Criminology

The Problem with the Criminal Justice System The criminal justice system has been developing and evolving forever seeking to shape and protect society since the inception of this country. I strongly agree with Cesare Becaria’s beliefs of how punishments should be swift, severe and certain to work. Crimes are more efficient at being prevented by the certainty than the severity of the sanctions. Becaria argued that the penalties that are swift and severe enough to offset the benefits of the crime…

Girls Today: Professional Perspectives on Young Women’s Offending”, in Youth Justice: An International Journal, December 2009 is an article written and based upon the research of Dr. Gilly Sharpe. Dr. Sharpe has held the position of Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Sheffield, School of Law in Sheffield United Kingdom since 2008. Her qualifications include: PhD, University of Cambridge, MSc, Social Studies and Diploma in Social Work, University of Oxford, MA Modern Languages,…

In 1990 a theory by Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi called The General Theory of Crime, or as some refer to it as Self-Control theory was created. This theory was based on the latent trait theories created by James Q. Wilson and Richard Hernsteins concepts (Wofsey, 2015, p. 140). Lack of Self-Control and impulsiveness are the two significant characteristics with the General Theory (Wofsey 2015). Those types of personality characteristics describe that they are more physical, act on…

occurs, but it helps to give an understanding to why juveniles commit crimes and who may be predisposed to a life of crime. In the case of Eric Smith, Eric can be associated with a variety of theories developed by professionals in the fields of criminology and human…

Control theories dictate that individuals conform to what society motivates. Social controls predict whether deviance occurs or not (Reiss, 1951). Control theory focuses on why society conform to deviant behavior, rather than most theories focusing on individuals deviating from social norms. Control theory has been compared to many other theories of criminal behavior. Hirschi and Gottfredson (1990) referred to theories as positivistic. Positivistic theories motivate people to commit crimes. In…

The United States of America was once touted as being the land of opportunity, a place where a little bit of hard work, dedication and smarts could launch you from rags to riches. If an individual worked hard enough, they could have a plentiful life of wealth and happiness. Boardwalk Empire shows a world where even in the early 1900’s this idea proves to be not entirely the case. Much like Breaking Bad or the Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire tells a story of people trying to make a life for…

With all the focus on mass shootings happing in this country, some think stricter laws on gun control would be more beneficial than what we have now, thinking that having a way to track those guns will be more beneficial to society than what we have right now. While some think that stricter restriction on gun ownership is unconstitutional, fringing on the rights of its citizens. That any changes to the laws would not make a difference to how society looks at gun control. However, I feel that…

not intended to apply to all types of crimes. Instead, it’s intended to apply only on street crime at the neighborhood level. This theory has strongly be influenced by the macro-micro theoretical integration. It held an outstanding position in criminology for more than three decades until the change of…

Throughout Josh Fischman’s “Criminal Minds” there is an astounding amount of transitional phrases between paragraphs. However, there are three that stood out to me among the others. The first transition to attract my attention was in the beginning of the story while Adrian Raine was explaining that there might be a possibility of detecting if a child has a chance of becoming a criminal in adulthood. Raine begins by saying “So if I could tell you, as a parent, that your child has a 75-percent…

sought to study whether or not a released inmate with certain social bonds (specifically employment and marriage) was less likely to recidivate than an inmate that did not have such business and personal relationships. The life-course theory of criminology suggests that these social bonds do indeed reduce recidivism, and as a proponent of the theory Tripodi utilized it to provide the basis for his study. More specifically, the life-course theory postulates that “bonding with families, work, and…