Criminological Introduction and Evaluation â€Myassigmenthelp.Com

Question: What, if anything, can a theory of your choice usefully add to our understanding of a contemporary crime, safety or security issue of your choice?. Answer: The issue of crime has become a matter of huge importance in the present world that is infested with social crimes such as theft, robbery, murder, rape, and many more. While usually in most of the societies, the perpetrator of crime is being heavily punished for having committed the crime, there are various theories which seek to trace the underlying reason behind the perpetration of such crimes. One such important theory of crime is known as the Social Structure Theory which emphasizes that factors such as poverty, lack of access to basic education, absence of marketable skills lead to crime such as theft (Taylor et al. 2013). This kind of insightful and explanatory theory is useful in understanding and gaining an in-depth analysis of the main reason behind the occurrence of crimes. Conflict theory is one of the most important theories under the Social structure theory that can effectively help to understand the reason behind the increasing rate of theft and robbery (Vito 2015). Conflict theory is an important theory of social psychology that defines crime not merely as a nefarious act in itself, but essentially an act that emerges from the glaring socio-economic distinction existing within a society. The conflict theory has its origin in Marxism, as according to Marx and Engels, there will always remain an internal tension and a huge conflict between the two sections of the society- the wealthy ruling class and the poor, deprived class devoid of any wealth and property (McShane 2013). As a result of the shocking difference, the lower strata of the society often feel deceived and deprived, and hence they have the potentiality to resort to the unfair and illegal means of earning livelihood and expanding wealth. Poverty plays an important role in the criminal activity undertaken by the thieves and the robbers and hence crime is often considered as nothing short of a social construct. In the recent studies conducted in UK, it was being discovered that the place where poverty is found is usually the place where crime is traced as well (Reiman and Leighton 2015). Hence, there is an unmistakable connection between theft and poverty. The question that arises over here is that what leads to the inextricable connection between theft and poverty. The impoverished people are usually regarded as unskilled and uneducated by the society, but Marx points out that this is nothing but false consciousness, as the poor ones inherit poverty through different generations (Mathhews et al. 2014). While the rich get richer, the poor get poorer owing to their inability to gain access to money, education and other important resources of life. As a result of this ever-growing distinction, the people belonging to the low socio-economic status are often tempted to take recourse to robbery and theft. This can be regarded as an act that is guided by the feeling of hatred, jealousy and grudge towards the economically powerful section of the society. By stealing and r obbing the richer people, the impoverished thief intends to eliminate the socio-economic distinction that exists between the two classes. Again, at the same time the act of robbery is also an example of the frustration, disgust and malice of the poorer section of the society, who have been resenting the unjust distinction of the capitalistic society that is chiefly responsible for poverty (Maddah 2013). The conflict theory upholds that in a capitalist society there is always a sense of inequality, oppression and exploitation, as a result of which there is always a sense of inherent conflict that exists within a society (Lanier 2014). Max Weber has argued that conflict does not only arise out of the unequal distribution of money and wealth, but out of the glaring distinction regarding status and economic power and social respect. While some people are born amidst wealth, others are born to suffer from poverty and lack of opportunity, and most importantly in both the cases, the infant born, has no power or control over his situation. As Marx stated that in a chiefly capitalist society, while some are meant to be the property owners, others are bound to be deprived of any kind of wealth or property. Poverty in itself is a vicious cycle, and as such the impoverished people pass over poverty from one generation to the other. The poor people cannot gain access to education, and as such th ey fail to get educated and qualified enough to secure employment opportunities for themselves. Lack of education leads to unemployment, and as a result, the impoverished people unknowingly enters in a relation of conflict with the people belonging to the higher strata of the society (Landes 2015). During the hard times that had hit Europe from 1975 to 1995, it was being noticed that a huge rate of unemployment had led to an increasing rate of theft and robbery (Altindag 2012). The uneducated youths, being poor were deprived of enjoying educational opportunities, and as such they spurred a massive tendency of theft, robbery and violence. School education is not only important in providing academic and formal education to the pupil that helps them to secure jobs, but is necessary for inculcating social values and ethical principles among them. The major problem with the poor people is that the poor kids are unable to gain access to education as well as the social skills, and hence they fail to learn the ideological concepts of right and wrong, or just and unjust (Kilday 2014). As a result, while on the one hand the widening gap of social inequality creates a sense of conflict, grudge and hostility among the poor people, on the other hand, lack of proper education fails to teach them the values necessary for resolving such disputes. According to the Conflict Theory, when people living in the same community are subject to witness stark distinctions, they may get provoked to rebel against the social inequality. Thus, the impoverished people living in the same community as the wealthier ones are more inclined to perpetrate acts of theft and robbery (Halvorsen 2015). Aristotle himself was found to echo the idea of the Conflict theory of criminology when he claimed that poverty is the parent of crime. Poverty and theft are thus intimately related to each other. Apart from the sociologists, many