Classical Model Of Criminology

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Assignment One In order to understand theory, you must first understand crime in regards to criminal justice practitioners. A crime is any act or behavior deemed illegal and punishable by law. Criminologists seek to understand how the creation of criminal law defines such behaviors. They use theories to provide a scientific orientation to the phenomenon of crime, in which observations of facts are classified as causes and effects (p.11). Crime theories are the basics of a lot of research surrounding crime and criminal behavior; they help us to gain a more comprehensible outlook on the things that occur in our society. Theory can be defined in one word “explanation”, it is a systematic way of developing explanations to solve problems and …show more content…
The classical model of criminology states that people deliberately do things because they expect to benefit from them in some way. It also states that everything people do is oriented around anticipated pleasures and benefits either directly or indirectly (p.17). For instance, people chose to sit through boring classes and complete tedious homework assignments in order to obtain a degree, people chose to conform to law because they will benefit from staying out of trouble and out of harm’s way. Individuals anticipate the consequences of different actions and chose the one with the most beneficial outcome (p.17). In most situations people take the time to calculate such aspects of decisions so I feel like their behavior is a result of rational decision making, in these cases they are acting on free will as opposed to impulse. Criminal behavior can also be a result of external forces beyond our control due to psychological and emotional disorders. Even with advance made in modern medicine, no prescription drug can completely and ultimately suppress asinine behavior; not to mention the individuals out in the world who have not been treated, individuals who had a bad reaction to their medication and those who refuse to be treated because they are in denial about something being wrong with them.
Criminal behavior and crime are very complex subjects; there is no one explanation that will sum up the two. Criminal justice practitioners are working everyday to provide us with theories and crime prevention methods to help better our society and justice

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