tends to represent the values and interests of that group. 
  8. Therefore, in general, the higher a group's political and economic position, the less likely it is that the behaviour patterns characteristic of the group (behaviours consistent with their values and interests) will violate the law, and vice versa. 
  9. In general, the higher the political and economic position of an individual, the more difficult it is for official law enforcement agencies to process him when his behaviour violates the law. This may be because the types of violations are more subtle and complex, or because the individual has greater resources to conceal the violation, to legally defend himself against official action, or to exert influence extralegally on the law enforcement process. 
  10. As bureaucrats, law enforcement agencies will generally process easier rather than more difficult cases. 
  11. Therefore, in general, law enforcement agencies will process individuals from lower rather than higher political and economic groups. 
  12. Because of the processes of law enactment and enforcement described above, the official crime rates of groups will tend to be inversely proportional to their political and economic position, independent of any other factors (such as social or biological ones) that might also influence the distribution of crime rates (p. 366-367).

Feminist criminology

The majority of male academics study criminology. In the second half of the 20th century, concerns about women and crime started to emerge. Various feminist viewpoints have an impact on criminology. Most criminal theories focused on male offenders, which gave rise to feminist criminology. The subjugation of women within the greater uneven social framework is a concern of liberal feminism. Liberal feminist research has focused on topics like chivalry and how it affects how often female criminality is reported. The way women are handled by the criminal justice system has been a research topic as well. Concerns have been raised about sexist behaviours and the experiences of women who become victims of crime. Radical feminism places more of an emphasis on how men oppress women than it does on societal issues. Their main concerns have been crime and the control of sexuality. The term "survivor" is preferred over "victim of sexual assault." Socialist feminism is concerned with how sex, class, and race intersect. Criminology must address patriarchy, capitalism, and their influence on human behaviour in order to follow this line of reasoning. There hasn't been much of an impact of postmodern feminism on criminology yet (Walklate, 2007).

Crimes Without Victims, Schur's seminal interactionist paper from 1965, is reviewed here. centred on the development and enforcement of crimes including drug usage, homosexuality, and other victimless activities (according to him). Schur's association of gender with deviance, in which he highlighted how women were stigmatised with labels like "aggressive," "bitchy," or "hysterical," harming their reputations, instilling guilt, and decreasing their chances of success in life, was a significant contribution. Schur contributed to the advancement of feminist criminology through his work. Schur's concept of crime without victims—and if such a construct even exists—is the main critique levelled against his book (Raghavan, 2010).

Emergent/ Critical theories

Criminology has evolved in yet another way during the past few decades. This has resulted in a number of changes, including the use of capitalist production methods, globalisation, reorganisation of the labour market, increased use of casual labour, modifications to family structure, shrinking family sizes, and family breakdown, as well as technological advancements and the influence of electronic mass media.

The Exclusive Society by Jock Young examines three different types of divisions: economic (where people are kept out of the labour market), social (where people are kept out of civil society), and the growth of the criminal justice system (which excludes more and more people from daily life). Everybody now represents a potential deviant in our more exclusive society (Carrabine et. al., 2009). The existence of the field of criminology itself is called into doubt because postmodernism focuses on meanings in settings rather than broad theories.

An significant thinker from this school of thought is Michel Foucault, whose primary concern is the state's response to crime rather than actual crime. He charts the development of punishment and bodily damage in Discipline and Punish. He also emphasises monitoring and state authority. His writing focuses on how power functions in contemporary culture (Carrabine et. al. 2009) Another new idea is the "Risk Society." Here, it is said that criminal activity is merely a matter of chance rather than any particular aberration or temperament. As a result, policy changed from targeting specific offenders to addressing criminogenic conditions. Hence, cctvs are present in numerous public areas. The focus of this discussion is on risk reactions rather than increased risk.

According to David Garland, two contradicting criminologies—the criminology of the self and the criminology of the other—have developed as a result of the "culture of high crime societies." The former sees the perpetrator as a responsible consumer in a culture where crime is a common and accepted part of contemporary life. Instead of seeing crime as a breach of social norms brought on by personal pathology or poor socialisation, it sees it as an effect of regular social interaction and a risk that both the perpetrator and the victim must weigh (Raghavan, 2010).

Essential Readings

  1. Akers R. L. and Sellers C. S. (2004) Criminological Theories: Introduction and Evaluation. Rawat Publication, Jaipur 
  2. Bartol C. R. and Bartol A. M. (1986). Criminal Behaviour: A Psychosocial Approach (2nd Ed.), Prentice-Hall, New Jersey 
  3. Bernard T. J. (1981). The Distinction between Conflict and Radical Criminology. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Vol. 72, No. 1, pp.362-379 
  4. Burke R. H. (2009). An introduction to criminological theory (3rd ed.). Willan Publishing 
  5.  Carrabine, E., Iganski, P., Lee, M., Plummer, K. and South, N. (2009). Criminology: A sociological introduction (2nd ed.). London & New York: Routledge.
Post a Comment Tag

Comments

Thank You
Chat with us on WhatsApp