economists have also argued that income inequality is a major reason behind the perpetration of any sort of crime, such as theft and robbery. It has been observed that when a person belonging to the lower strata of the society is unable to improve his economic as well as social condition, he starts feeling envious of the higher concentration of economic wealth in the hands of a limited few, and the revolt against such a social structure leads to theft and robbery. Even the Deprivation theory of criminology also reinforces the same idea, as it upholds that when one is compelled to witness and gauge the financial position or his social status in comparison with that of others, he may feel deprived and humiliated. This leads to a sense of helplessness and utte r despondency among the poor people, and unable to find any way of enhancing their wealth or improving their economic condition, some of these people may think of robbing the richer. These people usually fail to find any sort of justice in the capitalist social structure, and as such they find no reason to opt for the just and morally right alternative (Elster 2015). It is important to state here that a study conducted by Reilly and Witt found out that as the gap of inequality started expanding in England and Wales, the total number of theft and burglaries committed also started increasing (Chintrakaram et al. 2012). According to the Forbes Magazine, the feeling of social deprivation ultimately guides an individual in his decision to steal and rob. When a person does not have sufficient food to eat, and yet he comes across people having abundant food, he finds ample justification for stealing. Again, similarly an individual, who does not have adequate money for paying bills, will never find the act of stealing a morally objectionable idea. A new study, claims the Forbes magazine, reveals that a feeling of social deprivation largely influences an individual to indulge in the act of stealing and robbing and burglary. According to Adam Alter, the assistant professor of marketing at New York University, when an individual feels a sense of financial d eprivation, he starts feeling alienated from the rest of the society (Barak et al. 2014). His inability to connect to the wider mass of people blurs his sense of moral responsibility and ethical actions. He suffers from a sense of inequality and injustice which in turn justifies his decision to steal (Arvanites 2014). The Conflict theory thus argues that the stark inequality in the distribution of wealth is chiefly responsible for the acts of theft and burglary. Keeping into consideration, the views of the Conflict theory, Italy has even announced a law which clearly states that a homeless, hungry man will not be penalized or punished in case he steals food. This law was passed recognizing the fact that a poor man is often compelled to resort to such social crimes due to the absence of a financially stable social structure (Masiola and Tomei 2015). The Conflict theory although does not justify the act of theft or burglary, yet it claims that inequality in the distribution of income is a major determinant of the increasing rate of criminal activities. According to the 2010 International Statistics on Crime and Justice Report, acts of theft which also include the acts of mugging, bag-snatching and theft with violence, were most commonly found in countries like America which have a higher level of inequality in the distribution of income and wealth (Akers 2013). Again, similarly, in the report submitted by the World Bank, in the year of 2002, economists like Pablo Fajnzylber and others have pointed out that crime rates and theft are closely and positively co-related factors. For example, USA which ranks third in terms of being the most income-unequal nation, and the worst in terms of income equality, has the largest number of population in prison (Gabbidon 2015). The Conflict theory talks of the sense of conflict that arises when an impoverished person suffers from a sense of despondency, rage or depression over the existent social structure that provides power and superiority to a class of people, and hunger and unemployment to another class. According to Marxism, such class distinction will inevitably lead to a sense of revolt and willingness to disrupt the social hierarchy. In a capitalist society, however, it is difficult to disrupt the hierarchical order and social harmony and hence a few people may show their own revolt against the social system, through the perpetration of criminal activities such as theft and robbery (Hagan 2012). Here, the Conflict theory may also be associated with the Strain Theory of criminology that claims that when an individual has been suffering from a sense of humiliation or low self-esteem, unable to achieve what he finds necessary to achieve, he often resorts to criminal offences like theft and burglary (Wa lsh et al. 2016). The Conflict theory intends to evaluate and explain the underlying reason behind the occurrence of criminal acts such as theft and burglary. It would be of course, very wrong and unjust to justify such act, yet it is necessary to know the underlying social reason before judging the moral nature of the offenders. The impoverished people often are negatively stereotyped by the social institutions and are not being provided with equal opportunities, and hence sociologists claim that they often suffer from shame and resentment which leads to criminal offences. However, creating equal opportunities for them so that at least they can gain access to educational resources and food can considerably help in reducing the growing rates of theft and burglary. Reference List: Akers, R.L., 2013.Criminological theories: Introduction and evaluation. Routledge. Altindag, D.T., 2012. Crime and unemployment: Evidence from Europe.International review of Law and Economics,32(1), pp.145-157. Arvanites, T., 2014. Cycles of poverty and crime in Americas inner cities by Lewis D. Solomon.Crime, Law and Social Change,61(3), pp.365-367. Barak, G., Leighton, P. and Cotton, A., 2014.Class, race, gender, and crime: The social realities of justice in America. Rowman Littlefield. Chintrakarn, P. and Herzer, D., 2012. More inequality, more crime? A panel cointegration analysis for the United States.Economics Letters,116(3), pp.389-391. Elster, J., 2015.Explaining social behavior: More nuts and bolts for the social sciences. Cambridge University Press. 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