Critical Theory In Criminology

Great Essays
Critical Theory
1.
In order to comprehend the ideas behind critical theory, one must examine the postmodern criminological thought towards critical theory. According to Lilly, Cullen, and Ball (2015), “crime is not simply a violation of formal law or an objective fact that can be discovered by using the scientific method” (p. 210). This means that the application of the five (5) step scientific method simply does not need to be applied in order to “scientifically” understand critical theory. However, the scientific method can be applied to the critical theory, by asking the question of who causes crime? With the vast amount of critical theorists, research has been collected and conducted over decades through the application of critical
…show more content…
Even new critical theories have emerged in the past ten (10) years and date as far back to Carl Marx, even though he was not a criminologist (Fix, 2015). According to DeKeserdey (2010), “left realism is a main school of thought within critical criminology, and contrary to what some critics declare, it is not dead” (p. 3). Whereas common critical theory focuses on white-collar and corporate crimes, left realism seeks that attention is primarily placed on “crimes committed by the powerless as well as working-class and female victimization” (Lilly, Cullen, & Ball, 2015, p. 220). Left realism relates to the parental theory through the examination of self-report surveys throughout cultural groups and classes within society in order to broaden the scope of change throughout. Left realism is a “renewed interest in the origins, nature, and impact of crime within the work class” (Lilly, Cullen, & Ball, 2015, p. 245). In addition, left realists relate to the parental theory by adding emphasis where other, more conservative/ right winged theorists, have neglected. To that end, left realism not only agrees that shifts in political and societal create crime, it also provides evidence through empirical research that crime is a direct outcome of relative deprivation (DeKeserdey, …show more content…
A change in philosophy or a change in politics can lead to changes in how rules are enforced or programs are instituted. For example, if policy changes were to enforce speeding laws to one mile per hour over the speed limit then the criminal justice system would have a greater increase of traffic violations, whereas if the political nature of the laws changed to a flocculation between five and ten miles per hour over the speed limit then, as it is today, the traffic violations would still be increasing, however, not as great as the latter would be. Another policy implication could apply to the possession of marijuana. If possession of any quantity were simply a misdemeanor and not a felony (for large amounts), then the crack down within criminal justice system would no long exist, whereas if changes in policy from lawmakers (the powerful) put a cap on an amount of marijuana considered to be a misdemeanor and an amount considered to be a felony would change the criminal justice system greatly. If the criminal justice system changes their current philosophy of rehabilitation back to retribution, the “get tough on crime” phase, policy and crimes will change and over crowding in prisons will increase. It is where there is a change in politics, philosophies, laws, economics, and much more that guide critical changes within society

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Introduction “He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it”, a quote from Lucius Annaeus Seneca that helps describe how society views and “prevents” crime. Criminal theories attempt to construct views on how to prevent and fight crime but often the criminal justice system is working against society. The two theories that are explained within are the social learning theory and rational choice theory. These theories will construct views as to how and why the seven crimes are committed using the concepts within the theories.…

    • 2208 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Exploring Criminality: Willie Bosket Criminological theories can be used to help understand potential causes of criminality like in the case of Willie Bosket, a young man that lead a troubled life and came from a troubled past. Fox Butterfield wrote a book entitled All God’s Children: The Bosket Family and The American Tradition of Violence in which he examines not only the life that lead to Willie Bosket being in solitary confinement for the rest of his life, but also the history that lead to Willie’s existence. One type of theory that can be used to identify reasons behind Willie’s behaviors are Strain Theory, a type of theory that suggests crime is rooted in discontent with one’s status- financial, social, or otherwise- a concept that,…

    • 1729 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Realism In Crime

    • 1544 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Studying crime is an interesting topic because there are so many theories surrounding why people commit crimes. Although there are several theories pertaining to crime, there are few that stand out when exploring criminal activities. Theories such as strain theory or differential association theory are based around a persons surroundings, that those surroundings are what causes them to commit crimes. Although these theories make extremely good arguments, they suggest that others are to blame for criminal activities and not the person who commits the crime. Realism however, looks at the individual who committed the crime as the person at fault.…

    • 1544 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Criminology, the “academic discipline that uses the scientific methods to study the nature, extent, cause and control of criminal justice (Siegel, 2013)” is a field that has been in existence since crime could be studied and tested. For years, researchers have been examining crime and coming up with theories in regard to criminal activities. These theories set to explain the possible reasons behind a person’s participation in criminal activities. There have been many theories that have been developed over the years regarding criminology and the purpose of this paper is to discuss certain popular criminological theories and to apply them to real-life scenarios. The theories that will be discussed in this paper are Robert Merton’s theory of Social…

    • 1245 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Major crime theories include; Temperament and Trait Biology theory, Personality and Trait Psychological theory, Psychoanalytic theory, Behaviorist theory, Social Learning theory, Cognitive theory, Social-Cognitive theory, and the Humanist/Interactionist theory. All criminologists, regardless of theoretical orientation, agree on some factors. First, they all recognize the importance of psychological development factors. Second, they are interested in the ways in which aggression and violence are learned through modeling and direct experience.…

