Emile Durkheim Crime Analysis

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This discussion will critically discuss crime in terms of Emile Durkheim’s theory of crime and the issues of crime in our South African context. Crime is an act committed or omitted, in violation of public law, either forbidding or commanding it (law dictionary), in addition crime is the violation of norms a society formally enacts into criminal law (Macionis & Plummer, P 542, 2008). It will further more discuss the causations of crime in our current South African context and also discuss the relevance of crime in South Africa. Sources such as police station and newspaper articles will be used in this discussion.
Emile Durkheim believed that if something exists in a society it must have a purpose for existing or it must serve a specific function,
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These factors are parental neglect, poverty, social inequality and greediness (LOL news, 2008). Social inequality is one of the crime causing factors that is not likely to be changed anytime soon as job opportunities keep on being lesser every day. It contributes to crime in a way that those people who are unemployed and who are poverty stricken have to find a way to make a living and survive as everything even food prices rises every day in our country, they end up resorting to crime. It is a sad and unfortunate truth that those people who are from middle classes and high classes family fall victims to crime in this situation (LOL news, 2008). Joblessness can be caused by closing of unprofitable factories living thousands of people jobless and out of work. But if workers commit strike and vandalism they are then subjected to criminal prosecution (Macionis & Plummer, 2008). The countries government sometimes does not act fair to these people who are living in poverty, in a way that you find a homeless person who stands on the street corner denouncing the city government risks arrest for disturbing peace, a politician during an election campaign does exactly the same thing while receiving extensive police protection (Macionis & Plummer, p 562, 2008). Strikes may arise because of this unfair treatment. Without noticing the government also cause crime …show more content…
STU. NUMBER: 216016734.
MODULE: Sociology 201.
DUE DATE: 21 April 2017.

ASSIGNMENT ONE

REFERENCE LIST,
 Dr Jackson, 2009, Public health and fear of crime http://bjc.oxfordjournols.org/cgi/reprint/azp033.
 John. J. Macionis & Ken Plummer, 2008. Sociology, a global introduction, 4th edition.
 LOL news, 25 August 2008
 Michele Dillon, 2014 Introduction to sociological theory, 2nd edition.
 South African police services, Raba Sotho police station, Tembisa, 2017
 Tembisa community policing forum,

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