    • 925 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Over the years, criminologists have endeavoured to explain the causes and suggest solutions for youth criminal behaviour, through the use of criminological models. Pre-modern explanations were rejected by new theories because these theories fundamentally believed in rationality and humanitarianism. The purpose of pre-modern explanations was to identify, a connection between the individual and society; the reasons for disorder and an implementation of sanctions of those individuals who breached the existing norms of behaviour. Most pre-modern explanations relied upon spiritualism and naturalism. The modern models were criminological theories which were developed during the period of industrial modernity to explain offending behaviour.…

    • 154 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When he first began taking college level classes as a Junior in high school, it felt as if the world was crashing down on him. In order to stay on top of everything, he stuck to his guns in doing what he knew was right. He was raised to believe in strong morals and ethics, which helped him to succeed. The key to being successful for anyone, in anything they do is having a solid understanding of ethics and morals. These concepts will help anyone get ahead in life and be the best they can be.…

    • 685 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Edwin Sutherland was seen as the most important criminologists from the Chicago School (Cartwright, 2011, p.159). Influenced by Shaw and McKay, Sutherland established the differential association theory; which later influenced other criminologists and sociologists to introduce other theories (Cartwright, 2011, p.155). Sutherland, as well as others, explored white-collar criminality, and while investigating this, he came up with differential association theory (which later lead to social learning theory). His differential association theory is based off the idea all aspects of criminal behaviour are learnt (Cartwright, 2011, p.156).…

    • 1213 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cultural criminology is a response to cultural and social trends and contextualises crime within lived experiences of offenders, victims and society. The geographical focus of cultural criminology is within western societies, mainly the United Kingdom and the United States of America, as this is where many of its theorists originate, such as Presdee, Ferrell and Young. Cultural criminologists see the act of transgression to contain emotions and attractions, where crime is a reaction against the feeling of being socially excluded. Subjective experience is placed at the heart of cultural criminology, as they try to understand how crime makes people feel at all levels: the victim, society, including media representation and most particularly,…

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Robert Burgess and Ronald Akers were the first to explore this by exploring these ideas and notions even more in depth. Forming detailed theoretical ideas on criminology and how it’s portrayed. By looking at the different aspects and the importance of the Learning Theory and its application to deviance in cultural society. Akers describes this, “social learning is complementary to other sociological theories and could be used to integrate extant formulations to achieve more comprehensive explanations…

    • 1197 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For Aileen Wuornos, the Liberal Feminist theory would apply to her case. The reason being that in Liberal Feminism, women who commit crimes are believed to be poorly socialized and almost masculine. Aileen wasn’t brought up very well, both her parents left her and her brother, leaving her grandparents to look after them. Her grandfather molested the children. Socialist feminist theory could also apply to Aileen Wuornos’ case.…

    • 790 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The study of criminology is the study of the people that commit crimes. An interview that was conducted by the AcademiaNet interviewed Professor Susanne Karstedt who studies how people 's values and the moral decisions they make will and may make them decide to be violent and commit crimes. She is a professor for criminology and criminal justice at the University of Leeds, United Kingdom. One of her research areas is middle class and the study of “normal people” that commit crimes. A study she had done while studying criminology at Keele University found that middle class people commit numerous crimes, from tax evasion to scamming people on eBay and in car boot sales.…

    • 2066 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The classical school of thought is based on the idea that people are free to make decisions, and that punishment can be a deterrent to crime, the punishment is proportionate, fits the crime, and are expeditiously. The theory that participates in the classical school of criminology is that "criminals make the rational choice and choose to commit criminal acts because of the maximum pleasure and minimum pain," (Classical, 2012). Theorist went further to explain that to discourage and lessen crime, and the severity of certain penalties must be proportionate to the crime committed and not more than what is necessary in order to deter the offender and others from committing more crimes (Classical, 2010). This theoretical framework and thought constitute the classical school of criminology.…

    • 1071 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Summary Criminology studies the reasoning and factors as to why individuals engage in criminal activities. In classical criminology, social philosophers Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham developed a theory of crime that criminologist and theorist still use today (Akers 2017). In classical criminology, an individual commits a crime by making a rational decision. That decision is based off of whether the benefits that one might receive by offending outweighs the consequences such as being caught and cited or sentenced. Individuals base their decision to offend or not offend on what they have seen others suffer, their knowledge of what consequences they may endure and their own personal experiences.…

    • 1142 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ecological Theory Of Crime

    • 1015 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Crime has been a daily social issue in our society for many centuries. The lack of control over crime has caught the attention of many researchers and academics who, from decades, have tried to study crime to seek solutions for this social issue. Crime has become an issue of interest to study by many sociologist and criminologist because it affects not only the victims of crime, the perpetrators, their families, but society as a whole. Theories after theories had been previously created to control crime rate and explain its existence, instability, and its links to dependable factors that were increasing the rate of crime among certain ethnic groups and disadvantaged communities. While some theories reasonably explicated their main proposition,…

    • 1015 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays